You obviously do not have to answer this. Had you been training for 6-7 years before you were awarded this level?
I think it was more like 8 years to be honest, training 2-4 times a week and attending seminars every 3-4 months. Initially it took me 18 months to get my 9th kyu. Sorry, got my dates wrong, it was 6 years.
Uh oh, well if Daniel Weidman says it it MUST be true. I can think of thousands of people who would agree with my statement, mainly the entirety of BJJ practitioners considering what I said is almost always the general consensus on what a blue belt--the first rank above white--should be able to do. I'm sorry, I guess I just expect better from people moving up from white belts. Frankly, I'm not surprised you guys disagree. Not at all. You know Danny, for someone who pretends to enjoy debating with EVERYTHING everyone says on the forums, you're pretty quick to call people trolls at the drop of a hat. Maybe you should grow up and stop preaching to everyone else. I suppose you'd have to stop enjoying the smell of your own farts before that to happen though; I eagerly await your failure of a response. Of course, I got my 9th kyu in the Bujinkan by knowing a few postures and performing some basic kata. Guess the standard should be you show up and pay the testing fee?
Uh oh, well if Daniel Weidman says it it MUST be true. I can think of thousands of people who would agree with my statement, mainly the entirety of BJJ practitioners considering what I said is almost always the general consensus on what a blue belt--the first rank above white--should be able to do. I'm sorry, I guess I just expect better from people moving up from white belts. Frankly, I'm not surprised you guys disagree. Not at all. You know Danny, for someone who pretends to enjoy debating with EVERYTHING everyone says on the forums, you're pretty quick to call people trolls at the drop of a hat. Maybe you should grow up and stop preaching to everyone else. I suppose you'd have to stop enjoying the smell of your own farts for that to happen though; I eagerly await your failure of a response. Of course, I got my 9th kyu in the Bujinkan by knowing a few postures and performing some basic kata. Guess the standard should be you show up and pay the testing fee?
Here I was thinking we were talking about kyu grades in the Bujinkan. Apparently we were talking about grades in BJJ. Silly me.
Where you were to where you are. Relational to where you should be going (progressing in ability and knowledge). Makes sense if I use the list you used earlier. Then again - I know a lot of people who couldn't spell ninjutsu who are blackbelts under your list.
Glad we finally see eye to eye here. Sure. If you had said BJJ Blue Belt - I wouldn't have voiced anything at all. Or at worst - pointed out that most BJJ schools I have visited don't have time limits (ie. 2 years to blue). I could point out that there are no grades for several arts at all - so *first grade* after "white" is Instructor or Inheritor of the system (not terribly useful though). But to your defense - Ace did ask for outside X-kan opinions (I have no idea why, but he did). My bad. You are right - I was wrong. -Daniel
Potentially good threads are getting pointless very quickly at an alarming rate lately. The BJJ comparisons are pointless. 9th kyu with gun beats bjj black belt without straying beyond the limits of ninjutsu. 9th kyu with box of matches burns bjj black belt to death in house and again wins without straying beyond the confines of recogniseable ninjutsu. Lets face it, ninjas would have used atomic bombs if they had them so nothing beats ninjutsu ever. And even if the bjj black belt kills the ninja, another ninja will come and kill him, and it won't be on a mat in a fair fight. Yes this makes this thread even more pointless but stop comparing. A ten ton rock and a hammer will both push a nail into a piece of wood but there is no point arguing that all good carpenters should carry a ten ton rock around in their toolbag. p.s. some surprisingly strict requirements for 9th kyu were posted, and nobody brave enough to admit awarding it for generally improving at taijutsu after a couple of months training once a week. I won't admit which of the Manchester requirements I don't even know myself as a black belt, but I bet I'm not the only one. p.s. I once spent 4 years at 9th kyu having been 8th kyu in another club.
I don't know the difference between the Daken/Jutai San Shins - but I suspect that it is a Manchester Dojo invention... I also don't know the Nigiri Kata (anyone know where that came from?) -Daniel
Daniel, there is nothing in our 9th kyu requirements relating to sanshin and you need to take the word kata out of the box you've put it in and learn it's other meanings.
Fair enough Ian - let me be crystal clear then mate: Then I don't know what the following are: But I suspect that it is a Manchester Dojo invention... and... I don't know where that came from either. Does anyone else recognize it? I would ask you Ian, but you seem to be more interested in correcting my paraphrases instead of being direct. My bad again. Hopefully now my question is clear - as it was nearly impossible to understand what I meant before... -Daniel
Nigiru (握る) is the verb for 'grasp; clasp; seize; take hold of' and kata (方) means 'way of doing, how to do, etc' so it could mean 'how to take hold of'.
No worries. The reason i actually asked for outsider perspectives was to hear from genbukan, jinenkan and toshindo people. Perhaps i should have been less vague. I am also interested to hear how quickly you can get a stripe in BJJ. I don't really know how BJJ grading system works.
Simply being the next step above white does not make it a bottom-rung rank. 9th kyu is still a long way away from the opportunity to apply for a teaching license, which the blue belt equates to in BJJ. I would say the blue belt would be more of a parallel for godan, as they're the closest rank to a teaching license in their respective arts. (Although godan doesn't neccesarily mean a teaching license, only the opportunity to apply for one) Of course, the Takamatsuden lines are much more expansive than textbook BJJ. As a result, it wouldn't be surprising to see legit, perfectly worthy godan who can't keep up with a blue belt when it comes to submission wrestling, butI would imagine he should have some sort of accomplishment worthy of the rank, whether it be in kenjutsu, sojutsu, hojojutsu, dakentaijutsu, kata-geiko, ukemi, whatever. In any case, rank in the Bujinkan isn't really reflective of ability, nor is it supposed to be. It's reflective of the member's standing in the art. There are teachers who would disagree, and that's fine. The point is that students are expected to understand the difference between real and fake, skilled and unskilled, without the assistance of a ranking system. I have to say, from finding a decent school, to practicing the kata, watching videos, going to seminars, and even listening to Hatsumi sensei himself, the first and last thing to consider is kyojitsu, the interchange between real and fake, true and false. Soke is always telling people to read between the lines and look to find truth among lies and vice versa. The techniques are koryu jujutsu, but it's spiced with ninpo everywhere.
