Got my Shodan last weekend

[u/douglasbarbin]

I hope this post helps inspire some people who are considering Judo but are doubting themselves. Whenever some of the younger people at the dojo say, "I can't do this", I tell them that if I can do it, they probably also can. For context, I started my Judo journey in 2019, almost exactly 6 years ago, at age 37 (almost 38 at the time). I am currently 43 years old and will be 44 in about a month.

After white belt, the next few belts (yellow, orange, and green) came pretty easily to me. However, brown belt (Sankyu, Nikyu, and Ikkyu) was more of a grind for me. I had an old shoulder injury flare up during the end of Ikkyu, and I was doing physical therapy for a while until my shoulder pain improved. I believe some dojos (especially outside of the United States) have blue and/or purple belts before brown belt in the kyu ranks, but I am aligned with USJA and their ranking system has Sankyu, Nikyu, and Ikkyu all as a solid brown belt, so my belt color didn't change for a few years until last Saturday.

Shodan is the first Dan grade in Judo. While it does not signify mastery (like a black belt "automatically" does for some martial arts), it does signify a high level of competence in Judo. All of that to say, if I can do it, you can at least get to that next kyu rank! Keep getting on the tatami and practicing until the belt changes color.

[u/Nidoran-F]

What's a shodan? The one that should give to you is your federation, first the regional one and then the national one.

[u/dazzleox → u/Nidoran-F]

Shodan is the first black belt. The US doesn't have regional federations, and the belt system varies here between theee national federations. Instructors can generally give shodan rank out however they wish, though.