Ranking needed for Competitions

[nodachi]

I keep seeing many people mention that they value what dan they are because it lets them into competitions with dan minimums. How common is this? Please enlighten the newbie. Throw examples at me. Is it possible for one to not be ranked and compete in many competitions, or are dan levels needed to get to participate in a fair share of competitions each year?

[alexpollijr]

That would depend on which country you are. Usually there are two main divisions : Mudansha (no-grades i.e kyuu grades) and Yudansha (shodan and above).

In Brazil there are three divisions in the National Championship. First is 'Entry Division', which features ikkyu and shodan, then 'Yudansha division' which requires nidan or sandan and finally the 'upper division' which is for yondan and above.

[Tato]

In Spain we're so few that we have just one division, wich means that the 5th kyu have lots of chances to compete against a 2nd or 3rd Dan on the first shiais.

In my case, it means that I'm out quite soon.

Somewere I've read that if there's 3 grades of difference or more in shiai, the lower graded one don't have much chances to do/learn anything. (Suposing that both kendokas have a grade representing is skill).

That's maybe right, but I guess that the learning from matching our skills against much better oponents in shiai is great. Besides, as I pointed in another tread, things that are difficult are more interesting.

Rei.

[AlexM]

I've seen competitions in Canada divided into any number of categories:

Junior (below 16 years old), Senior-Mudansha, Yudansha (1st Dan and up), Women (any ranking): (Kendo Nationals)

Mudansha, 1st and 2nd Dan, 3rd Dan and up: (Ontario Senior Open and many others)

Mudansha, Yudansha, Women: (McGill Taikai)

It all depends on the number of participants available in each category.

In the team category it's come one come all so a 5th kyu can fight a 5th Dan (as far as I know).

I've never heard of a competition that excludes on the basis of rank (unless it's the National Team try outs, which isn't really a tournament). Tournaments usually have the minimum categories of Unranked (Mudansha), Ranked (Yudansha) and Team.Come to think of it, in Japan the national tournament requires a 4th Dan ranking to participate (Although I heard they dropped this to 1st Dan for the upcoming 50th tournament). But that's a bit of a special case...

[hamish]

I believe they lowered the requirements for the All Japans a couple of years ago, not just for the 50th (from tomorrow)

Hamish