Shotokan white to yellow belt progression/requirements

[xravenwingsx]

I know the first answer will be, 'ask your sensei', so I'll get that out of the way.

That being said...what requirements does your Shotokan school have for the progression from white to yellow belt? My family and I started 3 weeks ago as white belts and the instructor is already talking about preparing us for our yellow belt test to take place in three months.

While I wish the same was true for the rest of my family, he says I have a 'natural ability' to excel in Shotokan. I seem to pick things up the first time around and am able to teach it a bit better to my wife and stepdaughter at home during the week.

At any rate, what requirements does YOUR school have for progression to yellow belt, (kata, list of strikes/punches/blocks/stances) and what is your school's timeframe to pass said testing? Also, what are the belt colors that your school uses? As far as I can tell, ours is quite simple. White, Yellow, Green, Brown 2-1, black with a white stripe, and Shodan.

I'm very happy with my school and my sensei, I just want to know how it compares to other Shotokan schools out there. 3 months seems a bit quick to me, but I suppose if he thinks I am ready for it, I might as well try.

Thank you in advance for the replies! Pleasure meeting you all!

[ps1]

I'm doing this from memory so...forgive me if I forget something.

For us, yellow was the third rank...orange came after white.

So, for the second belt the requirements were as follows:

3 months of training

Taikyoku Shodan- kata #1

Ippon Kumite 1-5 -first 5, 1 step sparring techniques

Oi tsuki- lunge punch

Gyaku tsuki- reverse punch

Age Uke- rising defend

Gedan barrai- low level defend

Zenkutsu dachi- front stance

count to 10 in Japanese

edit: The full rank system was White, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Green, Purple, Brown, Black

[sensei8]

What kind of Shotokan are you? JKA? SKIF? ITKF? ISKF? KWF?

I'm not of the Shotokan family, just a fellow karateka.

[likeke34]

FSKA, (started from JKA as our shihan was taught by kanazawa, mori, and asai)

off of memory

white to yellow,

oizuki 4X forward and back

age uke 4X forward and back

soto uke 4X forward and back

uchi uke 4X forward and back

gedan barai 4X forward and back

gyaku zuki both sides 10X

Taikyokushodan

stationary mae geri 10X both sides

[Nevinyrral]

KIHON

1. Oi-zuki

2. Age-uke/Gyaku-zuki

3. Soto-uke/Gyaku-zuki

4. Uchi-uke/Gyaku-zuki

5. Gedan-barai/Gyaku-zuki

6. Shuto-uke

7. Mae-geri

8. Yoko-geri-keage

9. Yoko-geri-kekomi

KATA

Heian-Shodan

KUMITE

Gohon-kumite

[ps1]

In case you're interested, here's a complete list of requirements i used when i was still teaching karate. You'll notice that it was not just purely shotokan. Kobudo and BJJ factored in with the way I promoted. Essentially, a person earning a black belt here would also have earned their black belt in kobudo and a blue belt in BJJ. Unfortunately, my partner at the time lost his job and it never really got going. But here's the list anyway:

Rank Requirements

White Belt (25 class minimum, 2 stripes, 1 stripe every12th class)

Hand Techniques (te waza)

Lunge Punch (oi zuki) Reverse punch (gyaku zuki) Elbow strike (empi)

Kicking Techniques (geri waza)

Front Kick (mai geri) Knee strikes (hiza geri)

Blocking Techniques (uke waza)

Low defend (gedan barrai) Rising block (age uke) Inside block (uchi uke)

Outside block (soto uke)

Stances (dachi)

Attention (musubi dachi) Ready (yoi) Horse (kiba dachi)

Front Stance (zenkutsu dachi) Back Stance (kokutsu dachi)

Self Defense (goshin jitsu)

Wrist grabs

Kata

Teikyoko Shodan (pattern only, no hands required)

Vocabulary

Count to 10, stop, come to attention, bow, bow to the instructor, bow to the front, Teacher, Student, Begin/start

Orange Belt (30 class minimum, 2 stripes, 1stripe every 10 classes)

Hand Techniques (te waza)

Palm heel (shotei zuki) Knife hand (shuto) Back Fist (uraken)

Kicking Techniques (geri waza)

Side Kick (yoko geri) Roundhouse (mawashi geri) Back Kick (ushiro geri)

Stances

Cat Stance (neko ashi dachi)

Self Defense (goshin jitsu)

Break fall

Kata

Teikyoko Shodan

Movement

Ippon Kumite 1-4 Tai Sabaki

Yellow Belt (50 class minimum, 4 stripes, 1 every 10 classes)

