A little bit of history...

In the days of Japan's "traditional" military hierarchy, a distinction was made between "Mudansha" or "non Dans bearers", and "Yudansha" or "Dans bearers". Rank equivalence could be summed up as the difference between "non-commissioned officers" and "officers".

The Karate Club is also a school

A parallel can also be drawn with the schooling of a pupil, who moves from elementary school to the secondary level of high schools and colleges, then reaches student status, ending, depending on the curriculum, with a bachelor's degree, or even a master's or doctorate.

It's much the same at the Club, where the practitioner will normally spend several years, and progress from grade to grade, following the system of "Kyus" issued by the teacher, who will of course have all the requirements for this himself.

The Grade Appearance

It's impossible to avoid the fact that the award of a higher grade is an undeniable attraction for the young practitioner - by "young", we mean the time he has been practising - and that he ends up focusing on this symbol. For him, this will often correspond to a feeling of pride, of joining a higher class, and position him in relation to other practitioners. But don't get carried away by a distorted view of things. In a previous dossier, we discussed the relationship between "grade" and "level", where we understood that there was not necessarily a direct link, only an approximation.

It's not a foregone conclusion, but...

The delivery of the "Kyu" by the teacher within the Club on the day of the test is in fact the conjunction of two elements: the jury's perception of the performance on the day itself, in view of a reference program, but also and above all the knowledge of the practitioner through all previous training, which takes into account a number of criteria, not only technical, but also human, such as sincerity, willpower, courage, sense of effort, general attitude, etc.

What you show on the day of an exam, including a dose of stress through the ceremonial attached, may reveal specific qualities, but a large part of the grade will already be more or less acquired, as through "continuous assessment" within a school.

The process remains simple

The "Kyu-test", like the "Dan-test" in this sense, is the pooling of two simple individual approaches:
- the practitioner applies, by a voluntary and free act, to present the state of his knowledge and the level of his practice, in a sincere and disinterested way,
- the teacher, possibly assisted by a jury, takes note of the practitioner's request, and gives, in his soul and conscience, his "opinion" in return on the presentation.

This "opinion" cannot be the only truth, it may be approximate, but it must be accepted as such in advance. At "SUISSE SHOTOKAN", we don't present precisely this or that Kyu, we present our knowledge as a whole, and it's this knowledge that will determine which Kyu we feel best corresponds to them.

Discussion or not

For all the members of a club, the Kyu sanction obviously meets the same criteria. They should be perfect, in line with the rules laid down by the governing bodies. This is made all the more difficult when practitioners from other clubs or other schools come with a given grade.

The basic spirit is not to contest the validity of the grade, out of respect for those who awarded it. However, the Club to which the grade belongs must be rigorous about its internal rules, which are valid for all, and apply its own criteria.

That's why a practitioner will never be required to "come down" a Kyu or belt, but will always be given an objective indication of his or her level within the Club. In this sense, "SUISSE SHOTOKAN" may have a more demanding stance than others, but in this instance believing that it's easier to wear a grade that you dominate, rather than feeling "borderline" or uncomfortable in relation to other practitioners, which then distorts the general attitude and progression.