I just thought that I would post up a little introduction to the grades/belt system that we use in aikido. This is an issue that often causes some confusion and is the source for questions when new people start training.

Typically aikido clubs use the kyu system. This means grade, rank or class in Japanese. However, unlike, say, most karate clubs, our club does not make use of different coloured belts other than white and black. Therefore, any practitioner below a dan grade (see below), typically wears a white belt.

Just to complicate things, it is also possible to wear what is called a hakama. These is the dark blue coloured trousers that you may see some of the practitioners wearing, and look something like skirts. In our club it is typically expected that am aikidoka start wearing one when he or she reaches the 3rd kyu (sankyu), which equates to about half way through the white belt scale. However, this isn’t a hard and fast rule: the wearing of it is a matter of personal choice, and some inductees from other clubs or martial arts may already be comfortable with wearing hakama and so should continue to do so.

Normally the club holds a round of gradings in January or February, so it is not unusual to attain a grade a year in the early years. It’s always surprising the vast improvement in abilities in the scant months between someone joining and making their first grade, so it shouldn’t be something to worry about when it comes to it!

We’ll post up similar little guides to gradings themselves and to the the uniform, or keigogi, we wear sometime in the future, so watch this space.

List of kyu grades

1. Ikkyū (一級:いっきゅう)
2. Nikyū (二級:にきゅう)
3. Sankyū (三級:さんきゅう)
4. Yonkyū (四級:よんきゅう)
5. Gokyū (五級:ごきゅう)
6. Rokkyū (六級:ろっきゅう)

These are given in reverse order of attainment. So a new member would start as a novice and achieve the rank rokkyu on their first grading. The highest white grade is therefore ikkyu.

Dan grades

The black, or dan, grades have the structure below. Unlike kyu grades however, they are achieved starting with shodan and progress from there. Needless to say, attaining dan ranks is the work of many years, and to be awarded a promotion is a matter of great honour and prestige.

1. shodan (初段:しょだん): first degree black belt
2. nidan (二段:にだん): second degree black belt
3. sandan (三段:さんだん): third degree black belt
4. yodan (四段:よだん): fourth degree black belt
5. godan (五段:ごだん): fifth degree black belt

… etc.