To both teachers and students: In your school, what is to be expected of a first degree black belt?

This may seem silly, but this is my criteria...

There's something taught in the Bujinkan as the Code of the Dojo, apparently dating back to a sign hanging in the Shinden Fudo Ryu dojo of Toda Shinryuken Masamitsu, and it roughly translates as this:

1. To know that patience comes first.

2. To know that the path of Man comes from justice.

3. To renounce avarice, indolence, and obstinacy.

4. To recognize sadness and worry as natural, and to seek the immovable heart.

5. To not stray from the path of loyalty and brotherly love, and to delve always deeper into the heart of Budo.

My shidoshi and I talked a lot early on about the heart of training; about dedication, perseverance, and especially letting go of things outside your control. When I got my shodan, I had finally let go: I didn't care about requirements, I didn't care about anything but training, being with my friends in the dojo, and learning more.

I don't care at shodan if you can't perform flawless technique; or if you can regurgitate on paper the BS lines about faith and honor that are poured down your throat from a training manual. If you can demonstrate that you can and do abide by those rules, you have the right heart to learn the material, and if I force you to sink or swim, you're going to swim. I would sooner promote a mukyu (white belt) to shodan for showing compassion and a willingness to defend him/herself or another without giving in to fear than a technique collector who is more concerned with their ability to have the proper angle than the proper heart.

The basic skills required are:

Must know and be able to demonstrate all 9 core Kata (Taikiyoko Shodan and Sandan, all 5 Heian, Tekki Shodan, and Bassai Dai.)

Must know the basic terminology eg Oi-suki, Zenkusu Dachi, Ich, Ni, etc

Must be able to Demonstrate all Kihon, Goban Kumite drills down to Ichiban.

Must demonstrate 5 basic self defense techniques using the same technique with both side of the body. They should be smooth and not hesitant.

Must demonstrate satisfactory Jiyu Kumite (continuous not point.)

There is a written knowledge test that contains about 25 questions and an essay portion.

There are other skill sets that should be present as well as more esoteric skills that are hard to define.

Overall they must demonstrate a general understanding of the principals and basic philosophy of the art.

They are NOT considered anything more than Senpai.

At this point they are required to assist teaching the under belts. They are held to a higher code of conduct inside and outside the class.

Competition is never required.

Competence.

I would expect that a Black Belt has knowledge of everything required for all the previous belts, plus the knowledge required for the 2nd Degree.

Depending on the quality of the person with the Black Belt I would not suggest that they instruct on their own, and I would never suggest that a 1st degree is a master. Also, depending on the style I wouldn't suggest that a Black Belt is a master until they attain at least a 7th Degree.

Just because a person is a Black Belt it doesn't automatically make them an instructor, but it does prove that they have or had what it takes/ took to attain that level in their chosen style.

The written requirements are listed on this website

http://dulaneydojo.net/matrix/index.php?option=com...

We do not require the essay. But you have to be able to demonstrate the principles of teaching karate.

There are other requirements that are determined by the board. No test is the same. I often say that a black belt is just the beginning of your training. It is not that you haven't earned anything up to that point. But what you have learned has to become more refined. You begin to gain a greater understanding of your art. It is not the end of the journey. You should come into the knowledge that there is s much more to learn and improve. You gain a greater understanding of Bunkai for each kata. You begin to see things in your kata that you didn't know was there as you are being taught. You get to attend other specialized training that the kyu ranks do not even know exists for the most part.

In our dojo it has nothing to do with tournament or tournaments wins. We do have knife, gun, and stick defenses. The requirements of how many different ones that you must do is greater for black than other ranks. In the beginning we teach you 3 techniques that must be accomplished if attacked. As you progress You must do 5 the 10, etc. Eventually we do not give you step by step step to the side, block, parry, evade then punch kick punch. You must be able to do this on a moments notice and they must all be different. It has to be done on the left and the right. I might say show 3 different response to a straight punch. The one being tested may have to 12, 15 different technique per straight punch. You must end with the attacker on the ground in a position not to continue the fight. You may have to defend against surprised attacks from the rear. You might be blindfolded or might not be. You don't know how many attackers. You may have to defend from attackers and one or more can attack with a weapon, again you don't know if there is a weapon or who has it.

These types of thing are not all required for ranks lower than black belt.

It is funny- I have realized how much my technique has grown from shod an to nidan. I thought once I hit shodan I was set. Once you hit black belt so many more opportunities open up, You study katas in much more depth,you analyze a lot more in kumite and begin much more advanced techniques. You have shown you know how to preform basic techniques and are now able to learn advanced ones.

Our black belt test is pretty short and to the point.

Kata: We won't make you do every kata you have ever learned. We will evaluate how you do on 2 katas We want to see that you can do things like proper movement, use of hips, focus, and have a general knowledge of what is going on in the kata- it can be VERY basic. You are not allowed to make any mistakes on the embusen. We don't want to grade on how well you memorized the kata it is expected that you know the moves.

