Dan grades are the system of ranks that begin once a student passes through all the kyu grades and is awarded a black belt. Unlike kyu grades, dan numbering counts upward with experience, starting at first dan, sometimes called shodan, and continuing through higher numbers that are reached only after many years of further training and, in most schools, additional grading examinations.
A dan grade is generally shown by wearing a black belt, though some styles use additional markings, such as stripes or a different belt colour, for very high dan grades. Reaching first dan does not mean training is complete: it is usually treated as the point at which serious, independent study of the art properly begins, and many instructors describe the early dan grades as still fundamentally a form of advanced student status rather than mastery.
See our belt guide and tying instructions for how belts are worn at different grades, and the entry on kata for forms commonly required at dan level.
