Sensei Sensei Shubert Theatre (New Haven) Category="Honorifics"Category="Japanese terms"Sensei (先生, 1=Sensei<span class=t nihongo icon style='color:) is a Japanese title used to refer to or address teachers, doctors, lawyers, politicians, or other authority figures. It is also used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill. For example, novelists, musicians, and artists use the title in this way.

In Sanbo Kyodan related Zen schools, sensei is normally used to refer to ordained teachers below the rank of Roshi. However, other Zen Buddhists use the term for any priest regardless of seniority.

Sensei is also one of the common Japanese martial arts titles.

The Japanese expression sensei derives from the Chinese word xiansheng, which is written with the same characters. Xiansheng is a courtesy title for a man of respected stature; its English equivalent is gentleman. It can also be attached to a man's name to mean "Mr." Prior to the development of the modern vernacular, Xiansheng was used to address teachers of both male and female sexes; however, this has fallen out of widespread usage.

As one example, Japanese manga fans refer to manga artist Rumiko Takahashi as "Takahashi-sensei."

Ōsensei and waka sensei

Ōsensei (大先生, 1=Ōsensei<span class=t nihongo icon style='color:) is a Japanese title used to distinguish between two teachers (or doctors, etc.) with the same name. The elder or superior one is then called ōsensei, and the other one waka sensei (若先生, 1=waka sensei<span class=t nihongo icon style='color:). In most cases, ōsensei is the father of waka sensei.

In martial arts, the most common use of this term is for the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba. Another famous martial artist, Masutatsu Oyama, founder of Kyokushin Karate was referred to as ōsensei within his organization, the Kyokushinkai.