In European history, especially in English history, a man of great courage and dignity, which highlighted both the battlefield and in his social life relationship, was awarded the knighthood. This designation meant that its receiver was a man of honor and also possessed a great skill in combat

In Japan, this type of man he was called Samurai, the subject of much attention and respect.

In those times, both England and Japan were feudal states in which the knights and samurais were pure products essential social conditions in which they lived, a situation that exists today is not. However, the desire to achieve a high level in a martial art, self-discipline and defense, still persists. . Currently, the man strives in a martial art, trying to reach black belt as a result of learning to fight. However, in the same degree as their training progresses, it becomes aware of a strong impulse: to mold himself, becoming a better person not only possesses great skill in combat, but also dignity and honor. Traditionally, these goals have always been a student of Martial Arts. The black belt is a reward given to current or modern knight samurai, who has sacrificed many hours running disciplining his mind and his body, trying to reach the highest possible physical and mental development. The black belt is the symbol of an expert.

Initially, the grading system was established as a series of levels with which students could assess their progress, and achieved the first black belt is called Shodan, first grade, the initial step of these levels.

The Shodan means that the student has mastered the fundamentals of Art and is now ready to receive more advanced training, if you continue practicing, you can choose other danes, indicative of their progress.

This scale of values has proven its effectiveness as a great motivator of students, but has also caused some problems.
First, there is internationally a wide disparity of views. A universal ratings system should already be normalized, and the same way that one inch equals one inch, a Danish system would be another.

We must also understand that this scale of values is to examine human reactions, and because of the differences between each person, it is difficult to establish unique rules.

Judo and Kendo have their international rules to assess, which is partly a product of purely Japanese origin, and those rules have been born along with each of these martial arts.

The Karate in contrast, has several different schools, each of which have their particular examination systems
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When the Karate reached an international dimension, several countries welcomed different styles, each with its own rules, and this allowed unscrupulous individuals to create their own organizations, giving students a black belt unskilled, which in turn decided to open their own schools and provide their own black belts. This same type of people also decided to promote itself to financial gain.

The end result is that many black belts are a bad example, also producing a bad image of the art of karate.

Many people believe that as new assessments are produced in the foreign exchange market, there should be schools where re-evaluate the black belt, despite the list of candidates reach the thickness of a phone book.


The public is not aware of the differences between the various systems of degrees and people are often deceived in the clubs he is awarded a black belt after a short training period, with obvious commercial objectives.

This attitude is not only dangerous for the student of Karate itself but degrades the quality of any martial art.

In a serious club, you get a black belt in three to five years of constant and hard training day, all week, and also had a competent instruction.

Each karateka should know that the black belt is not a gift, but a goal and a symbol of the completion of a major effort, within a system of degrees of the highest quality, which benefits the student and Karate in general.

This interpretation of the Dane should instill a sense of pride in who receives Dan through rigorous training.

The knights and samurai of old avoided any action that might tarnish or bring into question his honor. You want the modern black belt Sensei and have a different attitude to them, for their own honor?