dancingalone
Grandmaster
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- Nov 7, 2007
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That is how it is done in kendo. And yes, it works very well. Isn't it also the same in aikido and goju?
In the particular styles I practice, yes. In USAF (Aikikai) aikido, we have fukushidoin (asst/junior instructor), shidoin (instructor), and shihan ('master', used to designate a senior level teacher). In goju, we have the shogo titles of renshi, kyoshi, and hanshi, although it's not as uniformly implemented.
In theory, the teaching titles are decoupled from the dan levels, but I've never met a high ranker in either art here in North America who did NOT run a dojo at least at some point. However, I understand at the Jundokan on Okinawa there is are numbers of high level dan 6th+ who have been studying there for decades, but they aren't really teachers on their own since the Jundokan has ample senior instructors already. So mostly they just serve as senior examples.