What does "Sensei" Mean?

By Brett Denison, Mizukan Dojo

Sensei literally means "one who has come before."

"Sen," which means, "before," or "ahead of."

"Shi," which means, "life," or "birth."

Sensei does not mean "teacher" or "instructor," which is how it is most frequently interpreted. But it is frequently used in regards to a "teacher or "instructor." Basically this means that the instructor has been through the same trails and tribulations that the student is going through and their primary function and responsibility is to act as a guide to help the student through their training, and to smooth out some of the rougher experiences.

A common analogy in regards to budo training is finding your Way up a mountain. The sensei has traveled farther along the path (they have not reached the summit, and anyone that feels they have learned everything their is to know has merely missed many very basic concepts of budo) and uses the experience from their travels to help guide the student (or deshi) alone the path. They do not and should not, lead the student by the hand. They should merely provide guidance in the form of course corrections to make sure the student continues to move in the correct general direction. If the student strays from the correct path, the sensei needs to go too the student and guide them back to the path, but at the same time let the student make their own decisions. With this approach, students all learn the same material, but they each learn and internalize the material differently.

That's why it is so important that, as a student, for you to form your own views and opinions. This is a critical and necessary step for a student. If a student merely copied the movements and philosophies of their "instructor" they would never truly learn and absorb the essence of the art and would find it that much harder to try and transfer their knowledge to the next generation of students. This is because the depth of their knowledge would be shallower then their "instructors," and over the course of several generations of this, the pool of knowledge that represents the art would eventually dry up. All that would be left is but a shell of the former art.

Does that make sense? If you understand the analogy, then you can begin to understand how you could have an instructor that is not a "sensei" in the true meaning of the term, and you can also appreciate the value of training under a true "sensei."

(Please, visit the website of Denison sensei on http://mizukan.home.attbi.com/ )