彼は陸軍大将に昇進した。
He was promoted to army general.
General term for the person in charge of a group, team, or organization; often used in informal contexts like sports teams or small businesses.
He's the leader of the team.
Boss, what's the plan for today?
Familiar or jocular term for addressing a male friend or acquaintance; similar to 'buddy' or 'pal'.
Hey, mate, how's it going?
last-match competitor (kendo, judo, etc.)
In team martial arts competitions, the athlete who competes in the final bout; often the team's strongest member.
See also: 先鋒 (せんぽう)
In a kendo team match, the taishō competes last.
He finally became the leader of the team.
The shop owner always calls him 'boss' in a friendly way.
He served as the anchor in the judo team match.
We all discussed it and chose him as the leader.
大将 and 中将 look and sound similar but 大将 is a higher rank (general/admiral) than the middle rank 中将.
大将 (general/admiral) and 少将 (major general/rear admiral) look and sound similar but denote different, non‑adjacent military ranks.
大将 is a specific military rank (general/admiral) or a casual term for a boss, while 主将 means the person in command or acting as team captain, not a fixed rank.
supreme commander; commander-in-chief
young commander; young leader; young master