1st Dan is our seventh belt, after white, yellow, orange, green, blue and brown (we took the ranking system from Judo). It takes an average of seven years to reach black, so the average is a year per belt (though you'd probably do yellow in two or three months, but only test for black after two years on brown).
There are exceptions, of course. A really persistent student (talent and fast learning also play a role here) could probably reach black in less than five. An extreme case was a girl (!) who did white to black in two years eight months and like hell she deserved it.
There are exceptions, of course. A really persistent student (talent and fast learning also play a role here) could probably reach black in less than five. An extreme case was a girl (!) who did white to black in two years eight months and like hell she deserved it.
). Back when I did kenpo, the gradings were spaced much further apart with a minimum 8 months in grade after green belt (4th kyu). It took me 5 years 4 months to get my kenpo junior black belt.
