dans

[wilko9999]

hi

 

do dans make you better at karate because i do not think it do's want do you think ?

 

 

 

L8er

[renketsu]

Hi,

 

I dont think that holding a particular dan makes you better than you would be by training just as hard but not holding that dan.

 

I have seen green belts (6th kyu) who have trained for 4+ years in Shotokan but never graded beat brown and black belts in kumite competitions. The training you have and the level of knowledge and skill you show should be the thing that people judge you by, the grade you hold is mostly irrelevant in my book.

 

The only thing that higher dans work for is advertising - if a prospective student sees two posters, one with a 2nd dan running the class and the other with a 5th dan running the class - I think I know who the student will train with... Joe Public dont know who will be the better instructor or if the instructors are worthy to hold that grade - they just see a higher number!

 

Just my opinion.

 

Andy.

[hobbitbob]

In general, in the contemporary world, Dan ranking is meaningless. With the exception of some schools of classical Bujutsu (i.e.: Kenjutsu, Jujuttsu,Kyudo, Kendo, and to some extent, Aikido) Dan grades are mthods of allowing the instructor to extort money from students. In most Korean and otehr non-traditional styles Dan ranking seems to be based on wheteror not your check clears.

 

Most (and here I emphasize the word "most") Japanese and Okinawan Karate schools avoid the "grade inflation" phenomenon, but exceptions exist.

[karate_woman]

Dans in and of themselves don't make you better, no. They do give you a good starting point, and once I reach 4th Dan I'll have been graded on all the kata in my style.

 

I'm just at shodan now by the way, and probably won't grade for Nidan until next year so I'm a long way (8 years minimum) away from that point. After that it is supposed to be more based on what I give back to karate (plus time at each rank), skills as an instructor, books written, etc.

[tommarker]

A guy named Dan once helped me understand Pinan/Heian IV

[ninjanurse]

I don't know about you, but I worked by butt off and learned a ton of new curriculum for each of my dan gradings-not to line the schools pockets, but to make myself a better martial artist. There are those of us out here that acheive higher rankings because of the hard work we put in and the desire we have to constantly improve ourselves. It is not the Dan that makes you better it is your efforts that make you better. People should be judged by the fruits of their labors not their belt and schools should not be looked down upon because of the number of dan gradings they have. Judge no one until you know them.

 

OK...I'm done!