what first??

[Zaphiel]

What do you do first ? Your 5th kyu or start with the bogu??

cause it's strange: some peole told me you ought to have the 5th kyu to start with bogu and other peole tell me I cloudn't do the test without a bogu....so tell me what is right!!!

I'm very confused.
thx <rei>
felix

[Dave Fowler]

It really depends on you dojo. Most don't do anything prior to bogu, some do. The only requirement is that you have to have bogu in order to grade Ikkyu. Which is controlled at the federation level while all other kyu gradings below are left to the clubs.

[Knicky]

ask your sensei

[Zaphiel]

^^

I've done this...he has just mumbled something into his beard and left me standing there alone...he seemed to be very unhappy about something

thanks dave-san

[tokon]

What do you do first ? Your 5th kyu or start with the bogu??

cause it's strange: some peole told me you ought to have the 5th kyu to start with bogu and other peole tell me I cloudn't do the test without a bogu....so tell me what is right!!!

I'm very confused.
thx <rei>
felix

hi zaphiel,

it doesn´t depend on having 5th kyu or not to wear bogu. it only depends on your dojo WKV or Kenshinkan and your teachers. if your teachers believe that you´re ready to get bogu, you´ll get it. You have lot of people you can ask at the training, and I know very well, they could help you like Dieter (WKV), Christian (WKV), Wolfgang (WKV), Daniel (Kenshinkan), Doris (Kenshinkan) etc.
WKV / Kenshinkan have changed their rules. so now it´s only possible to take part at an exam in Vienna, if you have already got your bogu. Linz is the only dojo which allows you without bogu (but the highest rank you can reach without bogu at your first exam is 6th/5th kyu, with bogu maybe 4th/3th kyu. it depends on your skills...after that step by step)

[Optomitrist]

yeah I didn't even get 5 kyu. I went straight for 2 kyu. i got my bogu about 2 months before that.

[fighting mochi]

it differs from dojo to dojo or from sensei to sensei. maybe you need to ask again but i wouldn't worry about it. your sensei will let you know when you are ready for testing or when you are ready for bogu. in the mean time just keep practicing and don't be in hurry to put on bogu or test. some people put on bogu to soon and quickly develop bad habits that becomes hard to break. if you have good form when you finally wear your bogu, the transition will be smoother.

[ArtOfKendo]

I just started taking classes and im fairly newb, but at my dojo (stl, MO) we have to go to seminars of the federation to test. It kind of sucks, but its the best dojo around and the teachers rock. They told me that you can do the test at any time, and no bogu was necessary. So thats my .02$

[Akai Bushi]

We have to have bogu first in my dojo before we test.

[h2o]

Here we often skip 5th and 6th kyu (think they were introduced quite recently) and go directly to 4th kyu. I have not heard of a 4th kyu grading done without bogu, but I think it's possible to do it considering the requirements.
But when you go for 3rd kyu, bogu is a must have, since there is both kirikaeshi and keiko involved.
We must go through all kyu-grades starting with 4th kyu to get 1 dan. Requirements are set at a national level.