Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between. One way to do this is through the usage (or a lack) of an honorific prefix as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017.

In these verses, Jesus’ disciples are either addressed in the Shinkaiyaku Bible as o-deshi-tachi (お弟子たち) with the honorific prefix o- (Matthew 17:16, Mark 9:18, Luke 9:40) or more confrontational without -o as deshi-tachi (弟子たち) (see Matthew 9:14, Matt 12:2, Matt 15:2, Mark 7:5, Luke 19:39). (Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )

See also disciple.