Easier to obtain Dan rank in Japan?!

I was recently talking to a friend from Japan and he asked how long I've been doing Judo. I told him about 2.5 years, off and on. He asked if I will be testing for my Black Belt soon. I explained that I don't compete very often and even if I did, it would take about 5 years or more. He said in Japan, it's basically 3 years to obtain black belt regardless of competitions, just pass tests.
My question is this: why would it be easier to obtain a Dan rank in Japan? Is it possible the US system makes competition wins required for more money...tournaments are expensive. I was just surprised to hear that because I always imagined it was universal (tournament wins = promotion opportunities). Also, anyone else know how it is in other countries?

Well here in singapore,double promotions are very common some even had triple.Cuz they could do the moves well and could throw the black belts in the white belt grading.As for the black belt,white to brown is like 2yrs only.So yep it is about 3 yrs drag..Maybe due to the fact that there are alot of gradings?And you can take yellow belt at a club and then go to b club and take ur grading.Cheap aye?My friend was white to blue in one year btw.....

i've never done Judo, but on researching for a local club, one claims a guy is going for his blackbelt after just over a year? as a dan in a different art,I find this shocking.. is there no limit to how fast you can progress?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by mitchwales:
i've never done Judo, but on researching for a local club, one claims a guy is going for his blackbelt after just over a year? as a dan in a different art,I find this shocking.. is there no limit to how fast you can progress?[/QUOTE]

I've never heard of this in any Judo club I've visited or train. Possibly he was a really good wrestler and went to an open tournament and dominated the black belts...other wise, and even then, it's absurd. From all the arts I've been involved with/researched, Judo and BJJ are the hardest to obtain rank because you need wins over others of the same/higher rank to be promoted.

Great post dragon.

As I like to tell people it took me 10 years to get my Black Belt in Judo, but then I was kind of advanced. [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif[/IMG]

Bottom line; don't do Judo in the US if getting a black belt quickly is your goal. It just won't happen unless you are truly a phenom.

In Japan Judo training is part of the culture and for many students it’s a PE class. The classes are longer and training is at minimum 5 times per week. Not so here in the US with most of our classes being two or three time per week, for at most 90 minutes.


On the other hand the majority of people who get Black Belts quickly quit soon after. How many times have you heard someone say I got a black belt in TKD years ago?

My point is anything truly worthwhile is worth waiting for.

I hope this helps. Good Luck.

Sincerely,

-Russ (The Judo Guy)
The JudoGi Store www.judogis.com

May your way be gentle.