Sempai/Kõhai in the West

Western martial artists, especially those who have either trained in the Japan tradition or have reached that rarified goal of training in Japan, have some trouble with the terms semapi ( 先輩) and kõhai ( 後輩) and how they are bastardized in the west. In short, they are hollow in their western usage, reduced to mere window dressing. They do not speak to the real martial spirit. And they are right. This is a social expression that is part of a different culture. The bigger question is should this be a tool we should use here in the US?

The sempai/kõhai relationship is a Japanese expression. There is no doubt that it means something totally different to a Japanese person. And there is even different expression of the terms within different Japanese institutions. A Japanese ball player will hold to, and honor the relationship differently than a member of a Japanese martial training hall. By disparaging the term in the western manner, however, much value is lost, especially in the martial area. I hope to rescue it.

The one objection is that the kõhai are regulated to the role of servant, and really abused by the seniors, often cruelly. And, yes, this does happen. Juniors are often forced into drinking games with the sole purpose of making them ill. But what is not known is that it then becomes the responsibility of the seniors to take care of their ill compatriots, up to but not limited to standing by them as they vomit into the nearest receptacle, even if that receptacle is the senior’s own hat. And the senior smiles and takes it. That’s part of what it means to be a senior, just as the menial tasks are what it means to be a junior.

This leads us, naturally, into the next, much more cogent objection. That, to be blunt, Americans don’t get it. They don’t understand this personal nature of the relationship. It is not written on the bones like on a Japanese. You see, sempai/kõ hai means something to every Japanese. Forcing it onto American invites misunderstanding at best or outright abuse.

I agree.

I have no argument against this second view. But I think that the ignorance of the American martial public is not reason to abandon the term. The sempai/kõ hai relationship is a path to the higher ideals of virtue. You will being to see the other as part of the same ideal that you are. Not a binding together in a group, per say, but more of the idea of accessibility. He did the same thing that he is asking me to do, so I will do them too. Look at what it has given him, the expressions that I want. I do as he says and I can be him.

And, yes, the American sempai don’t grasp the responsibilities of this relationship. But why are we, their instructors, prevented from telling them? We aren’t. And we are cheapening the tradition by denying it to them. To see that the seniors feel responsible for their juniors creates a predisposition to responsibility, something you really want to see in a group of people who will embody the power of destruction. People who are, in essence, becoming the vessels of a wrathful God. I want my angels of destruction to have a measure of compassion.