PDA

View Full Version : Senpai / Kohai



chris davis 200
24th September 2003, 11:05
Hi all,

I have been pondering the validity of the Sempai Kohei system.

If someone walks through the Dojo door for the first time before someone else then they are sempai.

Now what if that person was a five year old when they walked through the door? and you are a senior but started later? is that five year old your sempai? Should you, as a higher rank and more experienced Martial artist act to that five year old as your senior????

Ok they are in a different class - but the same school, so it follows that this rule still applies.

Also what is the cut off point - Is there a seperation between childrens and adults classes and when children move into adults classes they are Kohei?

Tiss all very strange!!

cheers
Chris

MarkF
25th September 2003, 13:03
That's a subject many times discussed on E-budo. Use the search button at the top of the page and enter one or the other word, or both.

I'm not sure you understand the Sempai/kohai relationship very well. It is probably more familiar in the business world than in budo. It is a bit like the employer/intern program. If you understand that then you probably have a better idea of it.

But it definitely isn't as you describe. Many dojo do have one, perhaps two sempai which is more of a rank in a dojo rather than simply who comes through the door first. Usually, many things play into it. The best of the student instructors, for example, may be chosen the sempai so it may have little to do with time in training you seem to imply. It may be that one senior student gets more respect because he communicates better than another, or works well with children or younger students AND doesn't mind teaching younger students. A self-starter may be a good reason for a teacher to depend on that person, and he can be a lower graded student than others. S/he also needs to be able to step into the shoes of sensei at the last minute and take care of the class as if the teacher was sitting in a corner of the dojo watching, the students not noticing any difference.

Visitors who are known to be seniors as in senior instructors are sometimes called sempai out of respect.

But some dojo and teacher pick the wrong person or persons as seniors, and they may make him/her look bad. In a business relationship in Japan that would not be overlooked, though in public, the sempai may put up with a kohai's attitude, once alone, he may do just about anything.


The sempai I've noted to have a good relationship with the students are the ones who can change instantly to the kohai position when it comes to the boss (sensei).

Skill, while important, doesn't have to be better than everyone else nor does a senior student need to have more time-in, in fact, neither needs to be present to have a good sempai/kohai relationship, one just needs to know his place. This doesn't necessarily translate to experience, but sometimes it does. I mean that the relationship should be establishe without the need to say "You sempai." It should just..happen.


Mark

Nathan Scott
30th September 2003, 00:16
[Post deleted by user]