Meaning of Sensei

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saki ni umareta hito, a person who was born (umareta, SEI) before (saki,
SEN) myself.

This is the literal meaning.

In Japan, almost anyone is called sensei for want of better, like hanshi,
rooshi, iemoto or whatever his trade makes him. Even a hairstylist is a
SENSEI.

Anyone I do not know who seems older and i meet (him/her) for the first
time I call Sensei, just to be sure to make no mistake of politeness.
As a medical doctor, I am called SENSEI, but with a little more respect for
my PhD, HAKASE.
There is a lot more, I found two interesting articles, so I leave you to
read them.

Gabi san (3)
san meaning Nr. Three, sometimes I use the kanji for MOUNTAIN.

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Now read

The meaning of the term "Sensei"

By Peter Boylan

When we practice budo, we do so under the guidance of a person who
is almost always addressed as "Sensei." I have heard all sorts of
definitions of the meaning of "sensei" put forth by people who have never
lived in Japan. Among them I have heard that '"Sensei" means "teacher in
all aspects of life."' In conjunction with such strong definitions, the
behavior of non-Japanese towards their "Sensei" often is often extremely
self-effacing and servile, with students tip-toeing around "Sensei" and
always behaving in a subservient manner, while these "Sensei" may sometimes
be tyrants both inside and out of the dojo.

This contrasts sharply with my experiences in dojos here in Japan.
Here, while Sensei is accorded a great deal of service and respect, it is
never given in a servile manner. Students do a lot of things for Sensei,
like getting him a cup of tea or making sure that his shoes are placed where
he can slip them on easily at the door. These are services performed out
of a sense of gratitude, not servility, and whom they are performed for has
a lot to do with what "Sensei" means in each case.

I am one of these "Sensei" people, in several positions in my life.
"Sensei," as most martial artists are already aware, is written with the
characters for "born" or "live" and "before." Put together, you get born
before, or lived before. There is nothing here which indicates a need for
excessive humility when dealing with a person with that title. So the
question is, who warrants being called "Sensei?"

The answer is, anybody in a position of status significantly higher
than you are. The key here is that it must be a person in a position of
high status. What the actual person is like has little to do with the
title. The title is related entirely to their relative social position.
Thus, lots of people are called "Sensei." First, anyone who teaches is
called "Sensei." That includes my daughter's pre-school teachers, and me,
since I teach English privately and at a local technical school, and the
local 19 year old giving skating boarding lessons. That's why martial arts
teachers are addressed as "Sensei." They are teaching something.

Of course, there are lots of people besides teachers whose position
calls for the use of "Sensei" as a form of address. Doctors are always
addressed as "Sensei." So are lawyers and politicians. And believe me, if
you think your countries politicians are a bad lot, you should see some of
the scandals that Japanese politicians get caught in, and then they're
re-elected after they've been exposed. The prime minister of Japan was
caught in a massive bribery scandal back in the 70's. Even after being
found guilty, he continued to be re-elected to parliament for 20 years. He
died a couple of years ago, still a member of parliament, while the Supreme
Court was considering his final appeal. He was always addressed as "Sensei."

Japan is a rabidly hierarchical country. It is impossible to speak
Japanese with any degree of politeness without constantly reinforcing
people's position in the hierarchy. The way you conjugate verbs is based
entirely on your status relative to the person you are talking with (or the
BS you want to shovel if you're a politician).

Using titles like "Sensei" is just another aspect of this cultural
obsession with status and rank. In Japanese society, people are only
addressed by their names + san when they don't have any significant title. I
discovered when I taught school here, all the teachers were "Sensei", the
principal is always "Kocho Sensei" or "Principal Teacher" and the assistant
principal is always "Kyoto Sensei" or "Assistant Principal Teacher". In
the business world, if you are at the head of company, no matter how small,
everyone who relates to you in the business world will address you as
"Shacho" or "Company President." If you work for a large company, you may
well be known as "Kacho" or "Bucho", "Department Head" and "Section Head".

