We're not sure what to call him

Our chief instructors have delegated the care and feeding of the kyus, in terms of arranging and coordinating the testing and such. We're wondering what to call the guy. I'm the web master for the dojo and I've had him listed as "Kyu Master". I was never really happy with the mixing of the two languages, but then I listed myself as "Web kohai" so I suppose I got over it some.

The guy, Tom, is unhappy with the "Master" part. I can see his point but we do have "Masters of Equity", "Choir Masters" and such. He's thinking something along the line of "supervisor" to follow the corporate model. I'm thinking that anything business like is an affront to the samurai traditions. Perhaps we should follow the Academic world and call him "Dean of Junior Students".

And I'm certain that if I ask either of our chief instructors I will be reduced in rank for wasting everybody's time with such trivial matters.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Charles Scheid wrote: And I'm certain that if I ask either of our chief instructors I will be reduced in rank for wasting everybody's time with such trivial matters.

No! You think?

How about "kyu coach"?
My other suggestion is "Taker of Souls", but I think my first suggestion is the better of the two...

Does he actually teach, or does he simply coordinate (& evaluate?) the testing process?

I wouldn't use "kyu", and "master" certainly carries weird connotations. I would combine either "junior", "mudansha", or "assistant" with either "instructor", "(test) coordinator", or "(test) supervisor".

How about " Kyu Testing Coordinator".

David

[quote=Charles Scheid;

And I'm certain that if I ask either of our chief instructors I will be reduced in rank for wasting everybody's time with such trivial matters.

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

There's your answer.

In gassho,

Mark

"The Kyuster"

Sempai Tom?

"Knights of Ni: Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni!
Arthur: Who are you?
Knight of Ni: We are the Knights who say..... "Ni"!
Arthur: (horrified) No! Not the Knights who say "Ni"!
Knight of Ni: The same.
Other Knight of Ni: Who are we?
Knight of Ni: We are the keepers of the sacred words: Ni, Ping, and Nee-womm!
Other Knight of Ni: Nee-womm!
Arthur: (to Bedevere) Those who hear them seldom live to tell the tale!
Knight of Ni: The knights who say "Ni" demand..... a sacrifice!
Arthur: Knights of Ni, we are but simple travelers who seek the enchanter who
lives beyond these woods.
Knights of Ni: Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni! Ni!
Bedevere: No! Noooo! Aaaugh! No!
Knight of Ni: We shall say "Ni" to you... if you do not appease us.
Arthur: Well what is it you want?
Knight of Ni: We want.....

(pregnant pause)

A SHRUBBERY!!!! "

what is in a name lol.
how about director of something say student development.
or........

director of student relationships kyu-pid
director of hygiene and appearances kyu-te

why would you have to give said person some special title? I would think if that is required, it should come from the head instructor. But what the heck to I know.

Is Tom bald?

You could call him "Kyu-ball".

Charles Scheid wrote: Our chief instructors have delegated the care and feeding of the kyus, in terms of arranging and coordinating the testing and such. We're wondering what to call the guy. ...He's thinking something along the line of "supervisor" to follow the corporate model. I'm thinking that anything business like is an affront to the samurai traditions. ....

Call him "kyucho" which would be "head of the kyu-ranked students". As in kancho (head of the house, or dojo) or dojocho.

And this does also appear in business, as in bucho (section chief) or jicho ("next" chief), etc.

Further, don't underestimate the bureaucracy of the samurai. Once they moved past being just bushi, or "warriors" and became "samurai," they became exceedingly bureaucratic and, if anything, the Japanese business culture gets a lot of it's content from the samurai customs, more than vice versa.

Best wishes.

David

William Prusner wrote: Is Tom bald? You could call him "Kyu-ball".

Grrrr.

Bald guy mad. .

William Prusner wrote: Is Tom bald? You could call him "Kyu-ball".

That is freakin' hilarious!

And if he plentiful locks on his head....... Kyu-tip?

Kyu-wrangler.

William Prusner wrote: Is Tom bald? You could call him "Kyu-ball".

HAH! Brilliant!

I think you need to be clear about what you are trying to accomplish.

Is this about a title? Or about describing what his responsibilities are?

One of things that I've found very annoying over the years in business is when a company will bestow a title and then try to figure out what that person actually is supposed to do. A title, in my mind, should be nothing more nor less than a short description of responsibility.

Dojocho - head of the dojo. The guy in charge. Chief instructor.

Kyucho - (as was suggested) ought to be similar to dojocho only applying only to mudansha.

It seems like it's really easy to overthink this. What's he do? That should be sufficient to determine his "title".

i bet if you called him Tom, he'd be pretty happy, AND he'd answer right away when you call

:P

If he's the guy that claps everyone to line up at the start of class you could call him the kyu-queue master plus!

Or just refer to him as sempai. I like kyucho, but not trained in the language I'd worry I was coming up with JapAnglais

"Kyucho" just sounds weird. It sounds like the person would be head of a level, as if your dojo were organized into kyu, rather than people having them. "I'm a member of yonkyu."

It sounds like you want something along the lines of:
"Ano mudansha no renshu to shinsa no junbi o kantoku suru yatsu".

Again, why does this person need a title? Are you creating an official position in the dojo?

Mike Logan wrote: If he's the guy that claps everyone to line up at the start of class you could call him the kyu-queue master plus!

call him 'the clapper'

like kent and others have posted, maybe he doesn't even need a title...

Nananananananananana . . . Clap-Man!!

er . . . okay . . . eeeewwwwwww . . . nevermind . . .

*bows out*

Ow.

I agree...why does he need a title?

B,
R

Ron Tisdale wrote: Ow. I agree...why does he need a title? B, R

It's for the contact page on the web site--so people who don't know that they need to contact some guy named Tom can contact him nonetheless.

I kind of like "Kyucho" but it's no more helpful than just using "Tom". If you know what it means you're most likely not a kyu anymore. Which leads me back to something like "Dean of Junior Students". Or perhaps, "Kyucho / head of the junior-ranked students".

To put the problem more fully, I have four people listed on the contact page:

• One of two chief instructors;
• The treasurer who also keeps the mailing list up to date;
• The Tom;
• and Your humble web master.

Currently they are listed as:

• n n Sensei;
• n n Treasurer & Registrar;
• n n Kyu master;
• n n Web kohai.

As you can see, the situation is quite a mess.

Charles Scheid wrote: It's for the contact page on the web site--so people who don't know that they need to contact some guy named Tom can contact him nonetheless.

Wouldn't people who would need to contact him already know his role in the dojo?

In any case, as for the term "kyu-cho," this term just doesn't ring true for me. Although there are other terms such as "dojocho," "bucho," "kancho," and such, all of these terms contain nouns which indicate some sort of collective group (eg dojo, bu, kan). "Kyu," to me, does not have a connotation of a group and therefore sounds incongruous to my Japanese ears. If you and your dojocho feel like this person needs some sort of public title, why not just use something simple like "Mentor of kyu-ranked students"?

Best,

-- Jun