Hand Techniques (te waza)

Spear hand (nukite) Ridge hand (haito)

Kicking Techniques

Crescent Kick, in and out (hangetsu geri) Jump front kick (tobi mai geri) Turning back kick

Double kick (nidan geri)

Self Defense (goshin jitsu)

Break fall Wrist grabs blouse grabs chokes

Throwing Technique (nage waza)

Inner reap and outer reap (O soto & O uchi gari)

Kata

Heian Shodan and bunkai

Kobudo

Bo basic strikes and blocks Tsui Sho

Movement

Kumite- beginner

Blue Belt (75 classes required, 4 stripes, 1 every 15 classes)

Self Defense (goshin jitsu)

Bear Hugs, Head Lock, Close Distance, T- Position & throws, ground control

Movement

Sparring (kumite) basic, light contact

One Step Sparring 5 – 10 (ippon kumite)

Kata

Heian Nidan and Bunkai

Kobudo

Bo Ippon kumite

Vocabulary

All listed

Green Belt (100 classes required, 4 stripes, 1 every 20 classes)

Advanced strikes

Spinning Kicks Jumping Kicks

Movement

Kick/ Punch Ippon Kumite 1 – 6 Kumite waza 1- 12 Kumite with front sweep

Kata

Heian Sandan and Bunkai

Kobudo

Bo Sho

Self Defense

Ground Series 1 (Upa escape and escape the guard)

Ground Series 2 (3 sweeps)

Knife Defenses

Purple Belt (100 classes required, 4 stripes, 1 every 20 classes)

Self Defense

Total release capacity Situation Avoidance Ground Series 3 (from guard)

Movement

Kumite waza 13- 24 Kumite with sweeps

Kata

Heian Yondan and Bunkai

Heian Godan and Bunkai

Kobudo

Sai basics

Kansetsu waza

Arm bar (Juji getame) Key lock

Brown Belt (100 classes required, 4 stripes, 1 every 20 classes)

Kata

Jion

Bassai Dai

Tekki Shodan

Movement

Kumite waza 25- 32 Kumite with leg kicks and full sweeps

Ippon Kumite with take down and control Kumite waza with takedown and control

Kobudo

Bokken basics Sai Ippon Kumite

Weapon kumite

Shodan Ho (Black with white stripe) aka: Jr. Black Belt

Kata

Bunkai Bassai Dai Bunkai Jion Tekki Nidan

Kobudo

Advanced Bo, Jo, Tonfa, Sai, & Cane Advanced Kumite Skills & Drills

Movement

Advanced Kumite

[xravenwingsx]

What kind of Shotokan are you? JKA? SKIF? ITKF? ISKF? KWF?

I'm not of the Shotokan family, just a fellow karateka.

sensei8....I believe they do the JKA style but their black belts are certified by another authority..IIMAA.

PS1...wow, what I detailed post! I think I might hang on to that list...it's all good stuff to know! I'm quite impressed.

Thanks for the responses guys, much appreciated!

If anyone else has input, keep it coming!

[KumitePanda]

hummm i am none of the above, i am TSKF and first off our belt progression is much different

white

white black stripe

yellow

orange

green

blue

purple

brown

brown advanced

black probationary

shodan

grading wise we do kumite and kata

Heian Shodan 9th-8th kyu

Heian Nidan 8th-7th kyu (whte blk stripe - yellow)

Heian Sandan 7th-6th kyu (yellow - Orange)

Heian Yondan 6th-5th kyu (orange - Green)

Heian Godan 5th - 4th kyu (green - Blue)

Tekki Shodan 4th-3rd kyu (blue - Purple)

Bassai Dai 3rd - 2nd/1st kyu (purple - brown/brown advanced)

[GaryMo]

I practice Shotokan in the UK and jumped from a White (beginner) to Yellow (7th Kyu), missing out Orange and Red (9th and 8th Kyu respectively) and did:

Sanbon tsuki

Mae-geri

Yoko-geri keage

Yoko-geri kekomi

Chudan shuto-uke

Age-uke, gyaku-tsuki

Soto-uke, gyaku-tsuki

Uchi-uke, gyaku-tsuki

5 step (Jodan oi-tsuki / Jodan age-uke and Chudan oi-tsuki Chudan soto-uke), attack and defence

Kihon Kata

Heian Shodan

Heian Nidan

[sensei8]

Although this is SKIF based, it might help you...

http://japanways.com/Articles/Kyu%20Rank%20Requirements.pdf