Grandmaster in Korean?

Don't Chinese systems call teachers Sifu and Grandmasters Sigung? It may not be a direct translation to grand master, but I believe sigung is equivalent.

Normally I believe in CMA, 'sigung' denotes your teacher's teacher and its usage is very person specific.

Some of the American martial arts like kajukenbo have altered the meaning of the word to mean a senior grandmaster level instead, but it is a corruption of the term.

By the way as the CMA members will tell you, 'grandmaster' is not a complimentary term to most Chinese MA teachers.
 
Don't Chinese systems call teachers Sifu and Grandmasters Sigung? It may not be a direct translation to grand master, but I believe sigung is equivalent.

no sigung is not the equivalent but then dancingalone already said that. Look Here



Normally I believe in CMA, 'sigung' denotes your teacher's teacher and its usage is very person specific.

Some of the American martial arts like kajukenbo have altered the meaning of the word to mean a senior grandmaster level instead, but it is a corruption of the term.

By the way as the CMA members will tell you, 'grandmaster' is not a complimentary term to most Chinese MA teachers.

Call a real MA guy in Beijing a Grandmaster (which I believe is Da Sifu) and you either will be laughed at or beaten. Call your Teacher in China Sigung and he will correct you and tell you he is your sifu. As my sifu says "There are no grandmasters in China"

Grandmaster in CMA circles is for the benefit of westerners
 
For some reason westerners (especially Americans) really like these jumped up titles. Frequently I have encountered American people in karate that like to use the teaching grade titles like renshi, kyoshi, and hanshi in actual teaching situations instead of the more 'humble' title of sensei. Never mind that it's a misuse and opens you up to all sorts of eye-rolling from the natives who only use them in written correspondence at most.

As to the use of grandmaster in Korean martial arts, it seems common enough even among Koreans.
 
Normally I believe in CMA, 'sigung' denotes your teacher's teacher and its usage is very person specific.

Some of the American martial arts like kajukenbo have altered the meaning of the word to mean a senior grandmaster level instead, but it is a corruption of the term.

By the way as the CMA members will tell you, 'grandmaster' is not a complimentary term to most Chinese MA teachers.

Thanks for clearing that up.
 
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