{"id":27082,"date":"2021-04-24T15:00:02","date_gmt":"2021-04-24T15:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/?p=27082"},"modified":"2023-05-12T12:54:52","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T12:54:52","slug":"what-is-a-senpai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/blog\/what-is-a-senpai\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a senpai: understanding the senpai-k\u014dhai relationship"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you watch anime or read manga, you\u2019ll probably have come across the word <\/span>senpai<\/span><\/i> \u5148\u8f29.<\/span> This is usually someone older, such as an older student at a school. But what a senpai is and the culture surrounding that term is more nuanced than that and it is deeply rooted in Japan\u2019s hierarchical society.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is senpai and k\u014dhai?<\/b><\/h2>\n

At the most basic level, senpai means \u201csenior\u201d and conversely, k\u014dhai <\/em><\/span>\u5f8c\u8f29 <\/span>means \u201cjunior\u201d. Senpai refers to someone who is at a level above you and this can be at school, work, a sports club or social organisation. They are meant to act as mentors for their k\u014dhai and take responsibility for them. However, the degree of that relationship can differ depending on the setting within which that relationship takes place.<\/span><\/p>\n

A history of hierarchy<\/b><\/h2>\n

To fully understand what a senpai is, you need to understand the importance of hierarchy in Japanese society.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This hierarchy comes from a handful of different sources, with one being Confucianism<\/strong>. Along with Buddhism, Confucianism had a huge impact on Japan and its influences are very much present even to this day. Under Confucianism, society is based on a hierarchical system that dictates a person\u2019s role based on their position in society. Filial piety, loyalty and obedience<\/strong> are important pillars of the Confucian belief system.<\/span><\/p>\n

Within a household, this means lower-ranked family members show obedience and duty to those above them. In a traditional Japanese household structure, this puts the father at the head of the family, followed by his eldest son. If he has more sons, they are ranked by their age, then followed by the mother. The females in the household are then ranked in descending order of age.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During the middle ages, Japan was a feudal nation based on the traditional patriarchal system. The emperor sat at the top of the hierarchy, followed by those in the noble and warrior classes. This class included, in descending order: <\/span>sh\u014dgun<\/span><\/i> \u5c06\u8ecd (military rulers), <\/span>daimy\u014d<\/span><\/i> \u5927\u540d (feudal lords) and <\/span>samurai <\/span><\/i>\u4f8d. Lower on the hierarchy were peasants and merchants.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Japan moved into the modern age, the feudal system became less and less relevant as more people moved to developing urban centres. However, hierarchical structures never left society.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"students<\/p>\n

Senpai-k\u014dhai relationships within the education system<\/b><\/h2>\n

In modern-day Japan, this hierarchical structure is present in many aspects of society. The education system is where many non-Japanese people may get their first insight into senpai-<\/span>k\u014dhai relationships, since it\u2019s often portrayed in anime and manga.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s particularly prevalent in sports clubs and after-school activities, or <\/span>bukatsu<\/span><\/i> \u90e8\u6d3b. A k\u014dhai\u2019s responsibilities include acting as an assistant and cleaning up. For example, it\u2019s usually their job to prepare equipment for a sports game and then clean up afterwards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

K\u014dhai must greet their senpai first and use<\/span> keigo<\/span><\/i><\/a> \u656c\u8a9e towards them. Showing respect<\/strong> is essential and this means listening to their superior, obeying them and letting them choose where they want to sit first. In extreme cases, k\u014dhai may also wash their senpai\u2019s uniform and only eat once their senpai is done eating.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

Senpai culture in the workplace<\/b><\/h2>\n

Many things determine a person\u2019s senpai status in the workplace, including <\/span>length of time at the company, experience, age, when you entered the company and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

A senpai can help to train <\/span>k\u014dhai, give advice and sometimes manage them (in projects, for example). K\u014dhai are expected to follow their senpai\u2019s directions, but the senpai isn\u2019t technically their boss. The senpai role isn\u2019t an official one, whereas your manager and boss are. A senpai can also be your colleague who started at the company earlier than you did. <\/span><\/p>\n

To put it another way, the senpai-k\u014dhai relationship is more akin to a mentor-mentee situation, rather than a boss-employee situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Respect is crucial: k\u014dhai are expected to use keigo towards their senpai (keigo is commonplace in workplaces anyway) and always give their senpai priority. This means not taking the same days off, picking up an incoming call and not leaving work first.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Usually when senpai and k\u014dhai go out to eat, the senpai will pay for the food and drink. At drinking parties, or <\/span>nomikai<\/span><\/i> \u98f2\u307f\u4f1a, it\u2019s expected for k\u014dhai to pour drinks for their senpai and higher-ups. They\u2019re also expected to ask others in the company where they prefer to sit and make the reservation. When it comes to <\/span>hanami<\/span><\/i>, or cherry blossom viewing, the k\u014dhai is expected to shop for the party and reserve a place. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more on how hanami is celebrated in our <\/span>article<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lifetime commitment<\/b><\/h2>\n

While the senpai-k\u014dhai relationship at school ends when the older student leaves, the work relationship lasts a lifetime. Unlike many western countries, it\u2019s not common for people to change companies in Japan so unless the k\u014dhai or senpai leaves the company, it\u2019s a relationship for life<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For more insight about what Japanese work culture is like, read our article here<\/a>. Make sure to follow our blog<\/a> for regular articles on Japanese culture and life.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you watch anime or read manga, you\u2019ll probably have come across the word senpai \u5148\u8f29. This is usually someone older, such as an older student at a school. But what a senpai is and the culture surrounding that term is more nuanced than that and it is deeply rooted in Japan\u2019s hierarchical society. What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":26646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[400],"tags":[693,671],"class_list":["post-27082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-japanese-culture","tag-culture","tag-society"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gogonihon.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}