Ikkyu

[Richiro]

How long does it take to advance from rokkyu to ikkyu? Just wondering.

[joekc6nlx]

Talk about variables!
1) what criteria your sensei uses to determine if you're ready to promote.
2) how well you do kata
3) how well you do keiko
4) what type of spirit you show while practicing
5) gee, don't really know.

One person in my dojo made shodan in 2 years, another made ikkyu in the same amount of time. It all depends on those pesky variables.

[mystic_kendoka]

i guess the most important question is, how often do you have exams?

some dojos have only one exam a year.. so it would take long, others dont even use a kyu system, its just ikkyu, then onto the dan grades..

theres no way of saying how long it wld take

[Richiro]

Sorry about this thread. Its kind of stupid. Well nobody needs to post anymore! Mahalo

[joekc6nlx]

Sorry about this thread. Its kind of stupid. Well nobody needs to post anymore! Mahalo I disagree! It seems to me that one of the first questions a noob asks is, "How long before I get promoted?" I'm still waiting for my first promotion after 10 months of practicing kendo. My sensei is "old school" in that he does not promote until he believes you are at the proper level of experience and that you are correctly executing your strikes. So, rokkyu is still my first goal in kendo. I am not hurrying, since it only makes it worse. When sensei says I'm rokkyu, then my next goal is gokyu, then on up the ladder to ikkyu and finally -dan! I have read that it can take upwards of 3 - 5 years, depending on the dojo and the people that are doing the grading. That's not to say you can't make it in less than that time, as my previous post in this thread illustrates.

There is no such thing as a stupid question, except the one you didn't ask. If you don't ask, you won't know, you won't learn, and you won't progress. You may think it's stupid, but chances are there are at least one or two other people who have the same question, but are afraid to ask. As a former certified Navy instructor, and a licensed teacher in the State of Ohio, I have come across that situation many times. No flames, because if you flame the person asking, they'll never ask again, and will probably never come back.

My advice is to keep those questions coming. Nobody knows everything about kendo, we all learn every day.

[Pokie]

actually I'm going through that at the moment. Whether to sacrifice grade advancement for the quality of my kendo. I have been slack and haven't been going trainings for a while now..and i dun feel me kendo is ready to be ikkyu, since once you reach ikkyu, you are actually training as dan. I'm not really playing kendo for winning in competitions, but for personal development, i.e. physical (strength and fitness) and mental (patience and perseverance) but I know that I have been slack and actually have gone weaker and my skills aren't as sharp as it used to be. I will make a fresh start start for another half a year and try to get ready for ikkyu.

[learnkendo]

I thought that the lowest kyu that an adult is awarded is 3rd kyu. (4th, 5th, and 6th kyu are for only minors and children..... or if someone fails 3rd kyu).

At least that was my understanding..
Actually, I am at a point where I don't really want to advance in rank anymore (not that its terribly high).... It feels like the higher the rank, the more expectations that yourself and others would have.... which really distracts me from "clearing my mind" during keiko....

Not to mention that it bumps me up to the next competition level where I know I will get creamed...

[ISSAC RU]

who cares about the rank..

learn kendo for yourself...

[Neil Gendzwill]

I thought that the lowest kyu that an adult is awarded is 3rd kyu.
Depends on the dojo, regional federation and national federation. In Canada, everything below ikkyu is up to the dojo. We don't bother with any ranks for adults, when the students are ready they can try ikkyu at the CKF exam. We give out kyu for kids though, along with fancy coloured patches.

[Pokie]

Oh hey Neil, I just heard it was-38 degrees celsius in Canada last week, how do you train in that weather ? Do you have to that your shinai to use it ?

[Pokie]

oops thaw ur shinai :cool:

[Neil Gendzwill]

Unlike Australia, houses and buildings in Canada are insulated and centrally heated and are actually more comfortable than Australian houses in wintertime. Usually we transport gear direct from house to car to dojo, but if it has to sit in the car for a while we usually let it warm up a bit.

[Lloromannic]

Oh hey Neil, I just heard it was-38 degrees celsius in Canada last week, how do you train in that weather ? Do you have to that your shinai to use it ?
-38! Last week we had -1°C on a practice night and I kept thinking about frostbite and amputations. :O

[Pokie]

hahah..after training better run to the car...or your sweaty gi might freeze !

[Pokie]

oh wow..here in Aust we have opposite problem, dehydration..it's one of the driest, or maybe it is the driest continent on earth and it can get quite hot..sometimes reaching nearly 50 deg cel. Ppl lose liquid very very fast, and some ppl can just feint, we are really encouraged to drink lots of liquid before a hot training night/day.