All of this is just to show that the term sensei has no special,
mystical meaning attached to it in its home country. It is a term used to
show appropriate respect to someone in a position of status higher than your
own. The usage can cause some jolts. I'm still not accustomed to my iaido
teachers, a pair of octogenarian 7th dans, introducing me to a new student
in the dojo as "Peter Sensei." It makes me very uncomfortable. However,
from their perspective it is also entirely appropriate. Much of the
training of new students is delegated to me, so my position is that of
teacher, i.e. "Sensei." My teachers only refer to me as "Sensei" when they
are talking about me with a student whose status is significantly lower than
mine in the dojo. The term reflects our relative status. When they address
me without such an audience, I am "San" or even "Kun," a term that refers to
boys, or as a term of familiarity when used with someone you like who is
significantly below you in relative status.

All this is merely to make the point that "Sensei" is a term of
respect. Not one of awe. If we appreciate our teachers more than usual, we
should show it by going out of our way to do little services for them that
make their lives a little easier. Scraping the floor and being subservient
is not the way to show appreciation for your teacher. It just makes your
teacher look like a petty tyrant, and you like a fool.

http://www.budogu.com/html/sensei.html



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Here is an explanation from an Aikido Sensei

The meaning of Sensei
In Japan anyone who teaches anything is called sensei. A young
kindergarten teacher of 20 years old can be addressed as sensei by a parent
of 50 years old because the parent appreciates the fact that the young
teacher is teaching the child. This is similar to using the Mr, Miss or Ms -
it merely indicates respect toward the person. In Japan a lawyer or a doctor
is normally called sensei because they are supposed to know more than
others. Since lawyers often become politicians, even politicians are often
called sensei. It is true that in Japan the word sensei is sometimes abused.
In general however, a Japanese teacher is usually addressed as sensei by his
students all over the world.

There is also the question of what makes one a sensei. When one
teaches, one is a sensei. But one might not be a sensei if one is not
teaching. It depends on what one teaches. If one teaches Aikido techniques,
one is a teacher only on the tatami. If one teaches only on the tatami for a
few hours, it is inconvenient to keep changing one¡Çs title on and off the
tatami. People who are called sensei are supposed to behave as a teacher in
daily life as well. In this way people can continue to refer to them as
sensei without the need for a change of titles.

This creates a new question: How should a teacher behave in his daily
life? Zen Buddhism began the idea of understanding life. It suggests that
when one understands life, one feels as if one is newly born. Sen means
before and Sei means to be born. So sensei literally means a person who is
born before. This birth is a spiritual, not physical birth. The original
meaning of sensei is one who is spiritually born before others. If one
sticks to the original meaning, only those who understand life should be
called sensei and a sensei is behaving like a teacher 24 hours a day, even
in his daily life.

Respect used to be very important to all people all over the world.
One should respect human beings, animals, trees, etc. In other words, only
life and living things should be respected. One should not respect
materials. Even in the case of highly technological machines like Ferrari
cars or great works of art, it is not the object that should be respected
but the human beings behind the creation of the object. One respects life
because each life is related to other lives and these millions and billions
of relationships create and maintain life on Earth. Respect creates better
relationships between lives and that is why respect was and is one of the
most important things in life. Respect actually means not disturbing the
relationships among different lives.

When respect was demonstrated, it was called honour. People used to be
ready to die for honour because the relationships among lives were essential
for survival of human beings. These days both respect and honour are almost
forgotten because we have developed a civilization based on weapon and
material. Survival depends on weapon and politics and not relationships
among different lives anymore.

Aikido is a way (Do) and the way should be maintained in aikido
practice. The person who keeps the way is called Doshu. There are two
different meanings of doshu in Japanese. The first means ¡Æmaster of the
way
¡Ç and the second means ¡Ækeeper of the way¡Ç. The difference
is that there
can be only one master of the way but many keepers of the way. The top
teacher of any aikido organization should be called doshu - keeper of the
way - but actually many aikido organizations do not have doshu. This is
because most Japanese teachers actually follow the teachings of somebody
else, especially Morihei Ueshiba, even though he is dead. There are also
teachers who do not follow a particular teacher but instead follow some
established philosophy. They too are not keepers of the way. That is why
there are not many doshu in the aikido world. A teacher is doshu only when
he teaches completely independently of any philosophies or other teachers
including the dead ones.



Doshu

http://www.ki-society.org.uk/articles/sensei.shtml

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