Pre-Dan Rank

[RAM18]

Hi,

Just wondered today how many of you have a Pre-dan rank?

We have one. We have 1st Kyu which is brown and Black but from there we grade and go to pre-Dan which is a BlackBelt with red stripes top and bottom. This rank seemingly isn't a Kyu or a Dan rank.

When we achieve this we have to be committed for at least 6 months to the school, help out and be active in the fitness activities. From there we grade for 1st Dan Black.

Seems like a sensible idea but it seems quite a rare thing to do so interested in how many other schools do this....

[mazzybear]

It's not something that's practiced at our club, and to be honest I'm not sure I see the point. Once you hit 1st Kyu in our club you are required to do most of the stuff you mentioned in your post. You must be 1st Kyu for a minimum of 6 months, attend at least one black belt course (as of 2015 the SKF will require all candidates to sit a referee course too) and have 20 competition stamps before sitting your Dan grade. So I guess if you do all these thing you don't need to show your commited through a non existent belt. Having said that though, I don't suppose it does any harm.

M.

[Wastelander]

We use a jun-shodan rank for students under the age of 18 (must be at least 14) if they can pass a proficiency test proving that they know the material necessary for shodan. This is partially because many teen students that young can't pass the adult test, and partially because they aren't typically mature enough as people or as martial artists. When they reach 16 years of age, my Sensei will consider testing them for shodan, but they will have to pass the same test as an adult student.

ETA: Oh, I almost forgot--there is a 1 year minimum time between ikkyu and jun-shodan, and from jun-shodan to shodan. For adults, who don't get jun-shodan ranks, the wait time is 1 year minimum between ikkyu and shodan. During all of that time, students are certainly expected to be helping around the dojo in a number of ways.

Edited March 10, 2014 by Wastelander

[CredoTe]

For our dojo, students must have at least one year time in grade as a 1st kyu to be eligible to test for shodan. It's not automatic eligibility, either. They have to do all the things you mention in your OP; leading class, helping students, taking on more responsibilities with the dojo (cleaning up, being available for coverage/backup, etc).

This is based not only on the requirements of being a shodan, but also because a student's fees halt once s/he reaches shodan. In return, s/he must step up, accept more responsibilities to our dojo, and be a leader/instructor.

[Harkon72]

We have the pre-Dan grade; it must be held for at least a year.

[Zaine]

I've never heard of a pre-dan rank although the concept is interesting. I'm not sure I see the point other than to let the student that we are paying attention to them and plan to promote them. At the schools that I have been a part of the requirements for your pre-dan rank are the same as the requirements expected of a 1st kyu.

[wagnerk]

A couple of associations that I've belonged to in the past has them (well one of them actually introduced it after I left).

To be honest, I'm in two minds about them. I've never had one of these pre-Dan/post-kyu ranks myself, so half of me says well why should there be one? The pre-dan is the kyu grades. But then you see a lot of people just quit after receiving their 1st Dan.

I guess at the end of the day, it's whether this rank is there to assist the student, if it's just there for the club to generate revenue or in a more pragmatic view, a bit of both...

[Nidan Melbourne]

We have a pre-dan grade. It is called Shodan-Ho for us.

It is in between 1st Kyu (1st Brown) and Shodan. All students when they grade from 1st kyu to black belt attain this grade. They have to hold the rank of shodan-ho to make sure they know all the syllabus required to grade for shodan.

Every student wanting to hold the rank of shodan at my school has to know the requirements and be able to effectively use the techniques.

It is just so they can get the practice and more mat time to be proficient. They have to stay at the rank of shodan-ho for a minimum of 18 months.

[Zaine]

What are the pre-dan ranks represented by as far as the belt they wear?

[Nidan Melbourne]

What are the pre-dan ranks represented by as far as the belt they wear?

at my dojo our only pre-dan rank (I'm excluding the Kyu grades in this) is the shodan-ho and they wear a normal black belt. so once they receive their shodan they don't change belts or anything.

Some people i train with once they've received their dan grading have chosen to either keep their belt and continue using it, get another black belt with japanese kanji on it (so being able to use either BB's) or on their current black belt that they wore as a shodan-ho get a white bar embroided onto their belt (a white bar on each end of their belt).

I dont hold a pre-dan grade anymore and hold my dan grading.

I chose to go with keeping my black belt the way it was whilst i was a shodan-ho. I didn't want anything embroided on it (referencing to the white bars) other than my school name in japanese (still have to get that changed since i changed schools) and my name in english on the other end of the belt.

If i got more embroided it would make my belt to messy and cluttered