The difference between 6th Kyu and 5th Kyu?

[Yellow Savage]

I'm for grading this August and would like to know what is the difference between 6th Kyu and 5th Kyu. Looking at the desrciption for each criteria, they look exactly the same.

Do you get 5th Kyu if you do the perform each criteria really well? If so how well?

[Charlie]

Hi, Savage. Well, I'm not sure, but I think they are looking for the same things at each level only that much cleaner or better, you know?

[samurai999]

Hi YS,

Not sure what the criteria for testing in Australia is but usually, its kirikaeshi first then shiai-geiko. I always tell people that shinsa style shiai geiko is not kakari-geiko or keiko with high school like tricks. Its all about clean kendo with loud kiai especially at that level.

6th kyu and 5th kyu doesn't differ too much in the gradings and you can usually skip 6th and go to 5th if you are diligent in your practice.. At least in California. I went 5-2-1-1dan.

Tim

[aru-ma]

5th and 6th kyu grading down in victoria, not in any particular order:

footwork going front, back, right and left

jouge-buri, naname-buri, shomen suburi, sayumen suburi

kihon men, kote, do without hitting actual target.

I think thats it, its been a while since I took my 5th kyu.

as for difference I dont think there is any except the graders/judging panel expects more for 5th kyu in terms of performace, sharper, straighter and "snappier".

[qpuppy]

aru-ma... yo yo buddy... cant believe you have forgotten... hehhehe

6th Kyu....
foot work... front x2, back x2, right x2, left x2.... then
(in front of the panel) Jouge-buri, shomen double time, then shomen single time... then
show cut of kihon Men x2, Kote x2, Do x2 once with a motodachi.. once without.... (but that depends on the day if they choose to do so..) i remember i did it for both.. but i have also seen with motodachi... and also without...

5th Kyu.....
Same as 6th kyu... but also do Kirikaeshi.

Nidan and sandan waza is 4th kyu and above.....

[Yellow Savage]

Do we have to do Kirikaishi when attempting 6th and 5th Kyu?

[Inouye02]

6kyu and 5kyu is a recomendation from the dojo head sensei, they dont have to go to a shinsa until they go out for 4kyu and above..this is in the SCKF..

[qpuppy]

6kyu and 5kyu is a recomendation from the dojo head sensei, they dont have to go to a shinsa until they go out for 4kyu and above..this is in the SCKF..

Actually.. the grading in Australia is all done together as a whole state... thus each state does there own grading.. but the whole state do it together at one.. thus each dojo dont do any grading.. no matter what grade you are or what you are taking... This is the AKR rules


Yellow Savage
there is no Kirikaeshi in 6th Kyu.. but if you were able to skip.. you will have to do kirikaeshi for 5th kyu...

[Inouye02]

I was talking about Southern California Kendo Federation ..not Austrailia

[aru-ma]

but the guy (Yellow Savage) was asking from sydney, Australia so it's more relevant to give some information regarding grading if it was from the same country.

[Chook]

Aaah - I'm new here, but I attempted 5th kyu at the Willoughby grading in August (made 4th)

Were you one of the lucky ones who attempted 6th, got 4th?

[RabidMonkey]

Is it possible to advance to 4th kyu in one gradeing from 6th kyu? what is the most anyone has heard of? for Australia that is.

thnxs.
Rabid.

[-Miburo-]

are the kihon men, kote and Do required to do in 5th/6th kyu grading tobikomi wazas or just big men, kote and Do with suri ashi? Thanks

[Masahiro]

are the kihon men, kote and Do required to do in 5th/6th kyu grading tobikomi wazas or just big men, kote and Do with suri ashi? Thanks

in certain areas in Japan, YES! In Unites States, No! as I have not heard or attended a test in the U.S. where these kihon wazas are required. (I can be wrong as the may be subjected for change in the future) A very candid word of advice, there's no need to go for any type of testing untily your 3rd year of kendo. You will just be wasting your money. before then, a lot of kirikaeshi and kakari-geiko.

[jmarsten]

Some US federations do require kihon as part of the kyu test. PNKF and SW being two that I have personal experience with.

[MiGu]

Hi everybody!

Just to give a wiew from a different zone of the world, in the dojo where I practice in Madrid we did kiri kaeshi for 6th kyu. Actually I supose you don't do the exam for 6th, 5th, or any kyu. You do the exam and you simply get the rank apropiate to your level. Once said this, I must say that is not so easy to skip grading, and when this happens, you only skip ONE rank. we do kyu rank exams twice a year aprox.

Good spirit, good kendo...