Kumite: we are looking for proper timing, proper distance, able to defend yourself you don't have to win to pass. Also we look for maturity such as if there is an obvious difference in skill level don't destroy your opponent just because you can

Kihon: We look for timing, hip use, stances and proper movement, the techniques themselves should be executed almost perfectly. We expect you know that you kick with the ball of the foot on a front kick.

Basically on the Kyu tests(every thing before black belt) we look to see do you know your kata, do you know you kick with the ball of the foot for a front kick. The black belt test we expect you know all of the basic techniques we do not grade on that we want to see everything come together. For shod an you don't have to understand why things are the way they are you do have to demonstrate that you know the way things should be. As you advance from there you go into a lot more theory

As far as competition hard to say. I would say that 1/3 of our group actively competes. It is not required though you should have competed in at least 1 tournament both kumite and kata. Our black belts tend to do pretty well they place 90% of the time

As far as self defense- it should be pretty much automatic you shouldn't be thinking what should I do next at this level

In the class we expect black belts to take leadership positions they are to help other students and demonstrate that they know what they are doing

In my school a first degree black has to have solid basics and a positive mindset of never giving up. It takes a long time to do basics because were trying to get you to do them as if it were a natural ability ance you reach black belt then the fun things begin and you start to perfect them besides all the movements in karate are basic movements put together. Once you figure that out then it is a begining to something else a way of life.

At my school it was expected of black belts to lead by example. We were expected to show qualities of discipline so the lower ranks would have a model to follow. I guess the difference was that the instructors had zero tolerance for any faltering of that model in any person that was a black belt. If 100% was not given you risked being kicked out.

In our Dojang, testing from red to black is not much different than testing to any other lower belt except there are many more techniques to demonstrate (108) (each belt has progressively more to learn and demonstrate) and there must be a finishing technique of your choosing added to each. It encompasses techniques from every category from every lower belt including advanced punch/kick combinations, advanced kick combinations, Jung Bong combinations, defense against: punches and kicks, garment grabs, chokes and holds, disadvantaged positions, knife offense and defense. You must choose each technique you will demonstrate (ex. any two out of five kick defenses for each category: strike, kick, break, throw), then add a finishing technique to each. These are the techniques you will use for testing and will vary for each student. After this, you must spar against a higher black belt, then two. Then you demonstrate break falls.

There are no essay questions or anything like that, but the judges may ask a question or two. I find most of the questions are asked to the lower belts to get them thinking about the principles surrounding our style. After several years, the input from the judges moves more to what we did well and what they'd like to see us improve upon.

The colored belts lay a foundation like a skeletal system or a college degree. It is a license to learn. It says you have been taught the minimum you will need to be proficient.

We don't do competition and self defense is such a broad statement that it becomes difficult to quantify. The techniques and skills before black belt are well rounded for unarmed fighting. Again, there are so many variables when it comes to self defense. It lacks in weapon defense. Most of the weapons defense are a part of the black belt curriculum and one may choose to focus more on a particular weapon as training progresses. As far as skills, it lacks in training effectively for the real world of aggression. I don't know how better to say it. Light to medium contact sparring creates many bad habits that I won't go into, but knowing where it lacks is helpful. Real aggression is much harder, faster and closer than your sparring partner and it's never "your turn" and I'll leave it at that.

I do not see myself as being taught "self defense". I see myself as being taught how to destroy a human body/will to continue. Self defense is a legal term and almost nothing is spent on this. It is my responsibility to learn and understand this as much as it's my responsibility to practice outside the Dojang.

Basic Fundamental attack and defense techniques

Knowledge of all the arts and their founders as practiced in the Dojo, and of the International Seishinkai Karate Union.

Fundamental understanding of the basic Shuri, Naha, and Tomari Kata and a basic understanding of how to interpret bunkai.

6 self defense techniques, 5 wrist presses, 4 kick defenses, 3 Head Punch defenses, 2 Round Punch Defense, 1 Ground Defense technique (how to escape the full mount), How to rise up from a ground technique, and how to defend oneself (fallen) from a standing attacker.

As well as sweeps, reaps, and throws.

And finally 1 on 1 up to 4 on 1 kumite.

A student who flubs a technique or forgets the textbook manner is passed if he immediately recovers and continues into another technique to defeat his opponent.

Students are expected to never stop fighting even if they get injured or messed up, for Shodan, defending oneself is the prime ideology.

the basic definition of shodan is

Shodan 初段:しょだん

1st Degree- In this level necessitates a further development of abilities. All basic movements and techniques, can be applied with extended force and proper application in basic combination.

from this i feel they need to understand all basics, and perform them all kata up to that level as well as bunkai and oyo. They should be able to do all the kihon, jyju ippon and kumite. they should have a basic understand of self defense.

the should also be able to use at least three weapons and have an understanding of them as well.

the need to also be a good example to the lower ranks in both physically and mentally. they must have a good attitude and control.