Kyū
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kyū | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|||||
| Japanese name | |||||
| Kanji: | 級 | ||||
| Hiragana: | きゅう | ||||
|
|||||
Kyū (級?) is a Japanese term used in martial arts, chadō, ikebana, go, shogi and in other similar activities to designate various grades or levels of proficiency or experience.
In Japanese martial arts, kyū-level practitioners hold the ranks below dan or black belt. The kyū ranking system varies from art to art and school to school. In some arts, all the kyū-level practitioners wear white belts while in others different coloured belts, tags or stripes are used; in kendo there is no external indicator of grade.
Kyū-level practitioners are often called mudansha (無段者?), "ones without dan" and are considered as initiates rather than students. When practitioners have reached the ranking of first degree black belt, they become shodansha (初段者?).
[edit] Kyū ranks in Japanese
Some martial arts refer to the kyū ranks entirely in Japanese. The list from tenth to first is as follows:
(Note: kyū ranks progress from the larger number to smaller. For example, a first kyū outranks a fifth kyū.)
- 10. Jikkyū (十級:じっきゅう)
- 9. Kyūkyū (九級:きゅうきゅう)
- 8. Hachikyū (八級:はちきゅう)
- 7. Nanakyū, Shichikyū (七級:ななきゅう, しちきゅう)
- 6. Rokkyū (六級:ろっきゅう)
- 5. Gokyū (五級:ごきゅう)
- 4. Yonkyū (四級:よんきゅう)
- 3. Sankyū (三級:さんきゅう)
- 2. Nikyū (二級:にきゅう)
- 1. Ikkyū (一級:いっきゅう)
[edit] Colored belts
The wearing of colored belts is often associated with kyū ranks, particularly in modern martial arts such as karate and judo. However, there is no standard association of belt colors with particular ranks. Different schools and organizations assign specific colors in whatever manner they wish. It is common to see the darker colors associated with the ranks closest to black belts. It is also quite common for white to be the lowest ranked color, brown to the be last color before black, and green or purple to be a middle rank.