[Mr.Tvola]

Interesting how this differs in each country. In our country test for 6th and 5th kyu consists of
1) Kiri-kaeshi
2) basic strikes (men-uchi, kote-uchi, do-uchi)
3) Simple writen test (usually picture of kendoka, where they should describe kote, men, do, hakama ...) - this is more like a survey, than a real test.

People can skip kyu grades, as the examinations are held once a year. But you should have 1st kyu before you try shodan.

[Andoru]

In the Feb grading in NSW, I noticed that only 4th kyu wannabes had to do kirikaeshi. 6th kyus do all the kihon movements like what qpuppy said. 5th kyus repeat the same exercise - except that kihon cuts were done on motodachis.

[Oyabun]

Here in Korea, you're automatically a 6th kyu from Day 1, and the first test is for 5th kyu. I guess it's a little different here than elsewhere, or it might just be my dojo, I'm not sure.

[grasshopper_r2]

500 push ups, 500 sit ups, 3 mile run, 1 hour of suburi, 1 hour of kirikaeshi, then the test begins..... just kidding.

[Shea Smith]

Well, I've just started Kendo; about 3 or 4 months ago..
I'm going to the Testing/Tournament this November, in North Carolina; I'm not so sure that i'd be ready enough to test.

Any advice?

[Paburo]

this thread makes a nice piece of info for a survey yellow-san, but unfortunately, probably none of us but your own sensei will tell you the exact requirements of your test. NOBODY, since it varies A LOT from dojo to dojo and from country to country.

here, i didnt even test for 6th or 5th kyuu... after some months of kendo they gathered a bunch of us in a seminar, my sensei told me out of the blue "hey, put on your men and go there with the elder sensei, youre gonna be tested now".

i was granted 4th kyuu in a 'lets see what your level is like and we will grade you accordingly' type of test. consisting kirikaeshi. kihon waza(kote men and do). uchikomi geiko and 30 seconds or so of jigeiko/shiai. (no katas)

damn, i wasnt even aware i was gonna be tested. my sensei laughed and said it was a 'special surprise', and that your kendo should always be good anyway, not just when you 'have a test coming up'. so true mate, so true.

anyway, good luck on your test!

[kenshin13]

Interesting how this differs in each country. In our country test for 6th and 5th kyu consists of
1) Kiri-kaeshi
2) basic strikes (men-uchi, kote-uchi, do-uchi)
3) Simple writen test (usually picture of kendoka, where they should describe kote, men, do, hakama ...) - this is more like a survey, than a real test.

People can skip kyu grades, as the examinations are held once a year. But you should have 1st kyu before you try shodan.

Wow I wish I was over there! Eeeeeeasy! :D

[Hai_hai]

Any advice?
Read other threads that contain advice for people taking tests.

[grasshopper_r2]

Just to state the obvious...1 Kyu step separates 6th and 5th...hehehehe!

[crabbi]

Not sure if this will be useful to you Yellow Savage, but the British Kendo Association Syllabus for Kyu Grades staes the following:

Prospective time scale:
7th kyu after the 6 week induction plus gradings every three months = 2nd kyu in 17 months - Ikkyu at 20 months - 1st Dan = 24 months

Grading Syllabus for 7th Kyu

Fundamentals with Bokken:
- How to stand: shizen-tai
- How to bow: ritsu-rei and courtesy in kendo: rei-ho
- How to sit: sei-za
- How to bow: za-rei
- How to compose yourself: mokuso
- How to squat: sonkyo
- How to make stance and posture: chudan-no-kamae
- How to move forward, back, right and left: in kamae using suri-ashi
Kihon with Bokken and Shinai:
- How to cut men, kote and do using suri-ashi with bokken
- How to cut men, kote and do using fumi-komi-ashi with shinai


Grading Syllabus for 6th Kyu
7th plus
Kihon-keiko-ho with Bokken:
- Kihon Ichi
Kihon with Shinai and Bogu:
- How to cut set forms of kihon-keiko-ho in bogu using fumi-komi-ashi
Kiri-kaeshi: Cutting as kakari-te


Grading Syllabus for 5th Kyu
6th plus
Kihon-keiko-ho with Bokken:
- Kihon Ni
Kiri-kaeshi: as kakari-te and motodachi


Grading Syllabus for 4th Kyu
5th plus
Kihon-keiko-ho with Bokken:
- Kihon San
Kiri-kaeshi: with good kiai and correct cutting distance
Kendo no Kata:
- Ippon-me


Grading Syllabus for 3rd Kyu
4th plus
Kihon-keiko-ho with Bokken:
- Kihon Yon
Kiri-kaeshi: left hand remains in centre with smooth, effective movements
Kendo no Kata:
- Nihon-me


Grading Syllabus for 2nd Kyu
3rd plus
Kihon-keiko-ho with Bokken:
- Kihon Go
Kiri-kaeshi: with a full rich kiai and proper breathing
Kendo no Kata:
- Sanbon-me
.................................................. .....

