Master in Japanese

Master in Japanese is 師匠, said shishou, the master of an art or craft who takes on apprentices. Two kanji: 師 (teacher), ten strokes under 巾, and 匠 (artisan), six strokes under 匚. A teacher or a doctor is 先生 (sensei) instead. Written in hiragana shishou is ししょう, and in katakana シショウ.

Master in Japanese

Sit through an afternoon at a 寄席 (yose), a Tokyo variety hall, and watch the youngest performer. Between acts, a young man in a plain kimono comes out, turns over the cushion, flips the name card on the stand and bows himself off. He is a 前座 (zenza), the lowest rank of rakugo storyteller, and backstage he is the one making tea for his seniors.

The storyteller who took him on as an apprentice, he calls 師匠 (shishou). Master.

That is the word for the master you apprentice yourself to: in rakugo, in shamisen, in pottery, in a sushi kitchen. It names a relationship as much as a skill. A 師匠 has 弟子 (deshi), disciples, and the bond between them can last a lifetime.

English “master” covers more ground than that, and Japanese splits it into several words. The one you hear most often is 先生 (sensei).

Shishou and Sensei Meaning

Shishou (師匠) means a master or teacher of an art, a craft or a martial art, the person you train under. In hiragana it is ししょう, in katakana シショウ, and it is said “shee-shoh,” with the final o held for two beats. Dictionaries add two narrower senses: the teacher of a traditional performing art, often called お師匠さん (o-shishou-san), and a respectful way to address a senior storyteller or variety-hall performer.

Sensei (先生) means teacher, and much more. It is the title for schoolteachers, doctors, lawyers, members of parliament, authors and manga artists: anyone respected for what they know. It is said “sen-say.” Its first meaning was simply someone born before you, and the full story of its second character is on student in Japanese. In a martial arts dojo, the instructor is sensei.

Three more words cover the rest of English “master”:

• 達人 (tatsujin) is a master of a skill, someone who has reached its depths: 剣の達人 (ken no tatsujin), a master swordsman. It can stretch to 人生の達人, a master of living.
• 名人 (meijin) is a celebrated master craftsman or performer, and the name of one of the top titles in shogi and go.
• 主人 (shujin) is the master of a house or a shop, the person a servant works for, and the host at a gathering. Many women also use it to mean my husband. A pet’s owner is usually 飼い主 (kainushi), but in a story a loyal dog waits for its ご主人 (go-shujin), its master.

Then there is マスター (masutaa), the English loan, which most often means the owner behind the counter of a small coffee shop or bar.

The Kanji for Master: 師匠

• Character: 師
• On’yomi: シ (shi)
• Kun’yomi: none in the Jōyō table
• Stroke count: 10
• General meaning: teacher, master, expert, model; in old use, an army
• Radical: 巾 (cloth), Kangxi radical 50

And the second half of the word:

• Character: 匠
• On’yomi: ショウ (shou)
• Kun’yomi: たくみ (takumi), outside the Jōyō table
• Stroke count: 6
• General meaning: artisan, craftsman, a master of a craft; design
• Radical: 匚 (box), Kangxi radical 22

師 is taught in the fifth year of primary school. 匠 is a Jōyō kanji taught in secondary school, and the Jōyō table gives 師匠 as the example word for both characters. 師 also has one special reading, 師走 (shiwasu), the old name for December.

Japanese Symbol for Master

師 began in the army. In Zhou-dynasty China it named a military unit of 2,500 soldiers, and Japanese still uses it that way in one word, 師団 (shidan), an army division. Alongside that grew the sense of a leader who teaches, and that is the meaning that took over. The left side looks like two small stacked bumps. The right side, 帀, is 巾, a cloth, with a stroke across the top, and 巾 is where dictionaries file the character.

As a suffix, 師 turns a skill into a profession: 医師 (ishi), a doctor, 漁師 (ryoushi), a fisherman, 美容師 (biyoushi), a hairdresser, 絵師 (eshi), a painter, the word used for the artists who designed woodblock prints.

