What does Sensai mean and what does Senpai mean?

Question

What does Sensai mean and what does Senpai mean?

Answer 1

Sensei:

Literally:

1.) One who has gone before

2.) Teacher, master, doctor

3.) A title for those who have recognized mastery in a given topic (medicine, law, the arts, etc.,...)

In context, dojo:

1.) The instructor in a given class

2.) The senior instructor of a dojo.  

Similar to a department head professor at a university as a loose metaphor to the term in a dojo context.

Sensei can be considered analogous to the western term Dr. as in PhD though the analogy is again a loose one.

Sempei:

Literally:

1.) Senior, superior, elder, old-timer, older graduate

In context, dojo:

1.) The senior student of the dojo - An official title that has a special role...  THE sempei vs. A sempei.  There are usually responsibilities associated such as representing the dojo in a positive way, organizing/performing dojo tasks outside the context of training and representing the ideal of what a student should be.

The Sempei of a dojo would be like the senior graduate student of a PhD professor.

2.) Any student senior to you in (formally) rank or (respectfully) experience.  It is in this context it is used for students to address any other senior student.  A 5th Kyu student would refer to a 4th Kyu as Sempei but the same 4th Kyu would refer to a 3rd Kyu as Sempei.  In this context, the term is not an official title, but it is a term used out of respect in context.

The Sempei in this context would be used by undergrads in reference to a master's student leading their class in college.

Answer 2

where i train sempai means 1st dan

then dai sempai is 2nd dan

sensai 3rd dan

renshi 4th dan

cant remember 5th

kyoshi 6th dan

cant remember 7th

hanshi 8th

cant remember 9th

and grand master for 10th

Answer 3

sensei= master

senpai= senior student

Answer 4

Sensei- teacher or instructor

Senpai- Upperclassmen or senior student.

Answer 5

Sensei means - Preceding Life.

Sempai means - first peer.

The student is the continuation of the Sensei.

Sempai is the "first group"

Kohai is the "back group"

Answer 6

Different schools use them in slightly different ways.

In my dojo we use the title Sensei to designate a black belt who is a certified instructor.  This means that the student is capable of teaching a class on his or her own without supervision.  The title Sempai is given to a brown or black belt who is designated as an assistant instructor.  This means the student can teach a small group in a class setting with a Sensei supervising.  

Neither is given automatically as part of rank, the student has to teach for a certain number of hours and have their teaching methods observed by our master.  He is the only one who can give out these titles.

Answer 7

sensei-teacher

sempai-teachers assistant.

Answer 8

Sensei - teacher - one who has been before

Sempai - highest ranking student - mentor/assistant to Sensei

Answer 9

Not to be a stickler, but the meanings are actually not "master" and "senior student".

Sensei ( 先生 ) is made up of the kanji Sen ( 先 ) meaning "previous" and Sei ( 生 ) meaning "life" or "birth". Literally it would be taken as "Someone born previously". It's an honorific or title, and used as a term of respect for someone with more life or specialized experience than you (Teachers or Doctors, usually).

Senpai ( 先輩 ) is again Sen ( 先 ) meaning "previous" and Pai ( 輩 ) meaning "fellow" or "comrade". Roughly, this would be "A comrade (part of the group) who came before", and is, again, an honorific or title. In martial arts groups, it's usually used to refer to the most senior student (deshi) who is not yet of dan ranking (yudansha), though may be used to show respect to any senior colleague.

It's important to note that it's difficult to say that a group of Japanese symbols mean a specific thing. Japanese uses ideograms to form "words" which carry connotations which mean different things in different combinations, many of which do not have strict English equivalents.