Deshi 弟子
Japanese word for a disciple or pupil who studies an art under a teacher, also used for students formally recognized by a kinbaku teacher.
Deshi is the ordinary Japanese word for a person who studies scholarship or an art under a teacher: a pupil, disciple or apprentice. The Nihon Kokugo Daijiten explains it as treating the teacher like a father or elder brother, and it also has a Buddhist sense, the disciples of the Buddha.
In kinbaku, being someone’s deshi can be a recognized status. Studio Yukari in London introduced two women as deshi of Naka Akira and noted that one had been officially recognized as his disciple the year before. Akechi Kanna’s profile, for example, describes studying under Akechi Denki from 2000 and inheriting the teacher’s name in 2022.