Contents
Two axes, one ladder
The belt (grade) and the category (age) are correlated but distinct: youth belts are themselves age-gated, but a grade is never derived from an age nor the reverse — each axis has its own source. Paak's drill library carries both: each drill's age band and its belt range.
The wall chart: white → brown (club-awarded)
The ages are indicative France Judo markers (the exact technique list examined at each kyu is set by the official French progression / the teacher's Mémento); up to orange-green, each kyu is stepped with up to 3 barrettes:
| Belt | Indicative min. age | What it foregrounds |
|---|---|---|
| White (6th kyu) | 4 | Reishiki (salute, etiquette), posture (shizei), first ukemi, safe falling games |
| White-yellow | ~5–7 | Ushiro and yoko-ukemi, first ashi-waza contact, forward-rolling breakfall introduced |
| Yellow (5th/4th kyu) | ~7–8 | Basic te/koshi/ashi-waza forms, first pin (kesa-gatame), turnovers |
| Yellow-orange | ~8–9 | More throws, pin-escape pairs, moving uchi-komi |
| Orange (3rd kyu) | ~9–10 | Nage-waza precision, the osaekomi ladder, nage-komi onto breakfalls |
| Orange-green | ~10–11 | Combinations (renraku) and counters (kaeshi) in fundamental form |
| Green (2nd kyu) | ~12 | The tokui-waza (favourite technique) emerges, kumi-kata, richer ne-waza (pins, turnovers) |
| Blue | ~14 | Wider Gokyo, transitions — and the shime/kansetsu the cadet category permits, at cadet age only |
| Brown (1st kyu) | ~14–15 | Consolidation, nascent teaching, the kata series toward shodan |
The boundary, in substance, as the federation states it: up to the brown belt it is the clubs'; from the black belt, grades are no longer awarded within the club but by the CSDGE.
The 1st-dan examination (CSDGE only)
| Part | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites | Minimum age ~15 · brown belt for ≥ 1 year · 3 licences including the current year · the teacher's authorisation in the passeport |
| Unit 1 — Kata | Nage-no-kata (see Kata & judging) |
| Unit 2 — Technical expression | The candidate's demonstrated technical volume and quality |
| Unit 3 — Competition efficiency | Accumulated shiai points — or the equivalent technical route; the numeric thresholds depend on the CSDGE regulation edition in force |
| Unit 4 — Federal engagement | Sports stewardship / refereeing participation |
| Delivery | A CSDGE examination session — never the club |
The high grades
Each higher dan adds its kata (Katame-no-kata, Kime-no-kata, Gonosen-no-kata…) and its thresholds, with age and interval minima. From the 6th dan, grades become honorific (a high-grade jury): the white-red belt (6th–7th), red (8th and beyond). And a state rule often ignored: a foreign or Japanese dan is not recognised by the French State — recognition runs through the CSDGE (the legal base is the 1984 law as amended in 2000; the federations operating a CSDGE include judo, karate, taekwondo and aikido).
Minimum grades in competition (Textes Officiels 2025/2026)
| Event | Minimum grade |
|---|---|
| Benjamin critérium | yellow-orange |
| Minime coupe | orange |
| Cadets 2D/3D, all-categories, Open Kyu, regional coupe | green |
| Senior all-categories (departmental coupe) | brown |
| Kata (minime / cadet / junior / senior) | orange / green / blue / black |
FAQ
Can a club award an « honorary » black belt?
Are the bicolor belt ages strict?
My student holds a Japanese dan — what is it worth in France?
Sources
France Judo — Grades CSDGE and Niveaux de ceintures (ffjudo.com; the club/CSDGE boundary is stated there), categories and age markers (FFJudo club tables triangulated; the per-kyu technique list belongs to the official French progression / the teacher's Mémento), Textes Officiels 2025/2026 (competition minimum grades, the kata programme); Code du sport — dan recognition (law 84-610 as amended by 2000-677) and Art. L212-1 (teaching for pay); the CQP-MAM / BPJEPS (arrêté of 5 February 2025) / DEJEPS / DESJEPS training ladder via the France Judo leagues and CREPS. Paak judo corpus, files 03 §6 (the programme), 07 (diplomas) and 08 (governance) — verified September 2026. The 1st dan's shiai-point thresholds depend on the CSDGE edition in force and are not numbered here.