The Origin of Ranks/How traditional is our Club/ what do ranks mean?

In the days before Prof. Kano created Judo, there was no kyu/dan ranking system in any martial art. A more traditional method of recognizing achievement was the presentation of certificates or scrolls, containing the secrets (techniques of each school were matters of military secrecy and strategy and closely guarded) of the school. Kano started the modern rank system when he awarded shodan to two of his senior students (Shiro Saigo and Tsunejiro Tomita) in 1883. Even then, there was no difference in the uniform between yudansha ( those with black belt ranks) and mudansha (those who hadn't yet attained black belt ranking).

The Dan ranking system in the ancient and popular board game of "go" was devised by Honinbo Dosaku (1645–1702), a professional go player in the Edo period. Prior to the invention, top-to-bottom ranking was evaluated by comparison of handicap and tended to be vague. Dosaku valued the then highest title holder, Meijin at 9 Dan. He was likely inspired by an ancient Chinese go ranking system (9 Pin Zhi) and an earlier court ranking system (nine-rank system), although lower numbers are more senior in those systems.

Different athletic departments within the Japanese school system (Which Kano was very much a part of) were already using markers of rank, most notably in swimming where advanced swimmers wore a black ribbon around their waists. 

At that time, these obi were not the worn by Jūdōka today; the students were still practicing in kimono. They wore the wide obi still worn with formal kimono.  In 1907, Kano invented the modern Gi (practice uniform), and belts in white for Mudansha and black for yudansha. The system of colored junior belts was introduced by Mikonosuke Kawaishi in Europe in 1935. The basic progression of the colors and tip colors (e.g., white → yellow → green → blue → brown → black) facilitated dyeing the same belt

Dan ranks were transferred to martial arts by Kanō Jigorō (1860–1938), the founder of judo. Kano started the modern rank system in 1883 when he awarded Shodan (the lowest Dan rank) to two of his senior students (Shiro Saigo and Tsunejiro Tomita). Prior to this, martial arts schools awarded progress with less frequent menkyo licenses or secret scrolls.

Kano began the custom of having his yudansha wear black obi (belts) in 1886. These obi weren't the belts d judoka wear today — Kano hadn't invented the judogi (Judo uniform) yet, and his students were still practicing in kimono (robes). They still wore the wide obi that were used with formal kimono. In 1907, Kano introduced the modern judogi and its modern obi (based on Tokyo Firemen uniforms), but he still only used white and black belt ranks. The white uniform represented the values of purity, avoidance of ego, and simplicity. It gave no outward indication of social class so that all students began as equals. The black belt with the white gi represents the polarity of opposites, or In and Yo. (You may be more familiar with the Chinese version of the concept: Yin & Yang) The student begins empty, but fills up with knowledge.

Dan Rankings were taken from the system used by Go (chinese chess) masters, and the black belt came from the black ribbons worn by swim team swimmers

It cannot be stated enough that Professor Kano was an educator, in fact basically the head of the department of education for Japan at the time, and was used to using learning objectives for students, with students passing from one grade to another in the public school system.  He used the same thought process when creating the kyu/dan system.   The Judo rank system represents a progression of learning with a syllabus and a corresponding grade indicating an individual's level of proficiency. A rank in Judo should be seen as a mark of knowledge, not necessarily fighting skill or prowess.  This can not be stated enough:  A black belt is a degree of education not fighting skill necessarily. 

A Black Belt is NOT a predictor of fighting skill; it is a degree of education.

Earning a black belt in Judo is like graduating from high school. It indicates you have achieved a basic level of proficiency, learned the fundamental skills and can perform them in a functional manner, and you are now ready to pursue Judo on a more serious and advanced level as a professional or a person seeking an advanced degree would. Of course, the rankings also represent progress towards the ultimate objective of Judo which is to improve the self not just physically, but morally as well.  So in this manner a 2nd Dan would be an Associates degree, and a 3rd dan may be thought of as a Bachelor's degree, a 4th Dan might be seen as a Master's degree, and a 5th Dan (which is considered terminal rank for the vast majority of practitioners) would be a PhD.

Note: an individual who holds a 6-9th Dan in Judo will almost without fail be an elder Sensei who has devoted much of their life to the study and promotion of Judo. These individuals will be ambassadors of the art, essentially they are masters and have devoted their life to Judo. 

