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DWx
KF Sensei


Joined: 17 Jan 2007
Posts: 6335
Location: UK
Styles: Tae Kwon Do & Yang family Tai Chi
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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 3:13 pm Post subject: Don't call yourself sensei! |
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Great video from Jesse Encamp about the term "sensei". What are your thoughts on this?
I'm very lax in our school with titles and such. Possibly wrong but even my youngest students can use my first name and I go by "Miss Danielle" most of the time rather than use a title. I see a lot on Facebook and the like using their titles as part of their name which always seems strange to me... as don't your non-martial arts friends also interact with you on those platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pBt_wSAI0Q
As a teacher, how do you prefer your students to address you? _________________ "Everything has its beauty, but not everyone sees it." ~ Confucius |
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sensei8
KF Sensei


Joined: 23 Feb 2008
Posts: 15153
Location: Houston, TX
Styles: Shindokan Saitou-ryu [Shuri-te/Okinawa-te based]
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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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Bob. That's it. Bob. Just Bob. Plain Bob.
When it's formal, just Sensei. No Sensei Bob or Sensei Mitcham. When Soke and Dai-Soke were alive, it was Mitcham Sensei...which was quite funny to hear them say my last name...often because of that, it would be just Sensei, or quite a lot of pointing and gesturing.
Great thing about the name Bob is that no matter how you spell it...forwards...backwards...upside down...sideways...it's still Bob. I think my parents were trying to tell me something.
 _________________ **Proof is on the floor!!! |
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ashworth
Purple Belt


Joined: 13 Nov 2006
Posts: 556
Location: UK
Styles: Kankoko No Ryu, shotokan, IJR Karate, Iaido
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 2:24 am Post subject: |
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I genuinely don't think I get called anything, I run small classes and its obvious when someone wants to talk to me... occasionally I may have been called Sensei and I'm pretty sure I have just been called Ash a couple of times. _________________ Ashley Aldworth
Train together, Learn together, Succeed together... |
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Bulltahr
Brown Belt

Joined: 08 Mar 2015
Posts: 707
Location: NEW ZEALAND
Styles: Shotokan, Seido Juku
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2021 2:14 pm Post subject: Re: Don't call yourself sensei! |
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DWx wrote: |
I see a lot on Facebook and the like using their titles as part of their name which always seems strange to me... as don't your non-martial arts friends also interact with you on those platforms.
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Either they are trying to promote themselves or they are probably a bit delusional. But it's pretty cheesy anyway that you look at it.... _________________ "We don't have any money, so we will have to think" - Ernest Rutherford |
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bushido_man96
KF Sensei


Joined: 31 Mar 2006
Posts: 28552
Location: Hays, KS
Styles: Taekwondo, Combat Hapkido, Aikido, GRACIE
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 3:02 am Post subject: |
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In class, I prefer just Mr. Walker. I don't necessarily want any title attached to my rank put in front of it. Our organization is pretty strict on not allowing first names to be used, but outside of class, I prefer my first name, or at the least, just my last name with no title. _________________ www.haysgym.com
http://www.sunyis.com/
www.aikidoofnorthwestkansas.com |
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Spartacus Maximus
Black Belt

Joined: 01 Jun 2014
Posts: 1830
Styles: Shorin ryu
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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2021 6:20 am Post subject: |
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It depends a lot on the culture of the dojo one belongs to. Outside of Okinawa where the dojo culture is quite casual, many dojo’s have a very quasi-military style. Japan’s militarism at the time karate was introduced there and the fact that most first generation non-native instructors were also military men explains why it is so common for titles and rank to be insisted upon.
Personally, using “sir” always seemed unnecessary and misplaced without being in the military. The only forms of address in and out of the dojo was whatever they were in plain English or whatever language was used. A school teacher and a martial arts instructor were called the same thing: “Mr” or “Ms”. Anyone close to one’s age, used first names. I have trained under mostly Okinawan instructors and they have always been very casual with titles except for the regular forms of address “last-name+san” in Japanese. In Japan and Okinawa it’s normal, but in other places it’s normal to use what is usually used there in the local language. |
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