My Standards for Testing….an essay on how I grade or view grading By Sensei James James
“Keepers of Karate’s Highest Tradition” that’s our Motto and a phrase that I take very seriously! I started My Karate journey when I was six years old, I walked into Mid west Karate with my brother and started Lessons after watching and adult class on a Saturday morning. The Adult class was filled with HUGE adults (I was a small kid) and I saw them slashing around the floor doing Kata and Kumite and while I had no idea what I was watching I was transfixed from the get go….my brother, a much bigger kid and seven years older than me…not so much. But I was hooked and signed up and bought a gi with money I had made doing papers with my brother…back when kids could do papers at six I guess.
The first kids class I attended was a HUGE LET DOWN. Gone were the violent flowing movements and now I was faced with “Kids games” and fun Karate…..not what I wanted, but I could see the value of learning to kick a ball using Mae Geri (granted back then I had no idea what a Mae Geri was) and doing wall sits to build up my leg strength. Im going to draw on an old cliché that tends to come up a lot in martial arts, I was a sickly kid. I had suffered from Mono the year before and almost died having lost a third of my body weight, which for a little kid was like ten pounds, but significant at the time and also had my first run in with a lung infection that would almost kill me again in high school.
Classes were tough because I had not energy and kind of looked like a vampire, but within a few months of training I was healthy again and because of frequent visits to the lake house of a friend of my fathers with my family I had my tan back. I trained with Sensei Mar for about a year when I started not liking the kids class and some other issues with the instructors lead for me to leave the Dojo. But I did test to Orange belt in that club.
I was almost ten when the bug caught me again and I started with Dingman Sensei at the JKA. It was the same rush of feelings the first time I walked up the three stories to the old JKA down town, they had moved to the location about a year before but the smell of hard work was hanging in the air! I began training in the kids class again after having watched another seniors class and getting hooked, but this club was much different. It was subtle in many ways. The feel was of a family, granted I was scared of Dingman Sensei the first time I met him because of this aura he gave off of intensity, like a violent person on the outside, but something inside him kind of made me feel like he was the best person in the room, like he cared…but damn if I was not scared of him.
The other difference was immediately made apparent to me when I began the kids class, even though it was a friendly family atmosphere the classes were all geared towards true skill development and each student was viewed as an individual not a cookie cut out of the next guy. Same thing when I trained with the Club “Team” and watched, we had guys that were great at Kata, but got ate up in Kumite, we had guys that were killers in Kumite, but really horrible or just passable in Kata. The club was made up of individuals that came together to train.
Over the years I have trained with Mar Sensei, Dingman Sensei, Proctor sensei and a host of senior level instructors at seminars and classes at Dingman Senseis club and the one thing that I found interesting after all of this is that Dingman Sensei’s students “get it” and most of the other ones do not. We are not all the same, we all have different skills and we have zero chance of all being the same as one and other, you can train with a person…side by side…for years and still not have the same skill set or look the same as your partners, and that’s what is good about Karate, we all bring something different to the table.
The JKA of Manitoba has a very open policy about our standards and practices, we practice JKA Karate and we try to maintain very high standards when it comes to our students and their progress…but what exactly does this mean. I mean it sounds like some cheesy PC BULL PUCKY line that a politician would throw out to the masses to “Get over” on them. The truth is that we maintain a high standard by asking students to push themselves to be their very best they can be and we don’t let them ease up on their potential.
Some other groups may spew political BS about high standards and hard testing but the truth is they don’t know what Karate is all about in the end anyways so they can SAY whatever they want, they simply don’t know what the hell they are talking about and hide behind words that mean little to nothing else. And yes, some of them are fantastic practitioners, but horrible coaches because they don’t think about their students as individuals. They also don’t get that we are all individuals and some cannot do the things that others can, but they have other strengths. It upsets me to no end when I hear about testing that looks at a person not as an individual but cuts them down and takes their spirit, the world is full of instances like this and we cannot stand for this as Karate instructors.
Nice words aside our standards boil down to the three most important things in Martial arts, The mind, spirit and Body…in that order by the way. The mind must be grown, we experience new things and it grows. As instructors we have to reach out to students in class and have them experience something different and get ahold of that idea of Karate being about perfection of character and the individual growth that comes from hard work. Hard work is not just physical and does not just develop you physically, it grows your mind. We need to take them to places that they don’t think they can go and prove to them that they can, and we need to expand their horizons and get to know them as individuals so we can help them grow as people. That is training the mind.
