Kami

KAMI : O-Sensei was more or less forced to join the Butokukai, much against his own will. He sent, as Kobukan's representative, Minoru Hirai. The Butokukai imposed the rank system and so Aikido had to use it. But throughout all his life, O-Sensei didn't gave much importance to dan grades. He presumed an 8th Dan was, more or less, similar to the Menkyo Kaiden in the ancient system he was so fond of. He gave 9th dan and 10th dan to people he loved, even if they weren't good at Aikido. Kaiso, in reality, never gave any importance to dan ranks. They became very important to the Aikikai and for some reasons touched upon by our companion Vance, in a previous post ("I can think of a variety of ways in which rank are useful to everyone but the rank holder").
Best regards and a good keiko