qualities of a sensei

[Tuna]

is your sensei just a teacher or which qulities must a SK teacher have to be a sensei (except the rang) for you?
dominik

[Tripitaka of AA]

Hi Dominik

Seasons Greetings

Firstly, I'd prefer if you wrote Shorinji Kempo (or Shorinjikempo) in full, rather than the abbreviation "SK" as this can be misunderstood ("Shotokan Karate", "Seido Kan", "Shaolin Kempo", "Shimura-ha Kendo", etc.). The more we get used to writing it, the more the readers will get used to seeing it, and in the long term the recognition factor will no doubt help to promote better awareness and understanding of who we are.


As for qualities, I can think of several pages of virtues that a good Sensei can/should have. Trying to whittle that list down to what is "essential" is going to be tricky. There are some fairly obvious ones like "knowledge of all the techniques in the students' syllabus", "a thorough understanding of the Kongo Zen philosophy", "ability to present the teachings in ways appropriate to the students needs"...

Some of the "preferred but not essential" might be; "fit", "skilled practitioner", "knowledgable about other martial arts", "eloquent", "able to speak Japanese", "good in a fight"(!!)...

How about any others?...

[Tuna]

"good in a fight"(!!)...
yes, that`s one point i always hear. so you think a good sensei proved himself outside the dojo? i think so too, to be credible you have to face reality!?

[Tripitaka of AA]

Well Dominik, I guess that is the point of my "!!!". I think it coould be argued that this is either "essential" or "completely irrelevant". I know that it can be persuasive when you hear people speaking from their own direct experience, but not every thug, roughneck, scrapper or streetfighter makes a suitable teacher. The ability to beat a man unconscious or cut him with a knife does not always enable a person to transmit those skills to others. Furthermore, the ability to avoid fighting is quite high on my list of desirable qualities, although this can be harder to quantify and usually has less impact in advertising.

[jailess]

There are several basic qualities that a Sensei must have in order to teach ShorinjiKempo or any other martial art at a base level. Off the top of my head these include:
-Physical fitness: You can be a little tubby (thank christ) but if you get an angina attack every time you do Kihon you're not going to be much use.
-Knowledge of the techniques to the extent that you can demonstrate them effectively and be able to spot unorthodox deviations in other's form.
-Ability to handle yourself in a fight. I'm afraid this is an absolute requirement for me: If I want to learn dance I'll go to a dance class (and I don't have the hips for it, so...)
-An ability to interact with people at a basic level.

In addition there are certain qualities that make you a very good sensei:
-Sense of humour.
-Ability to interact with MOST people and at least have a working relationship with them.
-Ability to look at a student, target the problems in their technique that are specific to them and work with them.
-Ability to control the class without going too far (i.e. authoritative 'firm-but-fair' approach as opposed to the Liberal or Authoritatian approaches).
-Ability to not bear grudges.
-In-depth knowledge of technique (i.e. 4th-5th Dan).

That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'm splitting my attentino between typing this and watching the Simpsons. Anyone have any other qualities?

[Tuna]

additionally some other points which i think are important:
reliability
motivation
(entertainement)

[Tripitaka of AA]

Nice entry Jame.

I've been thinking up additional qualities, but The Simpsons has been on a lot over Christmas...

Ability to bring "something new" to each and every class, even if it's something that's been done a million times. It goes along with motivation and reliability. The guy that can turn up regularly like clockwork, make you want to do the same, yet always makes it feel fresh and unexpected as though it was the first time. That's something that my Sensei had, which I never appreciated until a time when he had real problems attending class and the yudansha had to cover for him.

Harping on about the "good in a fight" quality. Is it good enough if the Sensei can whoop anyone in the randori, or does he have to have "war stories" to recount? Does he need to show you scars before you'll respect his advice? Worse still, does he have to take you bar-hopping looking for fights to start - you may laugh, but there are "Bad Budo" stories of people who have done just this (fortunately nothing to do with Shorinji Kempo, which normally attracts people with at least two brain cells to rub together). Look carefully at the most successful athletes at the Olympics, some of them are coached by former champions, but not all of them. Most of the successful coaches are good at "coaching", whether or not they were good at the sport itself is only incidental. One of Mike Tyson's early Managers was a Handball champion (the game like "Squash", not the one like Netball).

[Tuna]

Harping on about the "good in a fight" quality. Is it good enough if the Sensei can whoop anyone in the randori, or does he have to have "war stories" to recount? Does he need to show you scars before you'll respect his advice?
hmmm i thought about it...yes it's enough if the sensei can whoop anyone in the randori,but i think it's important that the sensei knows what's going on outside the dojo.i am still thinking about the point if the sensei has to have "war stories" to recount... :karate:



Worse still, does he have to take you bar-hopping looking for fights to start - you may laugh, but there are "Bad Budo" stories of people who have done just this (fortunately nothing to do with Shorinji Kempo, which normally attracts people with at least two brain cells to rub together).
absolutely not!a good sensei has to prevent wasteful fights, so he neither provokes people nor let them provoke him.

Look carefully at the most successful athletes at the Olympics, some of them are coached by former champions, but not all of them. Most of the successful coaches are good at "coaching", whether or not they were good at the sport itself is only incidental. One of Mike Tyson's early Managers was a Handball champion (the game like "Squash", not the one like Netball).
that's right,my soccer coach was also a very horrible player but he was an excellent coach...but from a shorinji kempo sensei i expect more,i watch his movements,kicks,...and i try to make it like him.he is a kind of idol and i want to become as good as him when i train hard!

[jailess]

Nice entry Jame.).
Thank you. I aim to please!


Harping on about the "good in a fight" quality. Is it good enough if the Sensei can whoop anyone in the randori, or does he have to have "war stories" to recount? Does he need to show you scars before you'll respect his advice? Worse still, does he have to take you bar-hopping looking for fights to start - you may laugh, but there are "Bad Budo" stories of people who have done just this (fortunately nothing to do with Shorinji Kempo, which normally attracts people with at least two brain cells to rub together).
He has to have a lot of skill, but He needn't be the hardest man in the Dojo; just the one with the most technical experience.

As for war stories, my sensei's only used SK 3-4 times that I know of (ie that he's told us of), and none of them were assaulting military installations single-handed, winning the girl and destroying all of the gadgets that Q made him promise not to lose. That's fine by me; if he did boast about winning fights I'd think less of him for it.

[Kimpatsu]

is your sensei just a teacher or which qulities must a SK teacher have to be a sensei (except the rang) for you?
dominik
See Mizuno Sensei.
See Aosaka Sensei.
See Yamasaki Sensei.
See Arai Sensei.
OK?

[Tripitaka of AA]

Hey Tony, that's like saying "I'll tell you the best skills needed to be a soccer player - be Pele".

It is a bit of a cheat answer, don't you think! Come on, let's play the game and try for a minute to define what qualities make people like the ones you listed stand out. What do they have in common? What would someone just starting his career in Shorinji Kempo need to emulate?

I suppose you could just say "Shu, ha, ri" and tell people to "copy your Sensei". Actually, that works fine for me... but it does make for a less interesting thread.

[Kimpatsu]

I made a list of the people you would be best to emulate if you want to be a great sensei, David. I suppose the boring answer yould be "great skill, great integrity, and great wisdom", but that's already been said.