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shi

People search for this as: master teacher mentor sensei

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Think first

It means teacher — and as a suffix, it's a job licence.

What a Japanese person actually thinks

Reads as an occupational suffix waiting for its first half. Alone it's incomplete in the same way English '-ist' would be.

Meaning

Literally
master; teacher
Actually
A teacher or master. Mostly lives as a suffix denoting a licensed profession: 医師 (doctor), 美容師 (hairdresser), 調理師 (chef), 教師 (teacher).

Scores

Naturalness●●●

Rarely stands alone in modern Japanese.

Coolness●●●

Decent character. The fragment problem is what costs it.

Watch out

  • mediumAlso, wearing 'MASTER' is a claim about your rank relative to other people — an odd thing to assert unprompted.

Get this instead

  • shihan
    master instructor (in a martial art)
    If you actually hold the rank, this is the real title.
  • michi / dō
    the way; a discipline
    Says you practise something without claiming to have mastered it.

On skin

Orientation: either

Brush.

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