That was the case at the beginning of the 20th Century when standards were low (have a look at the technique of some of the founding fathers if you can find them on film). When my original Karate teacher came to the U.K. in the early 60s, 5th Dan was the highest technical grade which he held, but as the art developed and evolved, further technical grades were added up to 8th Dan. 9th and 10th Dan are usually honorary grades and are bestowed for services to the art: promoting it, pushing up the standards, and model behaviour. These Dan grades are augmented by the ‘shogo’ honours, renshi, kyoshi and hanshi for which criteria differ amongst associations. Here’s an example:
