LEXICON OF JAPANESE TERMINOLOGY: SENSEI
| Sensei (先生) is a Japanese title used to refer to or address teachers, professionals such as doctors and lawyers, politicians, clergymen, and other authority figures. It is also used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill: accomplished novelists, musicians, and artists are addressed with the title in this way; for example, Japanese manga fans refer to manga artist Rumiko Takahashi as "Takahashi-sensei." Sensei is also one of the common Japanese martial arts titles. |
| In Sanbo Kyodan related Zen schools, sensei is normally used to refer to ordained teachers below the rank of roshi. However, other Zen Buddhists use the term for any priest regardless of seniority. |
| The Japanese expression sensei derives from but is not semantically identical to the Chinese word xiansheng, which is written with the same characters. Xiansheng is a courtesy title for a man of respected stature; its English equivalent is gentleman. It can also be attached to a man's name to mean "Mr." Prior to the development of the modern vernacular, Xiansheng was used to address teachers of both genders; however, this has fallen out of widespread usage, except in some southern Chinese dialects such as Hokkien where it still has the meaning of "teacher" or "doctor". In Japanese, sensei is used to address people of both genders. |
| Ōsensei, DaiSensei and WakaSensei |
| Ōsensei (大先生) is a Japanese title used to distinguish between two teachers (or doctors, etc.) with the same name. The elder or superior one is then called ōsensei, and the other one WakaSensei (若先生). In most cases, ōsensei is the father of waka sensei. |
| In martial arts and spiritual practice, another use for this term is DaiSensei (大先生), or Master Teacher, such as may be found at a Buddhist Temple. Also pronounced with an 'o' sound is the term Ōsensei (翁先生), for the founder of aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. Another famous martial artist, Masutatsu Oyama, founder of Kyokushin Karate was referred to as ōsensei within his organization, the Kyokushinkai. |
| Source: Wikipedia |
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