Around 1930 the Kodokan created a new belt to recognize the special achievements of high ranking black belts. Jigoro Kano chose to recognize 6th, 7th, & 8th degree black belts with a special obi made of alternating red and white panels (kohaku obi). The white color was chosen for purity, and red for the intense desire to train and the sacrifices made. The colors red and white are an enduring symbol of Japan, and they have been used in Judo since Jigoro Kano started the first Red and White Tournament in 1884. The kohaku obi is often worn for special occasions, but it is not required to be worn at any time and the black belt remains the standard for all the yudansha ranks. In 1943 the Kodokan created the optional all red belt to recognize 9th and 10th degree yudansha.

Theoretically the Judo rank system is not limited to 10 degrees of black belt. The original English language copy (1955) of Illustrated Kodokan Judo, by Jigoro Kano, says: "There is no limit…on the grade one can receive. Therefore if one does reach a stage above 10th dan… there is no reason why he should not be promoted to 11th dan." However, since there has never been any promotion to a rank above 10th dan, the Kodokan Judo promotion system effectively has only 10 (achievable) dans. In Judo typically you may only advance a student to a spot two ranks below you on your own.  A Sandan or 3rd Dan is typically required to approve a student for Shodan or 1st Dan.   Therefore Prof. Kano is sometimes said to have been 12th Dan, otherwise how would he have been able to award a 10th Dan?  This is erroneous on a technical level becasuse as Shihan/Soke, or founder of the art, Shihan Kano had NO dan rank, he was above or outside all of that. Who would give him dan rank? He created the Art and the Ranking system, he could have awarded himself 50th Dan and who could argue? He was the first, and he had no need of Rank.  But since he never promoted anyone past 10th Dan, by tradition, there are only 10 achievable Dan ranks.  There have only been 15 10th dans awarded by the Kodokan (although other organizations have awarded 10th dans) in the history of Judo.  

Sensei (先生)

Sensei is a Japanese word that is literally translated as "person born before another". In general usage, it is used, with proper form, after a person's name, and means "teacher", and the word is used as a title to refer to or address teachers, professors, professionals such as lawyers, CPA and doctors, politicians, clergymen, and other figures of authority. The word is also used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill: accomplished puppeteers, novelists, musicians, and artists for example are addressed in this way.

The two characters that make up the term can be directly translated as "born before" and implies one who teaches based on wisdom from age and experience. The word prefaced by the adjective 大, pronounced "dai" (or "ō"), which means "great" or "large", is often translated "grand master". This compound term, "dai-sensei", is sometimes used to refer to the top sensei in a particular school, but this is not especially common in US Judo.

Senpai and Kōhai

Senpai (先輩) and kōhai (後輩) are terms applied to the mentor system in wide use in Japanese culture; often found at all levels of education, in sports clubs, businesses, and informal or social organizations. The relationship is an essential element of Japanese seniority-based status relationships, similar to the way that family and other relationships are decided based on age, in which even twins may be divided into elder and younger siblings. The Senpai is roughly equivalent to the Western concept of a mentor, while kōhai is roughly equivalent to protégé, though they do not imply as strong a relationship as these words mean in the West. More simply, these may be translated as senior and junior, or as an elder compared with someone younger in the family/company/organization; the terms are used more widely than a true mentor/protégé in the West applied to all members of one group that are senior (the Senpai) to all the members of another group (the kōhai). There is usually no set separation in age between a Senpai and his or her kōhai.

A junior student will often refer to senior students as "Senpai", and alumni will often refer to alumni from earlier classes as "Senpai". This holds true particularly if events bring them together later on, such as joining the same company, serving on a board together, or simply being in a club or parent's organization at the same time.

On rare occasions, a younger person may also be considered the Senpai of an elder person if circumstances dictate—such as if the elder entered an organization or company at a later time than the younger did

Modern Belt Colors

Other colored belts for students who had not yet achieved black belt originated later, when Judo began being practiced outside of Japan. Mikonosuke Kawaishi is generally regarded as the first to introduce various colored belts in Europe in 1935 when he started to teach Judo in Paris. He felt that western students would show greater progress if they had a visible system of many colored belts recognizing achievement and providing regular incentives. This system included white, yellow, orange, green, blue, and purple belts before the traditional brown and black belts.  [Remember this! It will come up again later.]

The Judo practice uniform and belt system eventually spread to many of the other modern martial arts, such as Aikido and Karate, which adapted them for their purpose, eventually also to Taekwondo. Karateka in Okinawa didn't use any sort of special uniform at all in the old days. The kyu/dan ranking system, and the modern karategi (modified judogi) were first adopted by Prof. Funakoshi (originator of Shotokan Karate) in an effort to encourage Karate's acceptance by the Japanese (remember it started as an Okinawan art and had Chinese influences, and was therefore not seen with favor by the Japanese). He awarded the first Shodan ranks given in Karate to Tokuda, Otsuka, Akiba, Shimizu, Hirose, Gima, and Kasuya on April 10, 1924. The adoption of the kyu/dan system and the adoption of a standard uniform based on the Judogi were 2 of the 4 conditions which the Dai-Nippon Butokukai (Japanese governing body for martial arts) required Funakoshi to meet before recognizing Karate as a "real" martial art. If you look at photographs of Okinawan Karateka training in the early part of this century, you'll see that they were training in their everyday clothes.

