Indeed, becoming a sushi master was not an easy feat, In Japanese culture, the professional sushi chef was expected to train for up to ten year. More often than not as an apprentice in a restaurant, before they are granted the highly-respected title of itamae-san. First, they did all the prep work and were not allowed to touch the fish. Then they use to make rice every day. They had to learned the correct way of doing it before they could advance to the next step. But you must bare in mind that many “aprentice” teaching methods use to be like this in the old days , it was a way of formal learning , and a good way to learn discipline. Today it takes less time then it use too in the west the best schools will teach you around 4 to 6 months in japan it takes two years and you gain a lot of practice.
Some chefs claim that it is an art that you never stop learning.