[Tomo]

How long does it take to advance from rokkyu to ikkyu? Just wondering.
Lots of factors. Ikkyu was the first rank I recieved. I had been doing kendo about 2 years then went to a Kendo summer camp taught by several very high ranking Japanese Sensei. At the end of the camp they had open testing, where unranked people would be given a rank based upon how they did, Ikkyu being highest possible for unranked persons. Most people got Sankyu, but most of the unranked people had about a year of training. That's how I got my Ikkyu.
Cheers,
Tom

[Chook]

And the driest continent is Antarctica :D

[tanueirin]

oh wow..here in Aust we have opposite problem, dehydration..it's one of the driest, or maybe it is the driest continent on earth and it can get quite hot..sometimes reaching nearly 50 deg cel. Ppl lose liquid very very fast, and some ppl can just feint, we are really encouraged to drink lots of liquid before a hot training night/day.

Never mind the people, what about our poor shinai that get the moisture sucked out of them and have to be constantly oiled? ;)

As a quick informal poll, how long do you guys in other countries have to wait between ikkyu and shodan?

In Australia you can't grade for shodan until you've been ikkyu for 12 months.

[neko kenshi]

I have no grade, and the way I figure I'll try to go about it is to wait till I think I have a shot at 3rd kyu (which I suspect will take me atleast 2 years) and I will probably fail and have a lower grade. Someday, maybe I'll look like I'm good, I'll just have to tell everyone I started when I was 40 :D lol.

[rainmaker]

I got my ikkyu after 13 months.. Now, I wonder if I deserve to get ikkyu...

[Neil Gendzwill]

As a quick informal poll, how long do you guys in other countries have to wait between ikkyu and shodan?
The IKF rule is 3 months, but as gradings are typically held once a year in practice it's a year.

[TylerY]

The IKF rule is 3 months, but as gradings are typically held once a year in practice it's a year.
Would it be possible to make the jump from 1kyu to 1dan by the 3rd month by going to a different location to grade?




And that comment about Canada being -38 was pretty funny. Canada's the second largest country in the world.. where I live, the only time it'll ever be -38 would be when hell freezes over.

[webjunkie401]

I think so, but testing outside of your region usually requires for you to get permission from your home region.

[tanueirin]

As always, you're a fount of knowledge. Thanks, Neil!

So would IKF rules take precedence then? Or would the guidelines set for individual countries overrule that, I wonder?

[Andoru]

It all depends on where you're testing I suppose. It's kendo jurisdiction thingy. I know a 4th kyu guy who returned to Japan and got graded to ikkyu. He would have been eligible for shodan in Japan in 3 months, but he wouldn't be able to test for it here in Aust so soon (min = 12 months).

Australia's kyu grading system is so different.

[tanueirin]

Australia's kyu grading system is so different.

Yes, but should it be? Shouldn't we be conforming to the standards set out by the IKF and come into line with other countries where kendo is practised?

Pure selfishness on my part in pursuing this line - I don't wanna be an old hag by the time I get to shodan! :p

[Andoru]

Heh heh that's understandable. Ron Bennett sensei said all the time that we don't have to rush in kendo. It's a lifetime pursuit anyway. Put it this way - we spend on average 3 to 4 years as kyu, then the rest as dan. We might as well enjoy our kyu years!

I used to joke that I wouldn't mind being hachikyu. Heck it would be my only chance to be hachi-anything! :D

[KevinF]

The benefit of living in a country where anyone can start kendo at the junior high school or high school and dojos are everywhere with thousands and thousands of practicioners (Japan) is that kyu ranks are reserved for elementary school kids with the exception of ikkyu.

Most kids in Japan who start kendo in the first year of junior high school will take the ikkyu and shodan exams around the end of their first year in training. By the time they graduate junior high school (9th grade in America), they should be 2dan. They would be 3dan in high school and take the 4dan exam in college.

It should be noted that these kids practice every day after school for a couple of hours and often go to other dojos outside their school sports club as well, especially before testing. Most of us toiling in the Americas or Europe can only dream of being able to go to any of a number of dojos any day of the week like this.... and thus we have the long and drawn-out kyu system that most dojos adopt here.

[Neil Gendzwill]

The presiding country's federation rules take precedence over the IKF guidelines. Most countries are pretty close to the IKF though, with some exceptions. Canada for example has a two year wait period between shodan and nidan instead of one.

[KhawMengLee]

Yep, depends on where you are.

Australia you start with 6kyu but usually if you are competent they'll knock you up to 5kyu. You can only jump 2 kyus per grading so it will take about 3 years to get shodan.

In UK you can go from ungraded straight to ikkyu and then 3 months after that you can take shodan.

I did two years in Australia got to 3kyu and then did my ikkyu when I moved to UK. 3 months later I did my shodan in Malaysia.

All in all, its not so much how fast you can test for it, more so whether you are ready to do it.