Juniors and Colts Grades
All kids begin at white belt. The progressions are White Belt (Advanced White Belt for those upto 10 years of age only), Junior Yellow Belt (white stripe) , Advanced Junior Yellow Belt (black stripe), Junior Orange Belt (white stripe) and Advanced Junior Orange Belt. The Adult Green Belt is not available until 16 years of age.
Adult Beginners
Adult Beginners begin at white belt. The progressions are Yellow Belt, Orange Belt and Green Belt. Grading to Green Belt signifies the end of the beginner phase in training and students will fall into specific pathways at this stage: The traditional pathway , recreational pathway and combative pathway.
Adult Traditional Pathway
Those on the traditional pathway progresses from Green Belt to Blue Belt, Purple Belt, Brown Belt.
Adult Combative Pathway
The combative pathways both progresses from Green Belt to Grey belt.
Adults Recreational Pathway
In July 2016 we restructured our Recreational pathway and launched the J1 Jiujitsu Sport Black Belt. There are 4 levels of J1 Jiujitsu Sport Black Belt
Shodan 10,000 points
Nidan 20,000 points
Sandan 30,000 points
Yondan 40,000 points
Although they are called Sport Black Belt they are not really a proper black belt and these belts can best be described as "Trophies" for performance in sport over a long period of time. It is loosely based on the NZJJF Sport Jujitsu black belt idea.
On the way to Sport Jiujitsu Black belt there are also 4 Sports coloured belts on the way. These are Green Belt, Blue Belt, Purple Belt and Brown Belt. These Sports Jiujitsu belts can be distinguished from the normal belts because they have a white stripe in the middle of the belt. Again these are not "real" grades, and can be considered more like trophies.
Sport Green Belt 1000 points
Sports Blue Belt 2500 points
Sports Purple Belt 4500 points
Sports Brown Belt 7000 points
The Sport Black Belt has no grading or teaching position within the club. It is a ceremonial rank (trophy) only.
Levels and Kyu Grades
In many Martial Arts systems there are Kyu Grades and which count back from the first Black Belt. For example 1st Kyu is one grade away from Black Belt, 2nd Kyu is two grades away from Black Belt.
At J1 Jiujitsu we only have Kyu Grades for students on the Traditional Pathway. These Kyu grades are awarded when the requirements of the Kyu Grades are completed by the student as K1 (1st Kyu), K2 (2nd Kyu) , K3 (3rd Kyu) or K4 (4th Kyu).
Everything else Pre-Black belt is recognised by Levels. The Levels are as follows:
Juniors:
White Belt L0
Advanced White Belt L0
Junior Yellow Belt L1
Advanced Yellow Belt L2
Junior Orange Belt L3
Advanced Junior Orange Belt L4
Adults:
White Belt L0
Yellow Belt L5
Orange Belt L6
Green Belt L7
Blue Belt / Grey Belt L8
Purple Belt L9
Brown Belt L10
Yudansha (Black Belt grades)
Black belts are awarded either as Teaching or Non-teaching Black belt. Those on Combative and Recreational pathways are awarded the Non-teaching Black Belt (Shodan). These Yudansha have no grading ability within the organisation (although they may be invited to participate in grading panels or as Ukes of course), and there are no higher levels of Black Belt for them beyond Shodan.
Teaching (and consequently able to grade) Black Belts are divided into 8 Dan grades. Only 6 of these are achievable while the practitioner is alive and the last 2 are only awarded Posthumously.
The Dan grades are:
Shodan (1st Dan/ D1)
Nidan (2nd Dan/ D3)
Sandan (3rd Dan / D3 )
Yondan (4th Dan / D4)
Godan (5th Dan / D5)
Rokudan (6th Dan / D6)
Honourary posthumous grades
Shichidan (7th Dan / D7)
Hachidan (8th Dan / D8)