Kyu and dan grades are the two series of judo ranks: kyu grades are the student ranks below black belt and dan grades are the black belt ranks. Judoinfo.com gives kyu as student rank and dan as black belt rank. Kyu grades count down toward first kyu; dan grades count up from first dan.
- Japanese names: kyu, student rank; dan, black belt rank.
- People: mudansha, students below black belt; yudansha, a person who has earned the black belt; kodansha, 5th dan and above (judoinfo.com).
- Origin: Donn Draeger's lecture on judoinfo.com credits Jigoro Kano with awarding the first kyu and dan ranks at the Kodokan, probably from 1883.
What does kyu and dan grades mean?
The judoinfo.com terms list defines the two words and the people who hold them: mudansha are the students below black belt, yudansha those who have earned it, and kodansha the high-ranking judoka of 5th dan and above. Draeger adds that mu means nothing, literally, so mudansha is someone with no dan yet.
In Donn Draeger's lecture on judoinfo.com, the system began with Kano Jigoro of Kodokan, and the first date probably 1883, about a year after he founded the system. Kano awarded ranks on the basis of kyu, which Draeger translates as class or ungraded ranks, and dan, which he calls degrees. Draeger notes that depending on the system there can be as many as ten kyu and ten grades of dan.
How do kyu and dan grades run?
- Kyu grades count down: a beginner starts at the highest-numbered kyu and works toward 1st kyu, the last grade before black belt.
- Dan grades count up: 1st dan is the first black belt, and the numbers rise from there.
- Belt colours for the kyu grades vary by country and federation; the dan grades wear black.
- Kodansha, from 5th dan, are the senior grades of the art.
- Judoinfo.com also lists batsugun, an instant promotion earned by contest results.
How do BJJ belts count degrees?
The IBJJF General System of Graduation divides each belt from white to brown into four degrees and the black belt into six, with the red and black belt as the 7th degree, the red and white as the 8th and the red belt as the 9th and 10th.
How do kyu and dan grades compare to BJJ belts?
BJJ never adopted the kyu numbers. Its coloured belts, white to brown, do the job of the kyu grades, and its black belt degrees do the job of the dan grades. Royce Gracie's page on bjjheroes.com shows the federation rules at work: a blue belt at sixteen and a minimum age of eighteen for black.
Whichever ladder you are on, the rank is the record of the work. Our judo gifts collection has pieces for every rung of it.
Sources
- Judoinfo.com terms list, JudoInfo
- Donn Draeger's lecture on judoinfo.com, JudoInfo
- Royce Gracie's page on bjjheroes.com, BJJ Heroes
- IBJJF General System of Graduation, IBJJF
Related terms
Belt, Black belt (BJJ), Promotion / grading, Jigoro Kano, Kodokan, Judoka.