There are ten beginner or Kyu rankings: (Note: All teachers can pick their ranks system up until black belt.)
- Jukyu (10th Kyu) (White Belt)
- Kukyu (9th Kyu) (white belt with one Green stripe)
- Hachikyu (8h Kyu) (White belt with two Green stripes)
- Shichikyu (7th Kyu) (White belt with three Green stripes)
- Rokkyu (6th Kyu) (White belt with Long Green Bar)
- Gokyu (5th Kyu) (Green Belt)
- Yonkyu (4th Kyu) (Green Belt with one brown stripe)
- Sankyu (3rd Kyu) (Brown Belt)
- Nikyu (2nd Kyu) (Brown Belt w/ 1 Black Stripe)
- Ikkyu (1st Kyu) (Brown Belt w/ 2 Black Stripes)
Then there are the ten black belt or Dan ranks:
- Shodan (Regular Black belt/1st degree)
- Nidan (2nd degree)
- Sandan (3rd degree)
- Yondan (4th degree)
- Godan (5th degree)
- Rokudan (Master’s title: Renshi) (6th degree)
- Nanadan (Master’s title: Kyoshi) (7th degree)
- Hachidan (Master’s title: Kyoshi) (8th degree)
- Kyudan (Master’s title: Hanshi) (9th degree)
- Judan (Master’s title: Hanshi-sei) (The same as 9th degree) (10 degree)
On Okinawa at Kanei’s dojo the five kyu rank system was used thus- white, green, brown belt.
Belt colors used may vary from school to school.
To find out more look at our Grading Syllabus.