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

Asian martial arts traditionally use terms that are usually translated as "

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

" and the use of " master" was a

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

invention derived from 1950s

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

war veterans returning home 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 In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...

Modern use

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 is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...

where they were adopted by its founder

Kanō Jigorō was a Japanese judoka, educator, politician, and the founder of judo. Judo was one of the first Japanese martial arts to gain widespread international recognition, and the first to become an official Olympic Games, Olympic sport. Pedagogical ...

.Ranking Systems in Modern Japanese Martial Arts: Modern vs. Classical
by Donn F. Draeger, Lecture on 1 April 1976.

Traditional systems

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

Japanese martial arts Japanese martial arts refers to the variety of martial arts native to the country of Japan. At least three Japanese terms (''budō'', ''bujutsu'', and ''bugei'') are used interchangeably with the English phrase Japanese martial arts. The usage ...

commonly use ''

Sensei The term "先生", read in Chinese, in Japanese, in Korean, and in Vietnamese, is an honorific used in the Sinosphere. In Japanese, the term literally means "person born before another" or "one who comes before". It is generally used ...

'' (先生) meaning "teacher" or literally translated, "born first" or "one who has gone before".What is a Sensei?
Neil Ohlenkamp, judoinfo.com A ''Sensei'' is a person who has knowledge and is willing to teach that knowledge to another. A ''Sensei'' assists students in ''ken shiki'' "the pursuit of knowledge". Several Japanese organizations, such as the

Bujinkan The is an international martial arts organization based in Japan and headed by Masaaki Hatsumi. The combat system taught by this organization comprises nine separate ryūha, or schools, which are collectively referred to as ''Bujinkan Budō Taij ...

, Kodokan (Judo), and most branches of

Aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art which is split into many different styles including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai, and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practic ...

, formally award a certificate conferring the title '' Shihan'' ("teacher of teachers" or "master teacher") to recognize high-ranking or highly distinguished instructors. , meaning "the head family ouse" is sometimes used to refer to "founder of a style" because many modern sōke are the first generation headmasters of their art, but most correctly refers to the current head. A sōke is considered the ultimate authority within their art and has the authority to issue a '' menkyo kaiden'' certificate indicating that someone has mastered all aspects of the style.

Korea

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''.Korean Terminology
Martial Arts Fitness Centers, Inc. (학생 HakSaeng 學生) Many Korean titles are often mistakenly translated as "grandmaster" (태사님 TaeSaNim 太師님). ''Sonseang-nim'' (선생님 SeonSaengNim 先生님) is a general term for a teacher of any subject as well as a respectful form of the word "you". Martial arts instructors (in Korea 4th Dan and above) are called ''Sabom-nim'' (사범님 SaBeomNim 師範님).

China

Various dialects of the

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

use different terms. "Sifu" is a common romanization, although the term and pronunciation are also used in other southern languages. In

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, it is spelled "shifu" in

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

. Using

non-rhotic The distinction between rhoticity and non-rhoticity is one of the most prominent ways in which varieties of the English language are classified. In rhotic accents, the sound of the historical English rhotic consonant, , is preserved in all p ...

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). (師傅 or 師父;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

: ''shīfu'', Standard pinyin: ''si1 fu6'') a modern term for "teacher". The term ''Shifu'' is a combination of the characters "teacher" and "father" (師父) or a combination of the characters "teacher" and "mentor" (師傅). The traditional Chinese martial arts school, or ''

kwoon The word (Cantonese) or ( Mandarin) is a cultural term that is common in spoken and written Chinese. In Cantonese, it is sometimes also transliterated as . This term may carry different meanings, depending on the local culture and the geogr ...

'' (館, guǎn) is an extended family headed by the Shifu. The Shifu's teacher is the "師公 honorable master" or ''Shigong''. Similarly the Shifu's wife is the ''Shimu'' "teacher mother" and the grandmaster's wife is known as: 師姥 shi lao; or 師婆 shi po. Male and female students who began training before you and are thus senior, are 師兄''Shixiong'' "teacher older brothers" and 師姐 ''Shijie'' "teacher's sisters". Women in traditional society did not have the same status as males (despite what modern movies depict). Students junior to you are your ''Shidi'' and ''Shimei''. The pattern extends to uncles, aunts, cousins, great uncles, and so forth (see above for a complete list of relational terms).

Popular culture

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 "

"Master vs. Sifu in Chinese Martial Arts
Traditional Asian Health Center 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 Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

References

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