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Just fill in the form at the bottom of this page. Topic: "O
Sensei" I have heard some Japanese martial arts students address
their teachers with "O Sensei," and also "Osu Sensei." Are the
two forms of address derived from the same source? Actually the
two terms are quite different. "O'Sensei" means a venerable
teacher while "Osu Sensei" is an acknowledgment, such as, "Yes
Sensei", "I understand Sensei," "Okay Sensei", "I get it
Sensei," or "Hello Sensei." With "O'Sensei" it is a common
misconception that the character for "O" is just the alternate
pronunciation for the character "Dai," as in "Dai Sensei," which
means "big Sensei." But this is not the case. The character for
"O" (in O'Sensei) is another pronunciation for the character
meaning "Okina" which means "old man," or "venerable." An old
Japanese dictionary (gakken