匠 is easier to see. Inside the open box 匚 sits 斤, an axe. A person who makes things with an axe, a carpenter at first, then any craftsman whose hands have been trained for years. On its own, read takumi, the word carries real respect, and Japanese advertising leans on it for anything handmade.

Put together, 師匠 is the teacher who is also a craftsman: the person who shows you the work by doing it. 先生, by contrast, is 先 (ahead) plus 生 (born), the one born ahead of you.

How to Write 師匠 in Japanese

Sixteen strokes across the two characters.

師 takes ten. Start at the top left with a short stroke falling to the left, then the vertical beneath it. Then the two stacked mounds, each written as a stroke that crosses and turns down followed by a closing horizontal. Then the right side: the horizontal across the top, a short vertical, the stroke that crosses and drops with a hook, and finally the long vertical through the middle.

匠 takes six, and it teaches the enclosure rule. Write the top horizontal of the box first. Then 斤 inside it: two short strokes falling to the left, a horizontal, then the vertical. The last stroke runs down the left side and turns along the bottom, closing the box. 医, the first character of 医師, is written the same way.

Mind 帥. Drop the top horizontal of the right side of 師 and you have written 帥 (sui), a commander, as in 元帥 (gensui), a field marshal.

How to Say Master in Japanese

Shishou is “shee-shoh,” three beats in Japanese, shi-sho-u, with a long o at the end. Sensei is “sen-say,” four beats, se-n-se-i, with the n held. Tatsujin is “tah-tsoo-jeen.”

Real sentences:

• 師匠に弟子入りしました。(Shishou ni deshiiri shimashita.) I became the master’s apprentice.
• 先生、質問があります。(Sensei, shitsumon ga arimasu.) Teacher, I have a question.
• 彼は剣の達人だ。(Kare wa ken no tatsujin da.) He is a master swordsman.
• 主人は今、出かけております。(Shujin wa ima, dekakete orimasu.) My husband is out at the moment.
• 犬が飼い主を待っている。(Inu ga kainushi o matte iru.) The dog is waiting for its owner.

Both work as direct address. 師匠！ on its own means “Master!”, and 先生！ calls a teacher or a doctor, used in place of their name.

Words and Compounds With 師 and 匠

恩師 is the warmest word in the table. It is the teacher you still visit years later, the one whose name you give when someone asks who shaped you.

師走 is the old name for December, and the one people still use when the year-end rush begins. The usual explanation is that it is the month when even teachers, or Buddhist priests visiting house to house, are running. The real origin of the word is uncertain, but the picture has stuck.

Master in Japanese Culture

Rakugo still runs on the old master and apprentice system. An apprentice enters by asking a 師匠 to take them, receives a stage name from that master, and climbs three ranks: 前座 (zenza), the opening act who also does the backstage chores, 二つ目 (futatsume), the second rank, and 真打 (shin’uchi), the headliner. The word shin’uchi has been in use since the Tenpō era of the 1830s and 1840s. In many traditional arts, some students lived with the master as 内弟子 (uchideshi), live-in apprentices who helped keep house while they learned.

The arts describe the path to mastery in three steps, 守破離 (shuhari): keep the master’s form exactly, then break from it, then leave it behind. The full idea is on shuhari, and the practice itself, repeated for years, is keiko.

In a dojo you bow to the sensei before and after training. In the tea room, the host who prepares the bowl is the 主人 (shujin), also called 亭主 (teishu), a role explained on tea ceremony. And in households, 主人 still means the head of the house, the oldest sense of the word and a reminder of the older family system described on family in Japanese.

At the very top, mastery becomes a title. The 名人 (meijin) of shogi and go began as an Edo-period rank for the strongest player of the age and is now one of the great championship titles.

As a Tattoo

師匠 on skin reads as “my master,” the person you are apprenticed to. It is a relationship word, so on its own it raises the question of whose apprentice you are. 先生 reads as teacher or doctor, a title rather than a quality, a little like tattooing “Dr.”

