How to address a Shihan, Sempai, or Sensei?

Everyone's refered to as "Sensei" if they're reasonably senior to you and above shodan, that's the way we work it.

Sensei is called Sensei... Shihan, I called them sensei...
Sempai, I call him Jerry .

You can't go wrong as long as people see you're trying but the more you practice, the more you get the hang of it and how people address each other. From my experience though, Sensei is always the dojo cho, also i would address a Shihan with Sensei, if needed, which rarely happens. Like someone already said though half joking umm think if you are high enough to address the Shihan. I know i wouldn't talk to one unless i am spoken to. As far senior mudansha, i think it also depends on how well you know the person, age difference, rank difference, what kind of person are they - so when you take all of that into careful consideration, you can just call them by first name when they teach class would be a lil different, so again consider everything mentioned above and then whatever you call them, don’t forget to bow...
This is my code and i stand by it! worked fine so far when i get thrown out of a dojo, i will come back and edit this post..

Mariya Cacheva wrote: ...This is my code and i stand by it! worked fine so far when i get thrown out of a dojo, i will come back and edit this post..

hahahahaa

Hi Linda,

in our Dojo All black belts addressed as Sensie`s from 5th kyu`s to 1st kyu`s is waka Sensie`s. of course Sensie means teacher.

In the Phil. Marines Corp. and Phil. Army We address the Enlisted Sergeant & the slightly older in the service we addressed them as Master Sergeant. and all Officers are Sir.

we use this to address them politely.

waka / kanji 若 radical くさかんむり reading わか・い or wa` kai`
(Meaning)
young
youthful
green
inexperienced
unripe
immature

--John

and Sempia is seniority

What is the difference between when you use <first name> sensei versus <last name> sensei or just "Sensei"? Also, when half the participants at a seminar are instructors at their own dojos, is it still okay to call them by their offered (generally first) name?

Carrie Campbell wrote: What is the difference between when you use <first name> sensei versus <last name> sensei or just "Sensei"? Also, when half the participants at a seminar are instructors at their own dojos, is it still okay to call them by their offered (generally first) name?

hi Carrie Campbell,

Well in General point of view being a Sensie is earned rank and ranking is priority, when it comes to addressing a person with rank. + their name to be more specific.