How Belts "Work"
Colored Belts
Students below black belt are referred to as “mudansha” (meaning “unranked people”) or “kyudansha” (meaning “people with kyu ranks”). They begin at 10th kyu, with a white belt, and work “up” towards 1st kyu.
In Japanese, the progression goes like this:
| Kyu Grade | Japanese |
|---|---|
| 10th kyu | “Jukyu” |
| 9th kyu | “Kukyu” |
| 8th kyu | “Hachikyu” |
| 7th kyu | “Shichikyu” or “Nanakyu” |
| 6th kyu | “Rokkyu” |
| 5th kyu | “Gokyu” |
| 4th kyu | “Yonkyu” |
| 3rd kyu | “Sankyu” |
| 2nd kyu | “Nikyu” |
| 1st kyu | “Ikkyu” |
In most schools the belt color changes for every grade through the first several ranks, but then students will wear the same belt for more than one grade. For example, it’s not uncommon to wear a brown belt for 3rd, 2nd, and 1st kyu.
Because different schools do this differently, it’s much more important to know your kyu grade (the number) than it is to know what color belt you’re wearing. For example, a red belt might be 8th kyu in one school, 1st kyu in another, and 9th dan in another. Because of this, it’s much more helfpul to say, “I’m 4th kyu” than it is to say “I’m a purple belt.”
Likewise, some schools have 12 kyu grades and some have only 5. Some put purple before green. Some use stripes to denote different ranks with the same belt color, some use them to indicate “half” ranks (usually for children), and some don’t use stripes at all. Again, all that really matters is what your school does.
Black Belts
After passing through the kyu ranks, students are tested for their first “dan” grade and and are (hopfully) awarded a black belt, becoming “yudansha” (“ranked students”). But the journey doesn’t end there, because there are varying degrees of black belt. That’s why you’ll hear people referred to as a “3rd dan” or “3rd-degree black belt.”
Some organizations only award up to 5th-degree black belt, while many go up to 10th. Likewise, some styles require you to test for each dan grade while others test through 5th dan and award the rest for meritorious service. Most follow a pattern that looks something like this:
| Dan Grade | Japanese |
|---|---|
| 1st dan | “Shodan” |
| 2nd dan | “Nidan” |
| 3rd dan | “Sandan” |
| 4th dan | “Yondan” |
| 5th dan | “Godan” |
| 6th dan | “Rokudan” |
| 7th dan | “Shichidan” or “Nanadan” |
| 8th dan | “Hachidan” |
| 9th dan | “Kudan” |
| 10th dan | “Judan” |
So how can you tell what “degree” black belt someone has?
Some styles add stripes to the tips of thier belts so you can tell by looking, and some award red-and-white belts, or red belts, for grades above 5th dan, but most styles’ dan graded practitioners continue to wear the same black belt, giving no indication … so you just have to know.