The Spirit is similar in training, but the mind can be trained to grow without pushing the body and spirit, the spirit is directly linked to the body. Every once and a while we need to destroy the student physically and give them a physical test that pushes them beyond their ability. Be it with Kumite or drills that challenge the body and stamina and we need to push them to go beyond the discomfort and lack of energy and show true spirit, this is what the spirit circle at the end of some of my classes is about or the line Kumite up and down the floor, the idea is not to have great technical ability, the idea is to push beyond and grow your spirit.
Our clubs focus on the first two because the body is trained with Kata, Kumite and Kihon by default. We also do exercises to build the body and we concern ourselves with this mainly during testing. But the first parts are what is generally missed in testing and what people don’t see, we are actually testing you for your next rank right from day one of getting your current rank. For me the body is going to age and wither, but the spirit and mind will continue to grow only if you test them, and that is the most important. And I wont pass a student with questionable spirit or character ever! EVER! But I may give a B to a student that is trying so hard and has great spirit…but needs time physically in their next level.
Testing should be challenging and stressful a bit. But not so hard that you break students mentally and physically and demoralize them spiritually. That kind of test is not going to help anyone. I have read about one hour testing’s that break people emotionally. The Kumite is with 20 people, Kihon is crazy long and the Katas are done repeatedly for 20 minutes. This is a horrible way to test someone and counter to martial arts ideals. The idea should be that you test someones knowledge of the art and also if they can (at their level) protect themselves in case of being attacked, so some basics to check form, their Kata forth art…and Kumite geared towards their own level…kind of like what we do.
I tell the story of my first Shodan testing under Dingman Sensei that was almost 45 minutes long and I make light of the fact that it was so hard, it was a killer, but Sensei tells me he was very wrong to have done that. First off he knew I could handle the testing because it mimicked the training we were doing at the time and I was in the dojo three times a day training hard and I was built up physically, and he had me killing myself running wind sprints in the mornings to build up my stamina and get my lung in shape. He knew I could do it and he wanted to give the impression of legitimacy to the test, but he says now….that was not the way. He has taught me that testing should not be an event, it’s a culmination of all your training up to that point. Your progress and what the instructors see in you as you train. That is why seminars are important, we are watching.
Testing should also not be super easy! I have seen testing in other styles that was a joke. The student did a form, did some slow motion Kumite and that was it. They paid their fees and got their belt, which strangely was available well before testing ever took place…kind of like you pay and you get your grade. Now to be honest, The instructors were all horrible as well and the testing was a joke and the Kumite…well it looked like they were in slow motion moving while being tazered…the amount of spazzing out while sparring was scary.
I also have seen “testing” That involved a instructor watching a student in class, grabbing them at the end and strapping a new belt on them. No posted standards, no testing outline and each student was graded on different skills. You need to know what you are being tested on. In one of my kung fu schools I saw a student grade doing a monkey style form and another doing a tiger style form and they got the same rank. It confused me and I left because I did not know what was expected.
I have also seen styles that give grades based on “time in” littlerally at 50 classes you get a stripe, at 100 you get a new color belt and so on and so forth, or if you train twice a week at the 8 month mark you get a blue belt, and at a year and a bit after that a purple….not testing just pure time in. Does not matter if you are a purple belt and don’t know the first few moves that white belts learn, you were here long enough…you get a belt.
We give our students road signs of what is needed…Kata, Kumite, Kihon. And we test them just on that, we don’t look at a yellow belt going for orange and say “yah, whatever kata you want” or walk up to them in class and say “here is your orange belt”. You don’t just check off an attendance sheet and suddenly at 50 classes you pick up a stripe or belt. We do have standards we maintain and we don’t just give it away.
One other aspect of our system is we do have standards, but we have to be realistic! Not everyone is going to have the same ability. Some argue that we can not pass people then because student A is not as good as student B. They don’t get it, Student A has to be as good as student A can be…we don’t care what student B is like when we look at student A!
