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Grandmaster and Master are titles used to describe or address some senior or experienced martial artists. Typically these titles are honorary in nature, meaning that they do not confer rank, but rather distinguish the individual as very highly revered in their school, system, or style.
History edit
Asian martial arts traditionally use terms that are usually translated as "teacher"[1] and the use of "master" was a Western invention derived from 1950s United States war veterans returning home[1][clarification needed] with stories of the incredible martial feats of certain individuals and groups. Subsequently, they found their way into martial arts culture as marketing tactics to the extent that the titles are aligned to the 'elderly martial arts master' stock character. In Asian countries, such titles are more commonly reserved for religious leaders and saints.[1]
Modern use edit
The use of "master," "grandmaster," etc. is decided within an individual art or organization. The use may be self assigned; for example having promoted a student to 'teacher' level, or may be assigned by a governing body in arts with a more formalised structure, and some do not use it at all, for historic reasons or to avoid the 'elderly master' stereotype. The modern use of Dan rankings and Black belt and Red belt in martial arts both derive from Judo where they were adopted by its founder Kanō Jigorō.[2]
Traditional systems edit
There are many terms similar or equivalent to 'master' used by various martial arts traditions. Some of these terms derive from older systems, while others are relatively modern.
Japan edit
Japanese martial arts commonly use Sensei (
Korea edit
The actual Korean word for a student's master is sonsaeng. This term is only used by the student when speaking to the instructor. The student is haksaeng.[6] (학생 HakSaeng
China edit
Various dialects of the Chinese language use different terms.
"Sifu" is a common romanization, although the term and pronunciation are also used in other southern languages. In Mandarin Chinese, it is spelled "shifu" in pinyin. Using non-rhotic British English pronunciation, in Mandarin it would sound something similar to "sure foo". Using IPA, 'shi' is pronounced 'ʂɨ'. The 'i' is a short vowel. Many martial arts studios incorrectly pronounce this like "she foo". In Cantonese, it is said as "see foo" (almost like "sea food", without the "d" on the end).
(
The term Shifu is a combination of the characters "teacher" and "father" (
Popular culture edit
Such titles may be, to some extent, aligned to the elderly martial arts master stock character in fiction. In Asian martial arts, traditional titular systems vary between nations and arts, but terms such as "teacher"[1] were more common than "master." The modern use came from Eastern to Western society in the 1950s with stories of martial feats seen in Asia.
See also edit
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f Master vs. Sifu in Chinese Martial Arts Archived 2006-10-18 at the Wayback Machine Traditional Asian Health Center
- ^ Ranking Systems in Modern Japanese Martial Arts: Modern vs. Classical by Donn F. Draeger, Lecture on 1 April 1976.
- ^ a b What is a Sensei? Neil Ohlenkamp, judoinfo.com
- ^ Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary
- ^ William M. Bodiford. "Soke: Historical Incarnations of a Title and its Entitlements". www.koryubooks.com. Retrieved 2019-10-04.
- ^ Korean Terminology Martial Arts Fitness Centers, Inc.