Contents
The kyu → dan ladder (and its colours per organisation)
From mukyu (no grade, white belt) to 1st kyu, then dan 1 to 10. At IKO: two kyu per colour (orange 10th–9th, blue 8th–7th, yellow 6th–5th, green 4th–3rd, brown 2nd–1st), a stripe marking the colour's second kyu. At IFK/IKKU the bottom of the ladder is red (10th–9th), not orange, and colours also vary between national branches. The colour is an organisation's fact; the kyu number is the shared language.
What a grading examines
- The grade's kihon: the stances, strikes, blocks and kicks the belt adds (cumulative: "as for white belt, plus…");
- Ido geiko: the grade's moving basics;
- The grade's kata (roughly half the content: see "The grade-by-grade program");
- Numbered conditioning: push-ups, jumping squats, handstand, chin-ups, jump: the published ladder climbs from 20 push-ups at white to 100 at brown (IKO);
- Kumite: from block-only yakusoku to counted jiyu kumite rounds;
- Tameshiwari at senior grades (IKO: from brown, a mandatory seiken break at Shodan), never for the young;
- Theory and etiquette: a written exam (IKO), the Dojo Oath (Kyokushin-kan).
Junior grades and the dan age floors
| Rule (IKO, 2011 syllabus) | Detail |
|---|---|
| Junior grades | Kyu/dan earned at 12 or younger are JUNIOR grades, re-tested as adult grades at 13 |
| Adult Shodan | Minimum 15 for the initial adult 1st dan |
| Nidan | Minimum 18 (≥ 2 years after Shodan) |
| Sandan | Minimum 21 (≥ 3 years) |
| Yondan | Minimum 25 (≥ 4 years) |
| Godan | Minimum 30 (≥ 5 years) |
| Rokudan + | By the IKO International Committee, approved by the Kancho |
Grade kumite: counted in rounds
The fighting requirement is a counted quantity that climbs with the grade, a grade fact, not an age one (IKO): jiyu kumite 30 s at white, 60 s at blue, × 3 at yellow, × 5 at green, × 10 at brown, then × 20 toward Nidan, × 30 / × 40 / × 50 at the following dan. At IFK/IKKU: a minimum of 10 × 2-minute rounds at Shodan. At Kyokushin-kan, branch-chief level requires a 50-man kumite (or equivalent), and the 100-man kumite remains the tradition's historic summit, not an ordinary grade requirement.
The titles
Senpai (Shodan/Nidan) · Sensei (Sandan/Yondan) · Shihan (Godan and above), and at the head of the organisations, Kancho (the director, e.g. Matsui at IKO, Royama at Kyokushin-kan); Sōsai remains the historical title of founder Masutatsu Ōyama.
Frequently asked questions
How long between two gradings?
Can a child hold a black belt?
Is the grading the same in every dojo?
Sources
IKO Kyokushinkaikan: Technical Syllabus (April 2011): per-kyu tenures, junior/adult grades, the dan age floors, kumite rounds per grade, tameshiwari, titles. IKKU (Arneil/IFK lineage): Grading Syllabus: intervals, the Shodan rounds, the red lower-ladder colours. Kyokushin-kan: high-dan requirements (the 50-man kumite, koryu/kobudo kata). Paak kyokushin corpus, file 09. Content verified September 2026.