Two cases in point; one of my old sempai tested for her Nidan and passed. I was very upset and went to Dingman Sensei (okay I was staying over and we sat and talked Karate for a bit) and I asked how she passed. She could not kick higher than her knee, she was frail and her Kumite was like a bad movie choreography with slow motion moves and she would never survive a real attack. Dingman Sensei told me “Yes, but she is 72 and we cannot expect her to be as fast as you or as good sparring as Brian (senseis son). She has some limitations that time puts on her body, but her mind and spirit were tested and she passed because of those”. (I am paraphrasing of course, this was 23 years ago). The point was that you cannot judge everyone with the same yard stick, everyone gets their own yard stick!
The second example is of a child we teach right now. She has some physical limitations and some learning hurdles that makes Karate hard for her, but she tries really hard and has a great passion for Karate. Her skills are limited by the physical limitations and she will have a hard time going forwards for sure, but her love of Karate and what she gets out of training is without question. She also serves as an inspiration for those around her and her drive and hard work both in and out of class serve to remind me what Karate should be all about. Will I fail her or tell sensei I would not vote for her to pass (I am only one vote in four)…hell no! She makes up for her lack of physical ability with great spirit and great mental hard work!
We need to be realistic, some people will not be physically able to do the skills that we watch in class and testing, or at least not very well. But why are they not able to do them. Is it a physical limitation, a mental challenge or simply lazy or not enough training (or proper focus when training). I am a big believer that if you don’t have physical limitations you can do Karate well enough to pass a test for rank right up to black belt. Physical limitations need to be weighed out! We need to be realistic and remember that if we tested ONLY on physical ability. Many of us as we get older would never pass a test. Heck some of us who cannot kick higher than our hip level because of hip issues would not get past first kyu if that. You are not testing based on what others can do and a set physical cookie cutter standard, you are tested based on your own potential…or what we see as your own potential.
So, what do we look for in testing. Well a gradual increase in skills from white belt to 1st Kyu is important, at your own pace. We don’t want to see lazy people rewarded and some skills are universal. As an outline here is what we look for at each level in general:
White to yellow
At white belt we are looking for some very basic things. Do they know what a front stance is, can they punch straight, are they kicking and recoiling. For little kids we count during Kata because timing is hard for little kids to get down and we are looking for a basic grasp of the kata. Kumite is all about paying attention and not getting hit. For adults we want more relaxation but this is really the base line from which all further testing is built off of.
As long as Kata is don’t well enough and they show they can concentrate for the 5-10 minutes students pass. I personally make a TONE of notes on white belts that have issues because we are looking for improvements. This is the starting point so we know what they can do as individuals and as long as they meet the minimum “Can dance through Kata and take directions” we pass them.
For young kids the other thing that I look for is behavior. If they act up during class or don’t pay attention I see that and note it. B belts at this level are unusual because we don’t expect much from a student. Spirit wise if they Kiai once during the whole thing we mark that as a good thing because its still so foreign to them.
We do often use stripes for young kids in place of a B if they really have a hard time focusing but I prefer not to do that to be honest because I find it a bit belittling to students.
Yellow to Orange
At 8th Kyu we often see the “Switch turned on” moment. The students start to get it, or they don’t. The Kata is much more technical now and we look for more advanced Kihon in the Kata and on its own. We need to see kicking improve a lot, especially Yoko geri and specifically direction of kicking and recoil. For Kumite we want the students to be a bit more serious and do more than just not get hit.
Children going for Orange belt are expected to take commands better and know their kata with out counting now. It’s a BIG leap and I often see kids as yellow belts a bit longer than adults because they need to grow mentally a bit more before testing. Some kids can memorize Kata fast and they possibly can progress faster but six months is not unusual for a student to be a yellow belt.
Adults at this level tend to “tighten” up a bit and need to be reminded to relax, they can progress by memorizing the Kata and doing pretty much the same as they did at white belt but I really watch things like the leg joints when kicking because at this level they are now doing side kicks more and they really need to be watched so they don’t get hurt doing a kick wrong.
A student should know the seriousness of Karate at this point and spirit should also be shown more during testing. Mediocre spirit is not a great way to go for Orange belt so B belts start to crop up even more at this level due to this.
