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Sensei
Keywords: Culture & History
Sensei means teacher or generally speaking someone strong enough to be your teacher. It is a form of respect. It can also refer to an older player who used to be stronger (than the one calling him Sensei). Sidenote: in HikaruNoGo, an older player comes into the club to find 11-year old Akira, a kid aspiring to become pro. The man asks if Akira Sensei is present. I can also imagine that Yoda Norimoto will call Sakata "Sensei", although Yoda is probably stronger at the moment. Scartol: Let's talk about what it means to be a sensei. Scartol: I wasn't sure where to put this question, so if there's a more appropriate place, please move it. Can anyone provide a brief explanation of how extension names work in Japanese? I've been reading HikaruNoGo and I'm a bit unsure about when to call someone -san, -kun, etc. I understand the sensei protocol, but that's about it. Thanks. HolIgor: Well, it depends. At the moment people of the same age (Shindo, Toya, Waya) do not use any honorific. But if Waya'd call Hikaru sensei, that would mean something sort of "fella". Isumi is several years older therefore he is Isumi-san. Tsubaki was Tsubaki-kun for a moment to a great embarassment of the judges. But what amazed me that Mitani's sister was "Mitani no onne san" as if she had no name of her own. And the girl in the go club was simly "onne san" (elder sister). Girls become "san" much sooner than boys, because Tsutsui-san called Akari "Fujisaki-san" though she is the same age as Hikaru. And Tsutsui is one or two years older so he is rightly "Tsutsui-san". By the way Sai is Fujiwara no Sai as if he was owned by Fujiwara family. Bill: Fujiwara no Sai is the old-old fashioned way of saying Fujiwara Sai. "No" (of) does not denote ownership, any more than "de" (of) in Hernando De Soto or Jeanne d'Arc. splice: Actually, I disagree to some degree with Bill's statement. It makes a lot of sense to me that Hernando De Soto would mean Hernando of the Soto family, and Fujiwara no Sai would mean Sai of the Fujiwara family. I wouldn't be surprised if that was the origin of the old way of naming people. It does not necessarily denote ownership in any way, but it does denote inclusion in a group. Bill: Actually, splice, we agree. :-) MrKoala: Just an historical point about Jeanne d'Arc. She used to bear her father's name ("D'Arc"), which comes from the village around which he was born ("Arc en Barrois" or "Art sur Meurthe", two close villages). I'm not sure about Hernando de Soto either, but I agree about Sai-sensei :) About Japanese, the term for the elder sister is "onee-san" (With two "e" and one "n"). Anyway, here is my experience about Japanese titles : - -san = Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss : It's a mark of respect. You call someone "-san" when you don't know her very much but you don't want to be rude to her or when she has a higher (social) rank than you. - -sama = Lord : Big big respect :) I can't explain in which cases you call someone "-sama" other than the obvious cases ("otoosama" - instead of "otoosan" - to call your father if you have a rich family and have to show very very big big big respect to him ; or when talking to a "Lord") so if you have more info about it, feel free to provide details. It is also used when referring to "kami-sama" (kami = god/paper/hair ; choose the one that fits ;) ). A good example is a maid callind her master "Taro-sama" (Taro is used as a Japanese generic name. Nothing to do with Hanaukyo Taro :) ). I think this is rarely used nowadays. It can also be sarcastic as you can imagine. - -kun ~ Generally for male children. Also could be used when addressing a male of lesser status. - -chan = little : You say that to someone you have affection for. You generally kindly call a little child "-chan". As an example, I think that Sai-sensei once said "Why don't you buy Akari-chan some beginner books ?". You can also call a person you've known since childhood that way. That's can also be the "-kun" for the girls. If you have real affection for your elder sister, you can call her (o-)nee-chan. But it can also be used the reverse way, that is calling "-chan" someone you disrespect so much that you consider him as a child. - -sensei = teacher : You call someone that teaches you a particular subject "-sensei". As far as I know, it is also used for an M.D. - -sempai = elder : in the sense of classmate or fellow or of the same group. If some people have information about the "-han" suffix (e.g. used in kendoka families), please tell me. I know it also means "half" (like in "gomokuhan", five moku and a half), so is "Ranma-han" a play-on-words or not ? Some information about "-dono" and "-shi" would be nice also. But I think you have to feel these titles. As a general principle, I think you call someone according to the respect YOU want to show her (for the sake of what you are to and/or what you're feeling towards the person you are referring/talking to). If you want to insist on the fact that he/she teaches you go, you will call her "sensei". You can also think : "There's been a long time since I haven't seen this man and he used to teach me go back then and I used to call him "sensei" for this reason. I'm happy to see him again and my respect for him as my former teacher hasn't changed, so I will call him "sensei" again." moonprince: We can spend a lot of words on Japanese titles and their proper usage, so I'm trying a new page for that discussion. JapaneseTitles This is a copy of the living page "Sensei" at Sensei's Library. (C) the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0. |