Kyu-Dan?

[hitokiri_kage]

can anyone help me understand the grading scale in kendo? I dont know my grade.

file:///C:/My%20Documents/My%20Pictures/kenshin.jpe

[Neil Gendzwill]

FAQ entry on dan (http://www.kendo-sask.com/swordfaq.htm#_Toc422549491)

[Banza Joe]

:confused2 How long have you been training?
You are probably classed an 'ungraded' until you actually go for your 1st grading. As a result of that you should expect to be awarded anything from rokyu (6th kyu) to nikkyu (2nd kyu).
Ikkyu (1st kyu) and above, ie, shodan (1st dan) nidan (2nd dan) etc etc are usually attempted at national gradings (in the UK anyway).

Hope this helps.
Weird question though, i must admit.

[joekc6nlx]

You know, I've been practicing kendo for over a year, now, and still unranked/ungraded. It's not that I'm not ready for testing, I'm recovering from an injury.

I asked my sensei after about 7 months when I could expect to be promoted to rokukyu, and he said that after I got bogu, and then after a time when he was able to evaluate my progress.

At this point in my training, I'm not worried about making grade. It will come when it comes and when my sensei decides I'm ready. When I test, it will be for the highest grade I can achieve. Then I'll know I've earned the grade.

[Banza Joe]

You know, I've been practicing kendo for over a year, now, and still unranked/ungraded. It's not that I'm not ready for testing, I'm recovering from an injury.

I asked my sensei after about 7 months when I could expect to be promoted to rokukyu, and he said that after I got bogu, and then after a time when he was able to evaluate my progress.

At this point in my training, I'm not worried about making grade. It will come when it comes and when my sensei decides I'm ready. When I test, it will be for the highest grade I can achieve. Then I'll know I've earned the grade.

joekc6nlx, i've come to the conclusion that you actually post some good and intelligble replies........scary! :confused2
But i do agree with you. I'm in bogu, but didn't want to grade when the rest of my dojo did, as i'd only been practising 3 months. I would like to grade in october (by then i will have been training for 15 months) and hopefully achieve nikkyu. Most of my dojo members tested to nikkyu after they'd been training in bogu for about 6-8 months. Grade means nothing to me right now, not until i've achieved a certain standard of kendo (that my sensei is satisfied with) and internal balance that i myself am satisfied with.

[joekc6nlx]

joekc6nlx, i've come to the conclusion that you actually post some good and intelligble replies........scary! :confused2
But i do agree with you.
Now THAT's scary! Someone who thinks I'm intelligent < LOL> Thank you very much for the compliment. Most of my thoughts come from reading the books, and especially listening to and watching my sensei. One does not always have to ask the question to find the answer!

[Optomitrist]

I have recently been told that your skill is the representation of your rank, not the other way around. (You know what rank they are by their skill not their certificate)

[KevinF]

The best analysis I have heard about dan rankings comes from Shozo Kato (Shidogakuin), who was relating something he had heard from an elderly sensei in Japan once.

Think of the dans as a percentage of what you know about kendo. A shodan knows 10% of kendo, a nidan knows 20%, etc. There is always more to know, and always more room for advancement in knowledge, skill technique and understanding. The ZNKR cap at 8dan (therefore 80% of kendo) is to recognize that because we no longer live in a society where sword combat is possible or expected, there are some things we cannot know anymore and that have been lost.

[Optomitrist]

The ZNKR cap at 8dan (therefore 80% of kendo) is to recognize that because we no longer live in a society where sword combat is possible or expected, there are some things we cannot know anymore and that have been lost.
that makes me sad. It is like we have lost a part of history.

[jmarsten]

The best analysis I have heard about dan rankings comes from Shozo Kato (Shidogakuin), who was relating something he had heard from an elderly sensei in Japan once.

