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Old 03-02-2013, 09:20 AM   #4
Malicat
Dojo: Suenaka-Ha Aikido of Bloomington
Location: Bloomington, Indiana
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 170
United_States
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Re: Passed my First test (rokkyu ) yellow belt

Quote:
Kevin Tejan wrote: View Post
Thanks Greg. I think I answered my own question. I've heard from another person here that some schools for the first belt just have you do proper ukemi and not get yourself hurt from the attack. My test I think (correct me if I'm wrong) seemed pretty comprehensive. But each dojo is different like you said. It also took me 9 or 10 months to be able to do it and pass it doing a good job. Thanks for your nice answer.

yeah, I was thinking that. I guess it changes with adults. Yeah, and I was a teen in Tae Kwon Do, those were "junior belts" (kids belts). I hear in aikido there are striped kids belts too under nanakyu (shichikyu) or rokku . I'm not sure if they mean anything. Wing Chun kung fu is also taught at our dojo by a different instructor. My instructor has been practicing Wing Chun also now for 5 years. So he incorporates that, the bridges, and striking into our aikido. He encourages us to use atemi whenever possible. I do Seidokan Aikido. But it is not directly Seidokan, it is his style, a more "realistic" self defense, Aikido with a light mix of kung fu principles strung in.

In the Wing Chun there are junior belts, and i think each one has a different title like my Tae Kwon do. Wow, things do change as you grow up, heh. This is my only martial art since I was younger.

You know something else I noticed Greg?

In the kung fu class, the kids are promoted faster than the adults. It takes the adults much,much longer to advance.

In my Tae Kwon Do school as a teen, I was very good, but it only took 3 months to advance each belt. Perhaps that's usual for a tae kwon do school, it was definitely not a McDojo.

Aikido on the other hand, Aikido i've been doing for 12 months, 9 months on a consistent basis, the rest illess and one AC/seperation from Aikido which took months to recover.
It took me 9 months to test for my first belt, rokkyu, and 1 or 2 months from white to yellow in tae kwon do. Is Aikido just harder? Is it harder than Karate? I was in Karate too.
Or is it just that kids are always going to advanced faster than adults ? ( more $$?)
Your rank means whatever you want it to mean. Seriously, every style, and even individual dojos view ranking differently. Our style has very clear testing requirements for ranks, but most dojos run tests infrequently, so students will test for several belt ranks instead of every single time. We have a few running jokes about ranking, the first of which is that any color on your belt means uke is allowed to actually try to hit you, because color indicates you have at least learned enough to get out of the way.

Belt rankings exist because people like to feel progress. And it is even more important for kids to see progress, or they will get bored and move on. Additionally, your Sensei is telling you that you showing improvement, and she, or he, trusts you with a higher level of responsibility. So, now remember that when you have people visiting your dojo, or attending their first class, you have rank, so you need to introduce yourself, welcome them, and try to show them why you love Aikido. Your rank represents your Sensei's respect and trust in you, so now it is up to you to make sure that you reflect that trust and respect positively.

--Ashley
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