Promotion requirements for each Judo rank vary according to the sensei/Club and the national organization that you are affiliated with. There is no worldwide standard for each rank, unless you count the Official Kodokan requirements, which are in line with most other organizations main requirements.  It is, however, generally accepted that a black belt has had many years of practice and can perform at least the nage-no-kata, the gokyo-no-waza and the newaza techniques. 

As you may have learned there are two main National Governing Bodies (USJF, USJA) in the USA for Judo and the US's representative (USA Judo) on the International Governing Body for the Olympics (IJF). 

Each of the two National Governing Bodies have rank progressions for both Junior's and Senior's.  The ages at which a student moves from Junior to Senior differs slightly in these two organizations.  What is more, their belt schemes for both Senior AND Juniors differ.  It is all quite confusing, and to add to the confusion, other countries all do it differently.  Most follow some variation of the original Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Brown, Black.  USJF incorporates half step belts for Juniors where the whole belt is striped (orange/green, for instance).  USJA uses black tabs on the ends to signify half steps in Junior Ranks.  USJA and USJF senior ranks are mostly similar although they do not always use Blue or Purple belts at all.  Some country's NGBs use a light blue belt, and a grey belt, some use other colors.  Some countries use a different order to the belts.  The UK starts with a Red belt before Yellow.   BJJ uses less belts and different colors, and generally a Shodan in BJJ is more like a Sandan in Judo.  Karate and Taekwondo have completely different belting systems, the only thing most arts agree is that Black belts are pretty high ranks, if not the highest.

We are an independent club, but we have been affiliated with some different organizations in the past.  So we have structured our belting system slightly differently and it has changed some over the years.  It is very possible that you may wear a belt of one color in the club and your official rank may slightly differ, this is OK, and not an issue in any way, and should be an issue of any concern unless and until it came time for competition, and even then what does it matter?

Our philosophy is that if we take all of the body of knowledge that is required for a Shodan, which is about as far as our structured curriculum goes, and divide it up into manageable chunks based on a student's age and maturity we get something like below:

A Dragon student is a very young child, and the tempo of learning needs to be slower.  The Dragon program maxes out around age 7 and ends with a student who should have the knowledge at 8 to begin Judo in Juniors class as an Orange belt.  It took that Dragon student 3 years to get to Orange and it took them 12 "ranks". But they should be a competent beginner Orange belt.  

A Junior Student in our club starts as an 8 year old.  The tempo here is a little faster, and they do not have to be motivated with ranks as often, but still their ranks are broken up by black tabs or stripes on their belt indicating their progression through the rank of belt they are in.  A brand new Orange Belt in the Junior class should possess the same body of knowledge as a brand new Orange Belt in the Senior Class (skills will obviously vary, but knowledge of the techniques should be the same).  But the Jr. student will be rewarded with intermediate steps ( I stripe, and II Stripe) along the way to Green Belt in order to help motivate them. By the time they test for Green they are expected to know the same as the Sr. Student, but it has taken them more time to get there.   This program tops out at our unique Jr. Blue belt.  A student at Jr. Blue Belt should know almost all Sr. Blue belt techniques except the submissions, and will progress to the Sr. Class with their Jr. Blue belt until they complete the Blue Belt Sr. test.  From their their progress will be according to the Senior guidebook.

Once a student is 11 in our club they are considered a Sr. Student (not to be confused with Sr. USJA ranks which start at 16) and progresses without stickers or stripes through the Traditional (remember from above)  belt colors of Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Brown, and Black.

So in this way CCUMC Judo is somewhat unique, and also very traditional.  But we feel that this system is best able to take a student through their entire childhood in Judo, from 5 years old to Shodan somewhere around their later teen years.  Senior students who enter the program as 11 year olds should be able, with diligent practice and study at home in addition to class times, should be able to achieve their Shodan in 5 years.  Someone who comes to the club as an adult may have the ability to achieve Shodan in somewhat less time.  Remember though Shodan means "beginning student",  Shodan is not an end, but simply a beginning.  There is literally no end, Judo does not have a destination, only a journey.