"Kyu" (級) and "Dan" (段) Ranks

"Kyu" (級) indicates 'class', or 'grade'. "Dan" (段) indicates 'level', or Americanized as 'degree'. The following article appeared in the Autumn 1997 edition of Dō Gakuin News:

The difference between Black Belt (Dan) ranks and underbelt (Kyu) ranks can be related to class grades in school. When a child is in first grade s/he is called a first grader. The child has not yet learned the entire first grade curriculum. On completing first grade the child becomes a second grader, even though s/he has not yet learned second grade material. Being a second grader actually means the child has completed first grade and can now work on second grade material.

Kyu (under Black Belt) ranks in Karate work much the same way. A student begins training and is given White Belt. This means the student is now working within the White Belt curriculum. On successful performance during Shinsa (rank examination), the student is awarded Yellow Belt and may now work within that curriculum.

Sho Dan-ho is the first Black Belt rank (apprentice first degree, or level). This only means the student has graduated Brown Belt and now begins working on Black Belt material. After a minimum of one year's training, the student then tests for Sho Dan (full first degree) on this Black Belt material. Unlike Kyu ranks and Sho Dan-ho, where the student now first works on material within that rank, a Sho Dan has earned the rank and is a full first degree. To simplify the difference: an underbelt wears the rank they're working on, full Black Belts wear the rank they have achieved.