Am I in a mcdojo?

[Chunmonchek]

I thought I was in a McDojo, but I was assured by one of my Sempai that all senior ranking Sensei in our organization wear Geta (big red shoes), practice the secrets of Kabuki (which requires them to cover their faces with white makeup), and have trained so long and hard their hair turned red.

I can now sleep with no worries...

Brilliant!

Did the instructor also have a stripy Gi?

K.

How did you know that???

Was that you at my grading/promotion last Saturday? After weeks of diligent practice (and payment of my exam fee, and signing up for another 13 years) I finally made it to white belt!

[ps1]

I thought I was in a McDojo, but I was assured by one of my Sempai that all senior ranking Sensei in our organization wear Geta (big red shoes), practice the secrets of Kabuki (which requires them to cover their faces with white makeup), and have trained so long and hard their hair turned red.

I can now sleep with no worries...

Brilliant!

Did the instructor also have a stripy Gi?

K.

I believe at a certain rank they also get a large pocket with a big letter M on it. This stands for Master.

How did you know that???

Was that you at my grading/promotion last Saturday? After weeks of diligent practice (and payment of my exam fee, and signing up for another 13 years) I finally made it to white belt!

[Chunmonchek]

I believe at a certain rank they also get a large pocket with a big letter M on it. This stands for Master.

For disclosing these ancient secrets you will be getting a visit from my organization's super secret Five Star Ninjer Team!!!

[Nidan Melbourne]

It isn't a McDojo. Many clubs wear gloves for safety reasons and to not injure their respective partners.

Until students get to a high enough rank they should wear gloves. At my club (Goju-ryu) the black belts (I am one of them) don't wear protective equipment except for a mouth guard and groin guard (for the males) and still go full pelt and we still have control not to injure our partner

[KyokanRik]

If you were considering a school, and read the following things about the instructor, would it not scream somewhat McDojo-esque implications? I will refrain from revealing the "Masters" name, but I will note that he is potentially in his early forties, has earned 3 high dan ranks in 3 different martial arts styles, 2 of them (shotokan karate, tae kwon do) from one instructor..

"Master SoAndSo is a 6th Degree Black Belt in Tang Soo Do, a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, and a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Shotokan Karate. He has been training in martial arts since 1990. He earned his bachelor of science in physical education graduating magna cum laude. He currently teaches middle school health and physical education with SoAndSo County Schools.Master SoAndSo martial arts training began under Ms. Amy SoAndSo of Red SoAndSo Academy. He earned his first and second degree black belts in Tae Kwon Do and Shotokan Karate under her instruction."

[danbong]

5 years from 5th to 6th dan

4 years from 4th to 5th dan

3 years from 3rd to 4th dan

2 years from 2bd to 3rd dan

1 year fron 1st to 2nd dan

15 years from 1st dan to 6th dan and anywhere from 3 to 5 years to get to 1st dan. It doesn't seem that unreasonable if the instructor has been practicing since 1990.

[CredoTe]

5 years from 5th to 6th dan

4 years from 4th to 5th dan

3 years from 3rd to 4th dan

2 years from 2bd to 3rd dan

1 year fron 1st to 2nd dan

15 years from 1st dan to 6th dan and anywhere from 3 to 5 years to get to 1st dan. It doesn't seem that unreasonable if the instructor has been practicing since 1990.

For us, it's basically the Dan grade equals the number of years to train before eligibility to test for that Dan grade.

6 years from 5th to 6th Dan

5 years from 4th to 5th Dan

4 years from 3rd to 4th Dan

3 years from 2nd to 3rd Dan

2 years from 1st to 2nd Dan

1 year from 1st Kyu to 1st Dan

3-4 years from 10th kyu to 1st kyu, making 1st Dan a 4-5 year trek on average.

And, that's not counting normal life getting in the way and slowing things down... I've been on my MA journey for ~24 years, now, and I'm nowhere near a 5th or 6th Dan...

[KyokanRik]

5 years from 5th to 6th dan

4 years from 4th to 5th dan

3 years from 3rd to 4th dan

2 years from 2bd to 3rd dan

1 year fron 1st to 2nd dan

15 years from 1st dan to 6th dan and anywhere from 3 to 5 years to get to 1st dan. It doesn't seem that unreasonable if the instructor has been practicing since 1990.

I agree, and wouldn't bat too much of a lash if it weren't for the fact that he reached 2 of these ranks under one instructor, 2 completely different arts.. just reeks with suspicion.. or has the ever present presence of the world of McDojo turned me into a hyper-paranoid overanalyzing nut ball

[CredoTe]

I believe at a certain rank they also get a large pocket with a big letter M on it. This stands for Master.

For disclosing these ancient secrets you will be getting a visit from my organization's super secret Five Star Ninjer Team!!!

Will they use combos of ninjee chops and judee chops? Lol...

[Nidan Melbourne]

5 years from 5th to 6th dan

4 years from 4th to 5th dan

3 years from 3rd to 4th dan

2 years from 2bd to 3rd dan

1 year fron 1st to 2nd dan

15 years from 1st dan to 6th dan and anywhere from 3 to 5 years to get to 1st dan. It doesn't seem that unreasonable if the instructor has been practicing since 1990.

For us, it's basically the Dan grade equals the number of years to train before eligibility to test for that Dan grade.

6 years from 5th to 6th Dan

5 years from 4th to 5th Dan

4 years from 3rd to 4th Dan

3 years from 2nd to 3rd Dan

2 years from 1st to 2nd Dan

1 year from 1st Kyu to 1st Dan

3-4 years from 10th kyu to 1st kyu, making 1st Dan a 4-5 year trek on average.

And, that's not counting normal life getting in the way and slowing things down... I've been on my MA journey for ~24 years, now, and I'm nowhere near a 5th or 6th Dan...

same here at my school. We do the number of years according to what Dan grading we are working towards + an extra 6 months (So for 5th dan to 6th Dan it would be 6 years + 6 months = 6.5 years). But the difficult thing is we don't have many higher ranking karateka in Australia so we have to either go through our national federation (Australian Karate Federation) or go over to Japan and grade.

But a lot of karateka often will take much longer than that time frame because of various reasons, like not feeling ready to grade for their next dan grading. My sensei is a 3rd Dan but he doesn't feel ready to grade for his 4th (even if he has been a 3rd dan for close to 10 years). And his old sensei is a 5th Dan and has been saying for years that he is more than ready for it.