Japanese Honorifics and their modern use.
This is a abridged version of my original article, if you want to read the whole article email me and I will forward it to you.

Introduction
I have been calling someone Sensei or Sempai as long as I can remember! Most of the time, I would just use the title thinking that it was a person's name or not realizing the meaning behind it. And most of the time, I was using it wrong! When I first started in Karate we had one Sensei in our organization, and the rest of the teachers were Sempai to me. I was lucky enough to train at the local head quarters and even instructors at other clubs were Sempai when they came to the club to work out with my instructors.

Over time we started using the term Sensei for anyone that taught at a club, and of course the instructors that came in to teach us and do our testing.

Then we had a shift in use of the term in Canada and every senior that taught in a Dojo were called Sensei by pretty much anyone with a black belt could be called Sensei and it seemed that anyone with a black belt was Sensei...in fact you could not walk into a class without running into two or three Senseis that were in the club on a regular basis.

All this go so out of hand that we started seeing local people advertising as Kyoshi, or Renshi or Shidoin and no one seemed to know what the heck any of this meant...but it sure sounded good. I however thought it was horrible! I felt it was a smack in the face to all traditional hearted Karate people for Ranks and titles to be given out like candy and people who had no business using the title Sensei or others to adopt them as if it was "Sir" or "Mr." and the perception that someone being called Sensei should automatically be afforded a overstuffed amount of respect.and often they demanded it.was starting to not sit well with me.

So, I researched Shogo or martial honorifics and found out what we were doing wrong and hopefully this paper will help you figure out for yourself how to use the Shogo and what it really means!

What is a honorific
Honorifics are terms or titles used to address a person, describe a person or address the position a person uses. These are not to be confused with job terms or titles like Major in the military or a medical doctor. Some jobs also come with their own sets of honorifics that may confuse people.

Basically a Shogo, or marital title is used to denote a person's job, relationship to the person using the Shogo or as a title to denote specific contributions to the arts. However, many of them are misused and misunderstood in the west.

Common Martial Honorifics "Shogo" or Martial degres, titles.
Martial arts have borrowed heavily from everyday Japanese Society to come up with some of the more common Shogo or martial titles. The titles Sempai, Kohai, Sensei and even Deshi are all common Japanese Honorifics that have nothing to do with martial arts.

The term Sensei literally means "Former-born" and can be translated as "the one that came before". This term is used for teachers, Doctors, Politicians and other authority figures in Japan. This term can also be applied to novelists, poets, painters and other artists. However, in the martial arts, "Sensei" typically refers to someone who is the head of a Dojo, Sensei can be used as a suffix or as a standalone title and often is.

The term Sensei is pretty cut and dry in Japan, if you are the head teacher or a teacher in that club then you can be called Sensei by the students and visitors to the club, if you are not the head instructor or a junior instructor then you are not called Sensei. Very cut and dry..however then we have the term Sempai or Senpai! That is far more complicated. Sempai / Senpai is used to address ones senior colleagues in school, Sports and at work. In Karate and martial arts, students that are higher grades that oneself are often called Senpai, Students of the same or lower grades are not, nor are al teachers called Sensei in Martial arts. In martial arts it is more accepted to refer to ones direct mentor that is not your instructor as Sempai. So, it is more and expression of a relationship over a title.

In Japan some Honorifics are used to denote specific levels or as a way of addressing skill and grade, but they are not used in reference to someone specific. Renshi, Kyoshi, Hanshi are titles used to denote a persons level of mastery but not used in combination with their name by way of introduction. All of these titles come from licences that were given out to martial arts instructors by the Japanese budo-Kai or warrior spirit society as a way of monitoring skills of the instructors of specific arts, mostly fighting arts from feudal Japan like Kenjutsu and Yarajitsu. However they were adopted by Karate and other martial arts as "Grades" incorrectly and altered their meaning.

Some terms used that are similar may be Senhusei or Kenshusei, which literally mean Trainee, However these are not Shogo but more definitions of who a person is in the organization.

Proper use of honorifics
So, now that we know what Honorifics (Keigo) or Martial titles (Shogo) are, I think we should look at why and how they are used by the people that use them properly. Honorifics are often used to describe a relationship one has directly with the person youa re talking about or to address a degree of mastery one has in a particular area. The Proper use of these titles is by people talking about someone...not themeslves......the use of Honorifics may be used out of respect as well.

The system of Keigo in Japanese and Chinese culture are very extensive, intricate and specific. The system includes various levels of respectful, humbling and polite speech and used by many Asian languages such as Chinese and Korean languages. Honorifics are generally broken down into Respectful language, Humble language, Polite and beautification language use.

Misuse of honorifics
Honorifics have been misused horribly over the last few generations since the Martial arts hit the West. We tend to think of the Honorifics as a rank or something that denotes a higher position in a organizations structure. While some Honorifics are meant to denote status of a person, they are not used as a way of addressing someone like a job title, Doctor or Mayor! We tend to see a lot of senior instructors in the west using titles like Renshi, Kyoshi and Hanshi like they are some kind of mantle they can apply to their name.
I have seen and heard of people that refer to themselves using the titles and not realizing how egomaniacal it makes them sound. And the arrogance they are portraying is counter to the true spirit of Karate and martial arts in general.

This kind of silliness and the use of terms like “Sensei” (the one born before) For 20 year old instructors teaching people 20 years their senior…well the use of Honorifics has gotten about as out of hand as ranking has. Seems like everyone is getting to be 7th Dans and 8th Dans with political strings being pulled and forgetting that Karate is not about title or status, but your personal experience in Karate, the training and the relationships you build with others!

Conclusion
I realize that one article on rank and Honorifics, as informative and fun as I tried to make it, wont clear up this issue, but hopefully those that read it realize that some of us feel the mis-users of Honorifics are silly and require a wide path when dealing with them. We also can not correct people that have large egos, except in small ways and normally on the dojo floor or by showing them that they are missing the point in some way. But hopefully my students and those that train in the same dojos as me get the point that titles are to be used as descriptive, not as a way of cowing down and was never meant to be more than it is, a term of respect and great fullness for the person teaching you.


Lastly, I think this boils down to respect! Respect for me is very important, to those that give it to me and those I give it back two. First off Resects can only be earned, not demanded! If you demand respect what you get back is fear and often loathing! If you give respect and earn it then it is true respect! Putting a fancy Gi on, a nice belt and a lofty title do not earn you respect, especially if it comes with a unspoken demand for it! As an instructor the most important thing to do is give as much respect, knowledge and heart to your students as you can. If they choose to respect you back, that is a blessing. Tagging a title and rank onto your name will not help get you any more true respect!