Blog Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)
It has been said, “A master has nothing left to learn… A master has nothing left to prove… Since a master is done learning and improving, they stagnate. Since a master is no longer learning and improving as their mind and body change, they degrade.”
Wow, a set perception of what it means to have mastered a skill be it karate or other martial discipline. Defining symbolic titles can be daunting and seldom do people come to a consensus because mastering something, anything, is as diverse as their are people. It is just not that simple because you truly have to know, understand and grasp concepts in regard to the discipline before one can even begin to consider ‘mastery of a craft and skill’.
My philosophy on the subject of titles can first be glimpsed through some reading assignments, read:
Now, as an addendum that is more up to date I would followup with the following:
“Sensei means “elder brother, i.e. senior student” - these days it is looked at as Instructor.” - Jim Bolton
Commentary: The translation into English of the characters/ideograms gives us the following meaningS, emphasis in the plural, i.e., “teacher; master; doctor; with names of teachers, etc., as an honorific; and previous existence.” No where in all the translations do I find ‘elder brother or senior student’. Not that it can’t be translated into meaning either of these and the lesson here is to be careful BECAUSE translation of Japanese is even difficult with Japanese. Often when using terms even Japanese have to draw out the characters so that someone outside the person’s immediate locale can translate it, loosely, to understand.
Many assume that because their exposure is from the dojo that the title is something unique to the dojo and martial practices and that is just wrong. You can add in bowing, rei, to the large list because almost all of it stems from the Japanese, and other Asian cultures, culture and like everything followed the practitioners of Japan into the proverbial dojo. We Americans seem to be the only ones insistent on making the translation, meaning and honorific title a dojo martial karate one. It is just not true and one can do a bit of research taking into concern confirmation biases to find that out.
Back to sensei, it can also mean, when other characters/ideograms are used yet the term or word or translation is still sensei, despotism; autocracy; head-start; initiative; preemption; oath; abjuration; pledge; ancient sage; Confucius; recessiveness, etc. So, it becomes a bit more clear that a title, especially an honorific one, is not what you think it is, mostly.
Now, notice one translation of sensei refers to master. Defining master just in the martial disciplines is not easy to accomplish because most of us don’t know what we don’t know as to what makes one a master of martial skills. Even my attempts at the reading list above is not adequate in defining the honorific symbolic title.
Terms in Japanese that denote, “master,” are: meijin; danna; oyokata; shishou; taika; kyoshou; shu; tatsujin; meishu; daishihan; oodanna; shukou; teishu; sensei; kunteki; kaminote; and many others so who is to say what that title ‘master’ is in Japanese and yet we have English titles such as, “Hanshi, Kyoshi, Renshi, etc.,” to which we assign the master or mastery to.
No definitive authority or source can lay out the accepted criteria of what constitutes a master of say, karate. This leads to a huge interpretive chasm that one tends to fill in using both dissonance and biases along with beliefs, perceptions and concepts that are exclusive to individuals to define and assign the title master. Rarely, if any, actually provide you the traits and requirements of an accepted body authoritative expertise to say what constitutes mastery.
It also seems that as time passes other titles seem to crop up mostly to fill in gaps that other titles don’t to fill in some egoistic status seeking need such as the title, “kaicho.” What does kaicho mean depends like all others on the character/ideogram’s used. The current search results on a leading translation web service says it can mean, “president (of a society); chairman; good (condition); going well; fine; smooth; sea bird.” Hmmmm, interesting don’t you think.
In the end the definition of master of any discipline depends. As an honorific bestowed on someone also depends not just on the person, not just on its definition and criteria and traits and not just on those who bestow (leading to concerns how one can bestow on someone master if not a master themselves already meaning they must have traits, yadda yadda yadda).
In this country my personal opinionated opinion is those who take and use such titles seemingly indiscriminately are not truly of that level of honor, humility, skill, knowledge and most of all understanding of the discipline involved. If you have it, if you use it and if you think you are one without all the traits, concepts and other criteria set forth by an accepted authority that all embrace then you ain’t one.
For reference and sources and professionals go here: Bibliography (Click the link)
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