How our gradings work

Have you seen the white outfits and the various coloured belts? If you are new to Karate, here is a description of how it all works. White to green belts will grade, on average, three times a year. Blue to third brown belts will grade twice a year. Younger students get a red stripe if they pass a grading and when they have two red stripes, they move up to the next belt.

Karate Belt Gradings

There is a compulsory minimum waiting period of one year between third brown and black belt.

white-karate-belt

White belt

9th Kyu

Junior yellow belt in Karate

Junior Yellow belt

8th Kyu

yellow-karate-belt

Yellow belt

8th Kyu

Junior orange belt in Karate

Junior Orange belt

7th Kyu

orange-karate-belt

Orange belt

7th Kyu

green-karate-belt

Green belt

6th Kyu

blue-karate-belt

Blue belt

5th Kyu

purple-karate-belt

Purple belt

4th Kyu

brown-karate-belt

First brown belt

3rd Kyu

brown-karate-belt

Second brown belt

2nd Kyu

brown-karate-belt

Third brown belt

1st Kyu

Junior black belt in Karate

Junior Black belt

First Dan

black-karate-belt

Black belt

First Dan

Students will be invited by their Sensei if they are ready to grade, keeping the following in mind:
  • Attitude
  • Standard
  • Time
  • Attendance
  • Age (for juniors).

All gradings include:

  • Basics
  • Stepping basics
  • Stances
  • Kata’s
  • Kumite (sparring)
  • Bunkai (practical application of kata)
  • Supplementary training
  • Fitness test of increasing difficulty