Sensei is my Aikido teacher. I learned the word as a proper noun and the name of a particular man, though in Japan there are a lot of senseis. A Japanese might address a teacher, doctor, or an artist--basically anyone whose social status is based on accomplished learning--as "sensei." "Sensei" is "sensei" by that standard too. It is his job. Since Japanese custom forbids the use of first names except among siblings, primary school classmates, and possibly truly intimate friends, it has also become his American name. Some of my Japanese friends use their first name in this country, but they are all younger than Sensei, and perhaps more easily adapted to what must initally sound like a gross breach of manners. Sensei has a first name--I know it and it is on the cover of his book--but I've never heard anyone call him by it.

It pleases me that the word "sensei" can mean so many things for me. Sometimes I say "Sensei" and I mean "my sensei"--my respected teacher, from whom I can learn. Other times I say "Sensei" and I mean "that person, my friend" whom I love and respect, but whom I also know has feet of clay. Sometimes I say "Sensei" and I mean both things.

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