With the exception of really physically gifted people, most yellow belts are still struggling learning the rudimentary Kihon Waza and don’t understand their own body in reference to this new skill set, its not natural yet so we need to remember that and test accordingly.
Orange to Green
Orange belt level is a real breakthrough level for students, they are now senior-junior level students and looking to become and junior-intermediate level student in a green belt. The Kata is vastly different than the first two and this often poses a challenge for students. The unique feel of Fumikomi is a challenge and the Hiza geri often looks like you are trying to get onto a bike. A lot more focus on Kiba dachi is needed as the Kata will look horrible with a Shiko dachi in its place.
Children going for Green belt need to know that this is a big step for them and they should now have 3 months of training since the Orange belt. This is a big step and technically students should understand the Kihon waza at a very basic level. They have now had 9 months of training since they walked in the door and they are no longer struggling with adapting their body to the system of movements. Some more obvious polish should be obvious in movements. No more counting and if they screw up their Kata and don’t know what the mistake was after six months of working at it they will have a hard getting a pass. Basics should be sharper for their own level and Kumite now moves to one step sparring which is harder to show form but reaction is what we look for.
Adults going for Orange belt need to show that they can do the Kata, they have put in the work and they are starting to learn how to express Spirit. The basics should be cleaner and they are also watched for the same thing as kids, but obviously we know some wont have the flexibility that the kids have. During Kumite we really look for a person not being scared during Kumite. I often pit black belts against those I want to test in this case because they have to not fold. Other groups will put juniors against juniors to test them but to me this is only appropriate if you don’t want to push the student.
Going for green belt should be a big deal. The students should know that a pass is not a gimme at this level we are really looking at basics more than anything else, even in Kata. If there foundation is strong they will pass, if it is weak we may have the students work harder for next testing or even fail them based on BIG problems.
Green to Purple
You are now testing for Purple and the Kata is way more complex than the first three. It teaches the three different distances in the Kata and we look for that to cross over in Kumite. We want to see students using good distance when sparring and not being scared to spar at all.
Kids will always have a rougher time with the Kata because it is more complex so we do go a bit more lenient on the kids in Kata, but their basics and Kumite better be spot on. My view on kids going for purple belt is that they must be serious about Karate during the testing and seminars. If they are goofing off and not showing good focus they wont pass, or will have a BIG mark against them. If they are not serious in class daily they will have a hard time passing as well.
Testing for 5th Kyu for adults is a big step for me and we now have a six month time between getting orange and getting to test for green belt. I need to see that they are more serious in Kumite and not scared to do Kumite. They are also picking up the basics of fighting, they don’t get hit or miss blocking and they use proper spirit. The Kata is more technical and I need to see some of the specific skills hit, like the Mawashi Shuto to Mae Geri to Kosa Dachi is done smoothly. I hate seeing students look around or at their feet during Kata, by now it should start to look like a fight. Basics are important and I want to see proper kicking is used because by now they are a year into training and I don’t want to see many bad habits.
In general if a student does not kick well they should not move to purple and a lot more focus on building proper kicking skills needs to be put into place. Also mentally some students break at 5th Kyu and quit so we want to make sure we are working a bit more one on one with them and letting them know the are not really at the half way point to black belt yet, but mentally they are so they need to start taking on their own training as a job. They need to be responsible for the training and we are going to run classes and coach them.
Purple to Second purple
At this level, 5-4th Kyu a student is at the end of the Heians and really this is a HUGE step for students both mentally, physically and spiritually. The Testing time is actually to short for my liking, the JKA requires a 3 month between time because the Kata is similar but I would prefer 6 and I am also harder on students at this level because they have been doing Karate a minimum of 1 year 9 months and should show fluid movement and also have much better movements.
For children Kihon should not be an issue. No clunky moves and a student should be working on weaker points like stance. The key area for me is Kata, it should show the basic and fundamentals that a intermediate level Intermediate student should have. They are doing Mawashi geri on the kicking test as well which is often an issue with students, the hip must turn over to earn points. Kumite should be fluid and look kind of playful in that the student is not scared at all during Kumite, maybe not killer serious but needs to be relaxed and know they wont get hit.
