Etiquette in jiu-jitsu varies from school to school. Bowing, for instance, is not practiced in most Brazilians schools. Students don’t bow to their instructors, to the other school’s black-belts, to a picture of Hélio Gracie (considered the founder of jiu-jitsu), or to anyone else in the school.
Neither there is any bowing at the opening of a class or training session, nor there is one at the end. Before and after rolling, jiu-jitsu fighters don’t bow to each other, like —for instance— judokas do before and after they practice randori.
Jiu-jitsu fighters shake hands before rolling and before and after a training session, and the handshake —and an occasional back-slapping— plays the same role of the bowing tradition in Japanese martial arts.
