What it Means to Be a Sempai

What does it mean to be a Sempai. The simpletoughness, fierceness, and a no-nonsense attitude.
meaning is to understand the definition. SempaiIt was and IS Sempai's responsibility to
translates as "Senior" and can be applied in anyimmediately correct any breach in ettiquette
situation where someone is senior to you. Thetoward Sensei, stop any threat toward Sensei,
Japanese term is used in school, business, thecorrect technical insufficiencies of the Kohai, and
arts, and of course the martial ways. But thedominate in training. Those who could not fulfill
meaning for those in a traditionally run martial artthese responsibilities were removed.
group is far deeper than simply "Senior."With all this responsibility, Sempai is still the best
The history of Sempai is long. The position has"job" in the dojo. You are the dominant warrior.
existed in warrior groups since warrior groupsYou maintain the relationship between Sensei and
began, and is not just a Japanese phenomenon.students. You get the special training with Sensei.
Originally Sempai was the most senior warrior inYou set and maintain the attitude in the dojo.
the group, under the group's commander orTraditionally you are the one who commands the
leader. His responsibility has always beenstudents. When you see Sensei ready to start
awesome and harder than anyone elses in theclass you tell the students to line up. You tell the
group. He was responsible for the developmentstudents to Bow to Sensei. You smack them on
and direction of the lower warriors, and for thethe back of the head when they are fooling
protection of the leader. No other position in aaround instead of training. You save the new
warrior group had these responsibilities. In thestudent from abuse by more experienced
Japanese martial arts, the position remains thestudents. You are solely responsible for resetting
same.the tone of a group of students if it is going in
The Sempai of a dojo had trained for a long timethe wrong direction. At the same time - you are
with the headmaster. He understood thethe person most looked up to in the dojo. You
headmasters (Sensei's) goals, trainingare recognized as the person nobody wants to
methodologies and philosophies. He alsomess with. You are the one the students watch
understood Sensei as a warrior and as a person.when you contest with Sensei - because they
More than these understandings, he had privilegesknow you are the one most likely to catch Sensei
and knowledge about Sensei that other studentswhen he makes a technical mistake.
did not. Thus this made Sensei vulnerable toThere are others in the dojo referred to as
Sempai. With that vulnerability came trust bySempai - and it means Senior. That is a blackbelt,
Sensei and responsibility by Sempai. With thesea member of the Yudansha - one who is senior
privileges and knowledge about Sensei, Sempaito the mudansha (those below blackbelt). But
had the sole responsibility to protect Sensei withbeing THE Sempai is something different. THE
his life. This often meant that Sempai was forcedSempai sits in front of the blackbelt sempai at an
to train harder than both the students and theangle both to Sensei and the blackbelts. This
Sensei, for if a student or enemy saw thatposition is neceassary because the Sempai needs
Sempai was vulnerable or easily beatable - thereto see both Sensei and Students. His back can be
was surely an opening to get at Sensei. In timesturned to neither if he is to protect Sensei. Being
of war, Sempai was either the strongest or theTHE Sempai means you train directly with Sensei
weakest link in the command chain. A Sempaiand Sensei confers with you on strategy,
who was not the strongest was quickly replacedtechnique, and running the training sessions at the
out of necessity.dojo.
Being Sempai meant you were personallyThe Sempai should make every effort to be at
responsible for the training of Kohai (juniors). UponSensei's dojo as often as possible. (In warrior
review by Sensei, all Kohai must measure up tohistory it was always - but today's modern
Sensei's standards or Sempai was directly tosociety - not at war - often means making it to
blame. Sempai was personally responsible forclass as often as practical.) The Sempai should
Kohai ettiquette. This was most important. Anyalways be concerned that some other student is
breaches in ettiquette in the dojo werereceiving more training than him, is training harder
repremanded by Sempai, not Sensei. If Senseithan him, and is perhaps taking over his position
had to make the correction, it simply meantwithout him knowing it. Sempai constantly looks at
Sempai was not doing his job. If either of thesestudents with distrust - being the barrier between
situations happened more than a few times,the students and Sensei.
Sempai was replaced with someone who couldThe Sempai should not rush toward being a
accomplish the duties assigned.Sensei in his own dojo. Because all of these duties,
Being Sempai also meant you were the onlywhich a correctly chosen Sempai's personality is
person in the dojo that Sensei completelynatural for, will go away. In order to be Sensei
recognized for his martial skill. He is the oneyou must re-invent yourself and become
person who Sensei "feared" in the group. Mostsomething else. When that day comes - a true
often Sempai was the fiercest and smartestSempai will look back on his days as The Sempai
person in the warrior group besides Sensei. Theas the "glory days", which he will sorely long for
difference is that it was Sensei's position to lead inthe rest of his days.
a calm, controlled and sophisticated manner,This is what it means to be the Sempai.
whereas Sempai maintained control through