Adults at this level are now stressed out more because they are expected to look like they are half way to black belt, its important to calm them down. The jump in the Kata serves as a real test for some and I don’t want to see them go half way on this. I would rather see them over do the jump than avoid it.
This truly is the half way point for students and almost two years of hard work, it has to look like it. If a student is not paying attention at this point or not serious they wont get a full Kyu at all. But if they work hard and show hard work minor mistakes can be over looked because of attitude and intensity.
Second purple to Brown
Another big step in a student’s life as a junior in Karate is the step between 4th and 3rd kyu. The student is now stepping out of intermediate student status and into a “junior senior level” student. They are now moving away from the “text book” Katas and they have been working on the Tekki Kata to work on building up their body and learning how to create power with little movement. It’s a big first step into a completely different realm of study.
Tekki is a hard kata to learn, the concepts are foreign and movement skills are different than we are used to. I like to give students about six months to train in this Tanren Kata to really get it down before they test and really get them working on the stance work that is needed to pass the test. In the past we have been rather lenient on the Kosa dachi position, but going forwards I am really going to make sure that students don’t step wide and screw up the embussen.
For kids this is a level I want to “come back to” if they are not done growing. I don’t want to hold a child at Tekki Kata for two long if they are not meant for this Kata. The Kata is meant for full grown or at least bodies that are settled. I don’t however feel that a student should go for shodan before mastering Tekki. I will let a student “glide” past Tekki as a child to get to Bassai just to ensure they have a chance to move along, but they must have really good Kumite and Kihon otherwise. The student must demonstrate competency in the Kata but they may not be able to create power the way they should. But the Kata should be decent.
For adults, they don’t get a pass on this Kata. The Tekki Kata is a very important Kata and you should be able to see the Kata is done with good power and vibration. The rest of the testing should also be as close to the persons best as possible. Kihon takes on an important roll because it demonstrates the Shorin style of movement that Shotokan is known for as opposed to the Shorei movement that Tekki demonstrates. Kumite also should be very relaxed and not nervous but some explosiveness should be present in the Kumite and a sense of spirit through the entire Kumite.
Brown to Second Brown
At 3rd Kyu most students stall out. The students get lax in their training or start to see Black belt coming and they grow an ego. Its important to make students realize that this is the start of being an advanced student and they are grading to move to an intermediate advanced level. They are now also introduced to a fighting Kata in Bassai dai and the Katas are now no longer about training and conditioning, they are not picking up movement patterns and learning the style of movement we need, they are now starting to develop a truer sense of spirit and engagement.
While most kids stall out at this level you will also see some start to come into their own at this level. Students begin to understand spirit and now start to refine Basic Kumite skills with Jui Ippoin Kumite and also are back to a Shorin movement pattern in Bassai Dai. I look for kids that want to move up to be more serious about training and really push their own training program over being spoon fed by an instructor. This is also one of the reasons that kids stall out. Most kids slow their progress at 3rd Kyu because they are not ready to be responsible for their own training. We need to give them clues, but not push them by treating them like white belts. The students will pick up the fact that they need to self-train more and take our guidance as a map, but not have us push them all the time.
Adults will either have a hard time at this level or they will start to excel! The fact that they are now asked to do more in the clubs can be seen as a burden, and they pay so why should they teach ext and so on. The fact that they don’t want to be more involved lets us know that they don’t want to really advance. Teaching juniors is an important lesson to be learned and juniors should embrace this as it will give them a different dimension to their training. Also the new Kata has so many lessons to learn that the students will start to be able to put into action that which they learned as a junior and intermediate level student. Kumite should shift to Jui ippon more and a more realistic sense should come to the fighting. Also self-defense skills like moving out of the way of an attack and other silly mistakes should be absent or figured out at this level.
Moving to 2nd Kyu is a big step for students. The Kata is a big step and now that Bassai Dai is introduced the feeling of training in a fighting system should come out. This is a 6 month weight for most, even if the official level requires only 3. This is a serious level and we want to see students taking their time and starting to master the Kata and Kumite skills needed to advance.
Second Brown to Third Brown
So you want to be a black belt! Well you have to pass your full first Kyu level first. This is the last test we have any control over. We can pass you, fail you or give you a B belt that you have to clear up. A few things that need to be in place before you are able to grade for 1st Kyu. First your Kata must be good, not just technically good, but look like you may be in a fight. It has to be full of energy and fire and not dull, boring and look like a white belt is doing it.
