Hanna B

I would also like to say that pretty much all aikido people will see the standard in other aikido schools as inferior to what they are used to, simply because it doesn't match what they have been taught is good quality aikido technique. I have certainly seen people sit and frown at grading tests which I think were fine, who come from dojos where the standard of an average shodan in my perspective is pretty low. OTOH I wouldn't have been made it had I tried their shodan test when I was a nidan, simply because I don't do their stuff. So *shrug*

Also I think there is a false assumption that weak shodans equals bad aikido overall. Not necessarily true at all, IMHO. A dojo that let people test for shodan after three years will naturally have weaker shodans than those who let them train for ten.

So no. Ranks in different schools don't match. But I don't see that as a problem.