white to black

[Kusotare]

In our Wado organisation it'll take a minimum of 7 years to reach BB if you take each grading on schedule.

That's an unusually long period for a Wado group ime.

Within most groups, that train under the auspices of the three major Wado branches, I would say a more typical "possible" time span would be an un-interrupted 4-5 years (for an adult anyway) of serious training 2-3 times a week.

Of course what is "possible" and reality are two distinctly different things, but I would question why any Wado group would require it to be a "minimum" of 7 years. That doesn’t sound right to me.

K.

[kensei]

In Judo it took me 3 years, and many injuries and I stopped as soon as I got my black belt, actually the day after because I broke my clavicle and felt that was enough getting tossed on it. Shotokan it took me 6 years of solid training....with four in between of no so solid training.....I was on the extended plan I did three years of solid training to get to my 1st Kyu, took time off to do judo and Aikido, came back and ranked for Shodan in three years and then took off again to visit Goju, Sambo, Kendo and a few other Kung fu styles...came back and focused on my Nidan and Sandan and finally fell in love with the style all over again. Its a life time goal of mine to reach 6th Dan before I die!

[JonWal]

In our Wado organisation it'll take a minimum of 7 years to reach BB if you take each grading on schedule.

That's an unusually long period for a Wado group ime.

Within most groups, that train under the auspices of the three major Wado branches, I would say a more typical "possible" time span would be an un-interrupted 4-5 years (for an adult anyway) of serious training 2-3 times a week.

Of course what is "possible" and reality are two distinctly different things, but I would question why any Wado group would require it to be a "minimum" of 7 years. That doesn’t sound right to me.

K.

Our gradings are every 4 months and sure the 3rd, 2nd and 1st Kyu levels are increasing longer time periods for grading.

What may increase the length of time however is that our classes are twice a week for an hour at a time. So without any individual work outside of class, we're only putting in 2 hours a week. Would that change your opinion? Regardless, I'm not in any particular hurry but interesting to hear your comments as I have nothing to compare it to locally.

[Kusotare]

Our gradings are every 4 months and sure the 3rd, 2nd and 1st Kyu levels are increasing longer time periods for grading.

What may increase the length of time however is that our classes are twice a week for an hour at a time. So without any individual work outside of class, we're only putting in 2 hours a week. Would that change your opinion? Regardless, I'm not in any particular hurry but interesting to hear your comments as I have nothing to compare it to locally.

I think grading 3 times a year is probably realistic for kyu grades up to and including 3rd kyu. Thereafter every six months is common.

Assuming you have 8 kyu grades in your groups grading structure, that would bring your model to about 3 1/2 years if my maths are right - which I would say was more typical (as a "possible" minimum).

That said, I know very few people in Wado that have achieved 1st dan in fewer than 5 years and probably 6-7 is more typical.

K.

[JasonW]

So mostly it really depends on the style, number of katas to learn, time restrictions and the amount of times they test per year. I take private lessons in Isshin Ryu. It allows personal one on one training which allows me to learn on an accelerated rate. I have been around MA my whole life. However this is the first time I have actually seriously trained. Seems like once you get to BB there is a lot of politics involved.

[Lupin1]

I've been doing Isshinryu since I was 8, but have taken several breaks. If you take all the time I've been actively training and put it together, it's probably been about 5 years, with a good amount of that being remembering things I forgot and getting back up to speed after breaks. Right now I'm a 3rd kyu, so I've probably got somewhere between a year and two years left to get to black planning on the three month break I'm going to have to take this summer (life...). I'm in no hurry, though. Brown belt is a unique period in one's training that I'm not intent on rushing.

According to my instructor, in our program an adult will take about four years of steady, dedicated training to get from white to black (although very few of our adults are able to do that and most train somewhat off and on). A child will take between 7 and 9 years to get to adult black belt. Although in the 30 something years he's taught, he's only promoted about 10 people to black belt (we're a very small program), so really it's a very individualized thing.

[BassaiNige]

It took me 6yrs to reach shodan and another 2 years to reach Nidan which is where I am now,this is training twice a week.

[cheesefrysamurai]

I firmly believe that I would not want someone teaching me who did not sweat on the mat. how much practice can one have in 2 years. I am not sure 2 or 3 years is enough to gain mastery of anything besides a few kata and some conditioning

[sensei8]

I firmly believe that I would not want someone teaching me who did not sweat on the mat. how much practice can one have in 2 years. I am not sure 2 or 3 years is enough to gain mastery of anything besides a few kata and some conditioning

I've been in Shindokan for almost 50 years...I'm OLD...and I've not mastered anything, even though we term the Godan as a level of "Master".

Ok...I go back to my corner now.

[cheesefrysamurai]

With respect, i can say that your 50 years of hard work earned you something that cannot be gained from reading books, watching videos or in any way in 2 or 3 years.

I think there are some things that can only be learned by dedication. I don't want anyone teaching me who considers themself a master in 2-3 years.

I firmly believe that I would not want someone teaching me who did not sweat on the mat. how much practice can one have in 2 years. I am not sure 2 or 3 years is enough to gain mastery of anything besides a few kata and some conditioning

I've been in Shindokan for almost 50 years...I'm OLD...and I've not mastered anything, even though we term the Godan as a level of "Master".

Ok...I go back to my corner now.