I saw this on another Forum and wanted to bring it here, thanks Lee

Does anyone know where the time frames between kyu gradings and minimum years between Dan gradings in Karate came from?

Was it adopted when Karate was formalised like the belt system and gi or was it implemented later?

Also what do Karateka think of the time frame system in terms of it's relevance, prupose, standard setting etc?

Do you follow it or use a different system for gradings?

What do other arts use as a form of grading?

My response!

Funakoshi I believe indirectly set the timescales. I'm not sure the exact quote but I know others use similar quotes

I think Funakoshi Sensei said

"One becomes adequate after one thousand days of training and proficient after ten thousand days of practice."

Whereas Sosai Mas Oyama quotes:

"One becomes a beginner after one thousand days of training and an expert after ten thousand days of practice."

From basic calculations, it equates to just under 3 years of "DAILY TRAINING" for the first part say 1st Dan and just over 27 years for 6-7th Dan - the second part!

OSU!!!!

Depends. Arts like Judo and BJJ are heavliy competency based. You learn the system, and then demostrate what you know in fully resistant sparring. Depending on how well you do determines if you get your rank or not. As such, it's hard to give a time scale on when you get your black belt in either art. In BJJ it will take most people at least 10+ years to get there black belt.

Aikido follows a similar grading system to karate, and Judo follows a similar idea once dan grade has been reached (i.e. you have to weight certain time periods between testing for the next dan rank).