Jumping Rank

[tellner]

I think if they are at a skill level deserving of the rank, why not?

Why not, indeed?

 

[Danjo]

Several years ago, the head of the Kempo system I study wanted to award an honorary Shihan status to a fellow martial artist, quite a notable one, that was a longtime friend and colleague.

However, his friend didn't like the idea of just being handed an honorary rank, he wanted to be able to say he tested for it like anybody else.

Normally, the absolute minimum time to be awarded a Shihan status would be 9.5 years, assuming you were an outstanding martial artist who was quite devoted to the arts, and even then few who are in that long ever get to that level. However, it also requires a 5th Dan (hence the need for 9.5 years), and the Godan test in this art is not exactly simple (I'd imagine very few are), requiring written and oral requirements, demonstration of every technique in the curriculum, performance of a number of kata, and a final test called the "List of 300" where you must demonstrate 300 distinct martial arts techniques (blocks, strikes, kicks, throws, chokes, counterjoints, whatever), noting that there is less than 300 on the whole curriculum so you must innovate and move beyond what you have been shown to discover things on your own. Thus, it's not something very, very few people could walk in one day and just perform.

He insisted on taking the Godan test, and he said he'd refuse the Honorary Shihan if he failed it, he didn't want a rank he didn't earn. He was already a lifetime martial artist, and I think he was already a Shihan of one form of Karate, so it wasn't learning from scratch. I don't know how long he prepared for it, but he took the test, with the head of the system and a panel of other Shihan grading him, and was awarded his 5th Dan as his first rank ever in the system, and accepted Shihan status to go with it.

In a sense, you could say he skipped directly to 5th Dan, but that was clearly a special case.

I know some people don't like this practice, but I have to say that I hold some real respect for a man who was going to be issued an honorary ranking and insisted on taking the corresponding test.

That didn't include "Chi Strikes" did it?

 

[Gentle Fist]

I always say you can wear any rank you want but you better be able to back it up on the floor. Rank has lost a lot of it's meaning in the last few decades. In one style a teen can be 15 years old and hold a 4th dan, while in another style that same kid isn't even allowed a blue belt.

 

[Danjo]

I always say you can wear any rank you want but you better be able to back it up on the floor. Rank has lost a lot of it's meaning in the last few decades. In one style a teen can be 15 years old and hold a 4th dan, while in another style that same kid isn't even allowed a blue belt.

Amen to that.