There are many words for teacher in Japanese. The Bujnkan has it’s own unique term created by Masaaki Hatsumi- Shidoshi. The reasons for this term serves as an interesting insight into the relationship between teacher and student in the Bujinkan.
The term is obviously derived from the word “Shidosha” which essentially means guide, leader, coach, etc. Shido, actually shidou with a long ‘o’ sound, means to guide, coach or advise. This is a little different from the word teach.
Shidoshi is a unique word to the Bujinkan. If you use it with a Japanese they will probably think you are making a small mistake and are intending to use the word shidosha.
When Stephen Hayes started advertising himself as a teacher of ninjutsu in America sometime around 1975 he called himself a shidoshi, which of course is a title in the Bujinkan. He did not explain that it was unique to the Bujinkan and so many frauds started using the term as well. When it was later made common knowledge that it wasn’t a word found outside of the Bujinkan, it became clear that they had stolen the term, and a lot, from Hayes. To try to cover over this fact, many of the frauds such as Bryce Dallas tried to claim that they made up the term themselves. Frank Dux actually went so far as to claim that he created the term and Hatsum stole it to undermine his credibility. It takes a perfect blend of stupidity and narcism to suggest to people that someone who can’t speak Japanese came up with a term in it and a native Japanese speaker copied him.
But the term itself is interesting. It is not a term for teacher in Japanese and people naturally think that it has more to do with guiding and coaching a student rather than the traditional version of teaching.
The truth is, teaching martial arts has traditionally been more of a hands on approach than sitting back and teaching. When doing paired form work, called kata, many times the teacher takes the role of the attacker. This has somewhat fallen by the wayside in the post war era of Japan.
Hatsumi has talked and written frequently about how he hates the modern version of teaching in schools. The teacher gets up to lecture, and the students all dutifully take notes. Schools everywhere are turning more towards turning out little robots instead of students that learn to think for themselves, and Japan is far along the path with this trend. It is this sort of thing that Hatsumi hates about all forms of teaching, including that of martial arts.
By using a new term that the Japanese associated with a more hands on version of teaching, Hatsumi is making a statement of how people should teach. Instead of being a teacher, they need to be working more with the students. In some cases, this means being the attacker so that the student has the exact type of attack he needs for the technique to be the most appropriate. The angle of a bent arm can mean that one technique is less appropriate than another. So a good partner can make a real difference.
But it also means that the teacher isn’t a TEACHER. As one of my Japanese teachers put it once, “We are all just students on the same path. I just happen to be a lot farther down it than you guys.” (And he is.)
People say these sorts of things about being a student instead of a teacher, but their actions don’t back it up.
One thing that always amazed me were the number of people that took students to Japan and then continued to be a teacher to them instead of just another student. Instead of working on their own taijutsu, they frequently went around “correcting” what their students were doing. Some even just sat down and watched as the Japanese taught, silently saying that mere Japanese shihan didn’t know enough to teach them. And people wonder why I have the attitude that I do.
As a guide, you are on the same path as the student. You are not a professor with all the knowledge you ever need, you are still learning and should never stop. That is what it means to be a shidoshi.
Think about how coaches coach. The trainer played by Burgess Meredith in the first Rocky movie is probably the most known portrayal. In it, he cajoles, insults and pushes Stallone’s character. This is the role of a shidoshi. I have written how frustration needs to be a part of training, for it is outside the comfort zone that true learning begins. When I see a student leaving gaps in his defense, I will be his partner and hit him lightly where I can. It frustrates them a bit, but it is an important lesson. This is not the sort of thing you expect a teacher to do nowdays. But you do expect a coach to interact like this with students. And of course, one of the meanings the word shidoshi is based on is coach. Obviously, those that foolishly try to learn from a DVD course will never get the full experience a decent shidoshi can give you.
The student also has to approach learning differently. Too often people place all responsibility for learning in the hands of the teacher. A good teacher is a treasure, but it is up to the student to make the most of it. With the guide at his side instead of a teacher, the student can explore things more. The guide will nock them back onto the path if they start to stray. You need a teacher that you see every week or so to keep you inside the lines of Bujinkan, but as a student you need to push those lines. The teacher will give you the tools, but what you do with them is what will determine how far you go.
Again, this isn’t “anything goes” for the Bujinkan. You can’t do this on your own. You need a guide to help you and push you. When you think of a teacher now, you think of someone who gives you information. When you think of a coach, you think of someone that challenges you. That is the role of a shidoshi. The student must have a shidoshi to keep them honest and push them, but the responsibility for his advancement is on him.
Right now, we need more shidoshi in the Bujinkan instead of teachers.