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Old 09-14-2010, 02:29 PM   #4
Basia Halliop
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 711
Canada
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Re: Testing before minimums???

Officially, the test amounts are minimums -- you're technically supposed to have that many _or more_. Otherwise I doubt they'd bother putting them.... How much does the USAF enforce them? That I don't know, and I suspect it depends a lot on your sensei.

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. Many people aren't really ready at the specified number of days (including some who test anyway, sadly) -- if you have the opportunity to do each test at a really high level, I'd just do that. It's to your _benefit_ to have more days of training. When you eventually get to shodan, it would be great to have a really good strong test, and not just pass. It's not like testing earlier in your training will let you learn anything faster...

Quote:
It seems that the black belt in our western society has been given the view of "Man, I'm a black belt in blah, blah, blah, I am a master of my art." This is horse#@!$. It is just the start, If we want the train in traditional Aikido, then we need to stop tacking on years and years of training for a beginning level shodan.
OK, I'm totally not getting this -- shodan is just an arbitrary designation -- so one organization makes it a more intermediate beginner grade, and another makes it a more advanced beginner grade. So? It doesn't really make any difference to how much you learn; it's just a name. It just means the ranks won't translate from one organization to another, and a shodan in one organization will be like a 2nd kyu in another. For me, I prefer the second way, since in the USAF there are only formal tests up to sandan... so if shodan is too easy then nidan becomes what I am used to thinking of as shodan, and then there's only sandan after that to make sure that people are going past solid basics.

But as to your original question, I think you'd have to ask in your dojo... Or watch to see how many days your fellow students have when they're asked to test.

Last edited by Basia Halliop : 09-14-2010 at 02:35 PM.
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