The other things are your Kumite skills must be full of energy and dynamic. You cant just look like you are defending yourself, you need to look like you are able to Handle the situation and “win” the fight. I like to see solid and powerful attacks, and defense that has counters snap out right away. A sense of urgency in Kumite has to exist or it is worthless at this level. Power, Kime, Ma-ai and all other aspects need to be present to get a point for full Kyu level.
Kihon waza focuses on advanced skills and kicking drills so the individual testing for first kyu has to have sharp basics and not appear to be lacking in any area. Granted we will see stronger kicking from some, better stances from others, but we can not see horrible form or application of techniques from someone wanting to take the next step before Black belt.
You will notice I don’t have “Kids/Adults” at this level its all the same. Kids and adults who are going for first Kyu need to show that physically and technically they are ready for the yearlong hard training to go for Shodan or they won’t pass.
Also, they have to be good representatives of the Club and Sensei or they won’t be tested to First kyu. The instructor who lets them test is saying that they are ready to represent them in public and those that are passed do represent your standards of technical style and character.
So you are a first kyu now and you don’t understand how or why people are selected for Black belt testing! Well, first off you have a year minimum from the time you get your Ikkyu (1st kyu) till you can grade for Shodan. Next you need to show the candidate board that you are ready to test. You have to show a good amount of technical work in class working on form, function and application. Your Kata must be improved drastically and you need to show support of the club, a great attitude and self-motivate yourself to work hard in class.
For me the most important things in a candidate for Shodan is attitude in training and character in general. The candidate, if they pass, will be a representative of JKA Karate and our clubs in general. So, all members who pass represent us as an organization. I will NEVER vote to let a senior junior belt move on to being a Shodan if I question their loyalty, character or reasons for wanting a Dan ranking with us. The student may lack some technical points but they cannot lack character or they will not be grading under our umbrella.
Shodan-candidate
The Shodan candidate must have good Kumite skills and will grade doing Jui Ippon Kumite. They will select their grading Kata, normally Bassai Dai, and they will do Kihon waza. However the JKA allows them to test using any of the basic 15 Kata to some degree.
Shodans are graded by Saeki sensei or a licensed instructor and they have their own ideals of what a Shodan is and should be. However when Asked I always say how hard a student works, if they have any major areas to improve and how they train. Earning a Shodan is a much harder thing that most people realize because just to get up to testing you need to prove your dedication to the organization.
Personally I am sick of people grading for Shodan and then dropping out of the organization. It has happened to more students than I can count. Probably 9 out of 10 people who grade Shodan and pass are gone within two years. To curb this I won’t be giving my vote to anyone that does not demonstrate that they are ready to commit to training for a longer time and to those that think that Shodan is a finish line!
Nidan-candidate
So you got your Shodan and you want to go for Nidan. Why? Most people will not grade for Nidan and that is fine. In our group Nidan is a teaching rank. All of our nidans who have graded in the last few years are instructors and we expect that if you want to move up in Dan ranks its to help the organization. Not just feed your ego.
Shodan means you have mastered your basics and you are now an advanced student. You can train and enjoy Karate and build your own skills up as a Shodan and not stress about testing if you like. We don’t pressure people to grade at all past Shodan. But if you want to be an instructor or senior and work for the group more you are welcome to grade for Nidan and higher.
The committee looks at the commitment of the student who is studying and what they have brought to the table as a student. We expect that the minimum two years you have been training between Shodan and being able to test for Nidan is filled with hard training, dedication to helping teach and you show your dedication and will to continue.
Anyone that is going at it half wanting to advance will not be seen as a candidate and also character, you are representing us at a higher level, your character and actions will show and your eligibility to grade will depend on that.
Now you know the things I look for during testing, and I know they are a bit different than Sensei, and I know that Steve and Rhonda look for different things, but this is my basis for grading people.
Moving forwards we will give much more thought to letting people grade in the first place, just because a minimum is assigned to a persons “between times” does not mean they will be ready during that time frame. Our integrity and dedication to traditional Karate is important to us, so we are strict with whom we let test, but also understand that the strictness is individual not general.
