Aiki-Jutsu Gradings
Grading is an important part of martial arts and helps show a measure of a students ability. Gradings are only offered to students when their instructor is fully confident that they are ready, and their combined hours of attendance has been adequate.
It is usually around 6 months between gradings for a student until they hit their 2nd Kyu, 1st Kyu and 1st Dan where the time required to be prepared between grading is between 1 and 3 years. This means that it takes around 7-8 years to hit your first black belt, and a further 2-3 years between each Dan after that.
Below is an ordered list of our coloured belts, and a general overview of the ability of the student by the time they reach that grade.
| Colour | Grade | Brief Description |
| White | none | All Beginners |
| Yellow | 7th Kyu | Basic Falling, Locks and Throwing |
| Orange | 6th Kyu | Advanced Locking, Basic Pinning and Further Throwing Techniques |
| Red | 5th Kyu | Advanced Falling, Basic Weapons and Two Man Attacks with Basic Counter Attacks |
| Green | 4th Kyu | Full Application Locks, Pinning and Throwing and Two Armed Attacks |
| Purple | 3rd Kyu | Full Applications with Multiple Attackers, and Advanced Counter Attacks |
| Blue | 2nd Kyu | Further Full Applications with Multiple Attackers. Advanced Throwing techniques and Defence against sharp weapons |
| Brown | 1st Kyu | Advanced Full Applications and Multiple Sharp Weapon Attacks. Learning to instruct other students and applying their own techniques. |
| Black | 1st Dan | Ready to be an instructor |
Gradings shouldn't be taken lightly, and at the Shorinji Ryu, you really must work hard to earn them, especially on the grading day itself. The gradings are physically demanding but will prove to the student how capable they really are.