Kyu Grades
Kyu grades are the beginnings of the jûdô student’s path of jûdô. These are the colored belts that are so recognizable in the world of martial arts, especially in the West. A Japanese jûdô sensei, Kawaishi Mikonosuke, that worked extensively in Europe from 1931-1969 developed the colored belts while in France.
Kyu grades seem like a long time while working through them, however, a student of jûdô stays in these grades for between three and six years on average. This may seem a long time, but consider that once you have attained a black belt, you are a black belt forever.
Dan Grades
Dan grades are the serious students of jûdô. Saying this may insult some people who consider themselves serious students of jûdô that have remained a brown belt for many years. A brown belt that has been a brown belt for an extended period may suffer from a misguided belief in what a black belt is, a lack of appropriate curriculum guidelines, an extended absence, or some other misgiving.
Once promoted to the dan grades, a student begins to understand their readiness to truly begin learning jûdô in gross, fine, and subtle nuance. At this level, you have enough knowledge to begin to develop your own personal style of jûdô, from your particular technical preferences, fine tuning your peculiarities in performing, discovering where you will take yourself in jûdô.
If you have just come to the ranks of the yûdansha, Welcome! If you are still working towards your first black belt, strive to learn and understand what you are being presented and enjoy the learning and practice!
Personal Perspective on Ranks
Recently on the JudoForum some people have questioned what the point of achieving the black belt is. I tried to understand why people would be satisfied with a near permanent rank of ikkyu. I couldn’t fathom a reason for it. Today, however, it dawned on me, after reviewing the topic again, that westerners look at the black belt as a mark of mastery. Some view this achievement as finally reaching a destination. Neither of which is true.
The achievement of a black belt in jûdô is certainly a fine achievement. However, it is most certainly not a final achievement or recognition of mastery. Receiving shôdan is a mere recognition that the student is now ready to begin studying jûdô in earnest. This seems an odd perspective but it makes sense if you look at the grades of jûdô as an educational system.
- White Belt
- This level is where every beginning student to jûdô starts. There is little or no experience in the techniques of jûdô and maybe little desire, yet. This is similar to children starting kindergarten.
- Yellow Belt
- After some months in jûdô the student begins to understand a few things about jûdô but the knowledge is very limited. Comparable to children moving from kindergarten through first, second, and third grades.
- Orange Belt
- More months have passed for the jûdô student and his or her understanding of jûdô has grown some. At this stage a student may be competing. A student could consider this like being in the fourth and fifth grades.
There has been a lot of progress in the short nine months to a year.
- Green Belt
- Finally the student has progressed enough to be a reasonably safe student. Now they are beginning to learn some of the more complicated techniques. The green belt is similar to a student in middle school that is beginning to understand abstract concepts and formulate unique solutions.
- Brown Belt
- The brown belt student is nearing the end of his time as mudansha and has nearly reached a level of basic understanding of jûdô concepts. Now the student demonstrates understanding of abstract concepts frequently. The student may also be helping newer students develop and understand jûdô. This is comparable to the high school student.
By now the student has been doing jûdô for about three to four years.
- 1st – 3rd Degree Black Belt
- Attainment of the shôdan, or first degree black belt, is like a high school student’s graduation. As millions of Americans know, graduating from high school is not the end of the road; it’s merely the first step to really understanding how the world works. Upon graduation, students move on to work towards their baccalaureate degree. The first through third degrees of black belt are these stages of jûdô education.
There are further degrees of black belt, but these are unnecessary in discussion at this point.
Historical Perspectives
Debates and misconceptions about belts occur often in jûdô. Several significant individuals in jûdô discussed ranks and belts. Donn Draeger, author of several books including Judo Formal Techniques and Judo Training Methods: A Sourcebook, and Neil Ohlenkamp, author of Judo Unleashed and creator of both the JudoInfo and the JudoForum, prominent among others.
“It began as far as we know with Kano Jigoro of Kodokan, and the first date probably 1883, about a year after he founded the system. He awarded proficiency ranks to his Judo men, his exponents, on the basis of kyu, which translated as "class" or "ungraded" ranks and "dan". These are, you can say "degrees" if you want and ranks. So that is the beginning of the black-belt system.”
-excerpt from Donn Draeger’s “Ranking Systems in Modern Japanese Martial Arts: Modern vs. Classical”
“Kano apparently began the custom of having his yudansha wear black obi (belts) in 1886. These obi weren't the belts karateka and judoka wear today -- Kano hadn't invented the judogi (Judo uniform) yet, and his students were still practicing in kimono. They were the wide obi still worn with formal kimono. In 1907, Kano introduced the modern judogi and its modern obi, but he still only used white and black belt ranks.”
-excerpt from Neil Ohlenkamp’s “The Judo Rank System”Both of these articles are available in their entirety at the links provided on the JudoInfo site.
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