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Dan Crosby wrote:
If you refer to "Ueshiba Morihei O-Sensei" other aikidoka will understand, but "O-Sensei Morihei Ueshiba" is clearer to the (western) man in the street because they expect the "title-first name-family name" construction.
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See, this sounds really strange to my (western) ears. I have never once heard "sensei" before a name until 2 days ago when I started reading these boards.
Certainly, in my first Japanese class ever, the teacher was Maruoka-sensei. Even years ago, during my (brief and unfortunate) experience with karate, the instructors were all (whoever)-sensei.
That said, in my head I think of my instructors as "Michael Stuempel-sensei" and "Roland Thompson-sensei" instead of putting the family name first the way I would if they were Japanese.
However, I come from a background of having studied Japanese before I ever knew much about martial arts.. Maybe I'd think differently in the other case...