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Rank Chart

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Our school uses only three belt colors to represent 9 kyu ranks*, white, green, and brown. Each belt represents 3 ranks. Beginners wear a plain white belt, but after your first test, you will wear a white belt with 2 stripes. As you progress, you will remove stripes until you are ready to test for green belt.

Promotion is at the instructor's discretion, and is based not only on whether or not you know the rank requirements, but also whether or not you demonstrate appropriate skill for the rank for which you are testing. If the instructor feels that you are not quite ready for the rank, you may take a retest when appropriate. People learn and progress at different rates. Remember that you are working to improve yourself, not make yourself better than some other person in class. Train hard and focus, and you'll achieve your goals!

Rank	Belt Color	Rank Requirements
9th kyu	white belt	none - beginning rank
8th kyu	white belt with two stripes	warm up exercises first set of basic techniques Fukyugata Ichi
7th kyu	white belt with one stripe	Fukyugata Ichi Fukyugata Ni
6th kyu	green belt with three stripes	Fukyugata Ichi Fukyugata Ni Pinan Nidan
5th kyu	green belt with two stripes	Fukyugata Ichi Fukyugata Ni Pinan Shodan One martial application from each Fukyugata and Pinan Kata (4 total)
4th kyu	green belt with one stripe	Fukyugata Ichi Fukyugata Ni Pinan Shodan Pinan Sandan Pinan Yondan One martial application from each Fukyugata and Pinan Kata (6 total)
3rd kyu	brown belt with three stripes	Fukyugata Ichi Fukyugata Ni Pinan Shodan Pinan Sandan Pinan Godan Naihanchi Shodan One martial application from each Fukyugata and Pinan Kata (7 total)
2nd kyu	brown belt with two stripes	Fukyugata Ichi Fukyugata Ni Pinan Shodan Pinan Sandan Pinan Yondan Naihanchi Shodan Naihanchi Nidan Two martial applications from each Fukyugata and Pinan Kata (14 total)
1st kyu	brown belt with one stripe	Fukyugata Ichi Fukyugata Ni Pinan Shodan Pinan Sandan Pinan Godan Naihanchi Shodan Naihanchi Sandan Two martial applications from each Fukyugata and Pinan Kata (14 total)
1st dan	black belt	Fukyugata Ichi Fukyugata Ni Pinan Nidan Pinan Shodan Pinan Sandan Pinan Yondan Pinan Godan Naihanchi Shodan Naihanchi Nidan Naihanchi Sandan Wankan Rohai Three martial applications from each Fukyugata and Pinan Kata (21 total) Bunkai of one kata

*For the pedants out there, I believe that the Japanese word 'kyu' literally translates to 'one tenth (0.1)', and there are ten kyu ranks. However, as many school have done, 10th kyu is not used in our school, possible because it is reserved for children, and as a college club, we have no children participating in class.

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Questions about WSU Karate or about this web page may be sent to Jen White Doom: jen@wsukarate.org.

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