If the idea you want is mastery itself, 達人 (tatsujin) says a master of a skill, though worn on your own arm it reads as a boast. 匠 (takumi), artisan, is the single character people choose for craft and patient skill, and it reads well. For the path rather than the arrival, 守破離 or 修行 (shugyou), disciplined training, carries the meaning without claiming the title. Our page on shugyo explains it.

Watch the look-alikes. 師 and 帥 (commander) differ by one horizontal stroke. Make sure the artist copies 師 exactly.

On script: simplified Chinese writes 师, and Chinese speakers say 师父 or 师傅 (shīfu) for a master, the word in every kung fu film. More surprising, 先生 in Mandarin (xiānsheng) means “Mr.”, a polite form of address for any man. If you want the Japanese form, copy 師匠 with the full 師.

Confirm with a native speaker before you ink. You can preview the characters in vertical and horizontal layouts with the Japanese Tattoo Generator, and read the wider background in our guide to japanese tattoo meanings.

Related Kanji

• Student in Japanese
• King in Japanese
• Kanji for Strength
• Person in Japanese
• Family in Japanese

For the honorifics that go with these words, see our guide to Japanese honorifics, and for more characters, browse the kanji library.

Sources and Further Reading

• 常用漢字表 (Jōyō Kanji Table, 2010), Agency for Cultural Affairs the readings シ for 師 with 師匠 and the special reading 師走, ショウ for 匠 with 巨匠 and 意匠, and 先生, 達人 and 主人 as example words
• 師 in KANJIDIC2, WWWJDIC, Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group ten strokes, radical 50, fifth-grade status, and the meanings teacher, master, expert and army
• 師匠, Digital Daijisen and Nihon Kokugo Daijiten (Kotobank) shishou as a teacher of scholarship, arts and martial arts, of performing arts, and as a title for variety-hall performers
• 師, Digital Daijisen (Kotobank) 師 as a teacher and a suffix for professions such as 医師, 絵師 and 漁師, and as a Zhou-dynasty army unit of 2,500, still seen in 師団
• 真打, Digital Daijisen and Heibonsha World Encyclopedia (Kotobank) the rakugo ranks zenza, futatsume and shin'uchi, and the term's use since the Tenpō era

FAQ

How do you say master in Japanese?

For the master of an art or craft, the one you train under, say shishou, written 師匠. For a teacher, a doctor or another respected expert, say sensei, 先生. For someone who has mastered a skill, tatsujin, 達人, and for the master of a house, shujin, 主人.

What is the difference between sensei and shishou?

先生 (sensei) is a teacher or respected professional in general: schoolteachers, doctors, lawyers, authors. 師匠 (shishou) is narrower and more personal: the master of a traditional art or craft who takes you on as an apprentice. Every shishou teaches, but a schoolteacher is a sensei, not a shishou.

What is the kanji for master?

The usual word is written 師匠. 師 means teacher or master, ten strokes under the cloth radical 巾, and 匠 means artisan, six strokes, with an axe 斤 inside a box 匚. The single character 匠 (takumi) is also used for a master craftsman.

What does tatsujin mean?

達人 (tatsujin) means a master or expert, someone who has reached the depths of a skill, as in 剣の達人, a master swordsman. Unlike shishou, it says nothing about teaching. It describes skill alone, and it can stretch to a figure of speech like 人生の達人, a master of living.

What does goshujin-sama mean?

ご主人様 (go-shujin-sama) means master, in the sense of the person a servant serves, with an extra layer of respect. It is the form of address maids use in period stories and in the maid cafés of Akihabara. Without the sama, ご主人 is also the polite way to refer to someone else’s husband.

Is 先生 the same in Chinese?

The characters are the same, but the meaning is not. In Mandarin, 先生 (xiānsheng) is the everyday polite word for “Mr.” or “sir.” A teacher in Chinese is 老师 (lǎoshī), and a master of a craft or martial art is 师父 or 师傅 (shīfu). In Japanese, 先生 is the teacher.