They felt obligated to pass to their senior teammates whether or not they were open. For years, this meant the rookies refused to challenge veterans for spots on the power play. 2011Īnd then there is sempai-kohai, a pillar of Japanese civilization, which governs the relationship between an older mentor (sempai) and his younger charge (kohai). Christopher Johnson, The New York Times, 21 Apr. draft out of high school, has taken the role of senpai (senior) to the kohai (junior) Tyler. In the team's Japanese group dynamics, Swift, who played under Hill in Seattle at age 19 after being picked 12th over all in the 2004 N.B.A. Kohai, typically translated as 'junior' or 'protégé,' is often used to contrast with senpai: Sensei in those contexts refers to someone of a higher rank than senpai. In Japanese the word is used more broadly to mean 'teacher' or 'master.' Like sensei, senpai is used in English in contexts of martial arts as well as religious instruction, in particular Buddhism. The term is perhaps on its way to joining sensei, which is defined in this dictionary as 'a teacher or instructor usually of Japanese martial arts (such as karate or judo).' Our earliest evidence of sensei being used in English is from 1968. Satomi Ono, The Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), 19 Dec. She became my senpai, my upper class mentor. Junko Matsunaga was a scholarship student at Willamette University during my spring semester. Bob Dutton, The News Tribune (Tacoma, Washington), 10 June 2014 Seattle Mariners right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma was the senpai (the mentor) to New York Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka while they were teammates for five years with the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan. In the world of published, edited English text, however, senpai has a narrower range of meaning. In anime and manga, there are frequently characters trying to get the love or attention of a senpai, and phrases about being noticed by senpai have become popular catchphrases.

Which is sad, because as KnowYourMeme tells us, it's all about getting senpai to notice you. The top definition (as chosen by users) is 'someone who will never notice you.' Senpai made its first appearance in Urban Dictionary back in 2004, when a user defined it as 'an upperclassman.' Other entries (a number of which mention anime and manga) have since been added it's defined there variously as 'someone older than you,' 'someone you look up to,' 'mentor,' 'senior,' an 'older person who you adore.' There are more. In informal use, senpai (also styled as sempai) can refer to anyone whose attention you want to get-that could be someone you admire and want to be friends with or someone you're interested in romantically. In informal use, 'senpai' can refer to anyone whose attention you want to get-that could be someone you admire and want to be friends with or someone you're interested in romantically.

Skulltra magical sempai