You can download an MSWord version of this at:
http://www.kendo.org.uk/articles/allkyugrid.doc

For Ikkyu and above, you can find guidelines at: http://www.kendo.org.uk/articles/gradguide.shtml and http://www.kendo.org.uk/articles/gradrequ.shtml

Hope this is useful / relevant...

Cheers

crabbi

[Mr.Tvola]

Wow I wish I was over there! Eeeeeeasy! :D

Of course there are several more aspects, like kamae and footwork etiquette (stances, rei) etc., those are not explicitly tested, but observed by the examinators during above mentioned excercises.

But OK, it may be easy :) Somewhere you don't need to test, sensei just gives you the grade :)

[JSchmidt]

Not sure if this will be useful to you Yellow Savage, but the British Kendo Association Syllabus for Kyu Grades staes the following:


Bear in mind that this is only a suggested syllabus, as the BKA doesn't require people to go through 6th-2nd kyu.

Jakob

[Andoru]

So what's the average time to shodan in the UK? I presume it's less than 2 years?

[JSchmidt]

Average time probably is around 2 years..some take longer, some take shorter....

Jakob

[Nanbanjin]

So what's the average time to shodan in the UK? I presume it's less than 2 years?

It takes people a long time to get shodan in Australia for a number of reasons.
Don't let it get you down. Young Nick with whom I visited your club the other day has been training four or five years and is still only 1st kyu. It doesn't seem to get him down too much. I spoke with a 3rd dan from ACT who you know well and he said he has been on 3rd dan for twelve years. I was 3rd dan for about six years.
Only cats and smoke like high places.

[Andoru]

Nah rank doesn't bother me (anymore). :D

I wonder how our shodans would compare with the other shodans around the world?

[JSchmidt]

I wonder how our shodans would compare with the other shodans around the world?
They're about the same..

Jakob

[Nanbanjin]

They're about the same..

Jakob

You can't really compare Japan I guess because the infrastructure is so well developed over there. Reading the "How many people in your dojo" thread I realise we are a bit of a backwater over here (thought we have a strong presence on KW). Maybe it's a good thing that we don't rush our lower grades through.

[JSchmidt]

Well, I did get to practice with a couple of adult 'beginners' in Japan and it was still comparable...
I did, though, see a couple of ikkyu ninja's in Canberra, but then they were from kumdo dojangs, who seem to follow their own grading structure.(?).
As long as the people overseeing the grading got a reasonable idea of what shodan kendo should look like, the level will remain roughly the same.

Jakob

[crabbi]

Bear in mind that this is only a suggested syllabus, as the BKA doesn't require people to go through 6th-2nd kyu.

Jakob
Thanks for pointing this out...

Cheers

crabbi

[Nanbanjin]

Well, I did get to practice with a couple of adult 'beginners' in Japan and it was still comparable...
I did, though, see a couple of ikkyu ninja's in Canberra, but then they were from kumdo dojangs, who seem to follow their own grading structure.(?).
As long as the people overseeing the grading got a reasonable idea of what shodan kendo should look like, the level will remain roughly the same.

Jakob

When were you in Canberra?

The Korean Kumdo-jangs have the advantage of having a large number of young fit and enthusiastic practitioners.

I know what you mean about adult beginners in Japan. You also get the odd Japanese person who just doesn't seem to "get it" despite having trained from childhood. The kendo styles of these Japanese kendoists and kendoists over here are noticably similar.

[JSchmidt]

When were you in Canberra?

The Korean Kumdo-jangs have the advantage of having a large number of young fit and enthusiastic practitioners.

I know what you mean about adult beginners in Japan. You also get the odd Japanese person who just doesn't seem to "get it" despite having trained from childhood. The kendo styles of these Japanese kendoists and kendoists over here are noticably similar.
I was there for the ACT open in 2003. ( I was living in NZ and one of my best mates was living in Sydney at the time and we used that as an excuse to meet up).
The adult beginners I met was literally that..beginners...they didnt do kendo in school. Similarly, I've met plenty who stopped after HS or college just to pick it up again years later..again, not much difference from your average westerner.

Jakob