Think of the dans as a percentage of what you know about kendo. A shodan knows 10% of kendo, a nidan knows 20%, etc. There is always more to know, and always more room for advancement in knowledge, skill technique and understanding. The ZNKR cap at 8dan (therefore 80% of kendo) is to recognize that because we no longer live in a society where sword combat is possible or expected, there are some things we cannot know anymore and that have been lost.
The source was S. Inoue Hanshi Kudan at our seminar that the AJKF provided for the AUSKF kodansha on how to grade at shinsa. The text of the seminar is located here http://kendo-usa.org/reference/shinsaintro.htm It was a very good seminar and I actually have video tape of it with all the discussion that went on. Inoue Sensei is a wonderful person.

[JSchmidt]

that makes me sad. It is like we have lost a part of history.
Huh?..it makes you sad that we have lost the need for chopping eachother to pieces with swords?.

Jakob

[KevinF]

Thanks Marsten for the information about the seminar. I really like that view of the rankings - it puts things into persepective.

:smiley:

[Dave Fowler]

The best analysis I have heard about dan rankings comes from Shozo Kato (Shidogakuin), who was relating something he had heard from an elderly sensei in Japan once.

Think of the dans as a percentage of what you know about kendo. A shodan knows 10% of kendo, a nidan knows 20%, etc. There is always more to know, and always more room for advancement in knowledge, skill technique and understanding. The ZNKR cap at 8dan (therefore 80% of kendo) is to recognize that because we no longer live in a society where sword combat is possible or expected, there are some things we cannot know anymore and that have been lost.
Really, i'd think that it would have been more of an exponential curve in the amount known. The reason I say that is a godan knows way more than 30% more than a nidan. I can say that with confidence as this is the ranking difference between Neil and myself.

[Solinde]

The reason I say that is a godan knows way more than 30% more than a nidan.
Well...50% is actually 150% more than 20%, which is more like it, I guess?

[EzzzE]

can one test for lets say 4th kyu as a first test? i've been dooing kendo for ~ half a year got into bogu recently and i am ungraded. does one have to go through 6th, 5th, etc?

"I have recently been told that your skill is the representation of your rank, not the other way around. (You know what rank they are by their skill not their certificate)"

this is indeed very true, and represents the idea of kendo. we don't wear different belts to show everyone: oh my god he's a black belt....you'll soon enough figure out if he knows what he's doing there or not.

btw in japan there is no kyu, when your sensei says your ready you grade for 1st dan .. *gg*

[joekc6nlx]

can one test for lets say 4th kyu as a first test? i've been dooing kendo for ~ half a year got into bogu recently and i am ungraded. does one have to go through 6th, 5th, etc?

"I have recently been told that your skill is the representation of your rank, not the other way around. (You know what rank they are by their skill not their certificate)"

this is indeed very true, and represents the idea of kendo. we don't wear different belts to show everyone: oh my god he's a black belt....you'll soon enough figure out if he knows what he's doing there or not.

btw in japan there is no kyu, when your sensei says your ready you grade for 1st dan .. *gg*
Kyu was originally developed by the Metropolitan Police as a system of grading before one tested for shodan.

In my regional federation, ECUSKF, an unranked person can test for whatever grade they believe they are ready to assume. However, we are cautioned that if we are unranked, not to test for a specific grade, just do the best we can do in front of the examiners. They will decide at what level you should be graded. One of my dojo mates tested earlier this month, he was non-ranked, but tested and passed his ikkyu. Now he's going to Japan for 6 months and will be involved in kendo every day. (I'm betting he'll be a shodan by the time he comes back.)

[nodachi]

" btw in japan there is no kyu, when your sensei says your ready you grade for 1st dan .. *gg*"

Actually, there are kyu grades in Japan. Adults first test will be ikkyu, but kyu grades exist to give children a sense of progression and encouragement since without them tests would be few and far between and they might lose interest or a sense of achievement.

[Michael_St_A]

can one test for lets say 4th kyu as a first test? i've been dooing kendo for ~ half a year got into bogu recently and i am ungraded. does one have to go through 6th, 5th, etc?


Whether you have to go through all kyu grades or not depends on your dojo leader and the German federation's guidelines. As far as I remember German kendo follows a syllabus which includes cebtral gradings for kyu grades.

The British Kendo Association has been moving towards formalizing kyu gradings below ikkyu but not all dojo participate at the moment.