The Kanji kentei, the Japan Kanji Aptitude Test, has twelve levels. They run from grade 10 to grade 1, with two in-between grades, pre-2 and pre-1. It is run by the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. In fiscal 2024, it had 1.37 million applicants.
The First Dan
Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo, opened the Kōdōkan in 1882 and introduced a system of dan grades. In August 1883, he gave the grade of shodan, first dan, to Tomita Tsunejirō and Saigō Shirō. A history of the Kōdōkan calls these the first dan grades awarded in any martial art.
Radio Calisthenics
In November 1928, rajio taisō, radio calisthenics, went on the air for the first time. The postal life insurance bureau set it up with the national broadcaster and the Ministry of Education after it was proposed as a project to mark the enthronement of Emperor Shōwa. Its first form was named Radio Calisthenics No. 1.
Errand Boy to Head Clerk
In an Edo merchant house, a boy started as a decchi, an apprentice who lived in and ran errands, from around the age of ten. The next stage was tedai, a clerk. After many years, he could become bantō, the head clerk, who took charge of sales, accounts and everything in the shop.
From there, he could be allowed to set up his own shop.
Ability Grades
Many Japanese companies use a shokunō shikaku seido, an ability grade system. It judges each employee’s ability to carry out work and places the employee in a grade according to that level. An HR glossary calls it the grade system most widely used in Japan.
Beginner Driver Mark
Under Article 71-5 of Japan’s Road Traffic Act, a driver who has held a license for less than one year must display the shoshin untensha hyōshiki, the beginner driver mark, on the car. It was introduced in 1972. It is popularly called the wakaba māku, the young leaf mark.
Maiko Stages
A young woman who wants to become a maiko in Kyoto first spends about a year as a shikomi, living in and training. Then comes minarai, learning by watching. At a designated teahouse, she is allowed to see what happens at the banquets. The day she becomes a maiko is called misedashi.
Around the fourth or fifth year as a maiko, after the age of twenty, she becomes a geiko. This step is called erikae, the changing of the collar.
Kendo Grades
In kendo, the higher grades require years of training after the grade before. Under the rules of the All Japan Kendo Federation, a candidate for seventh dan must have trained for at least six years after receiving sixth dan. A candidate for eighth dan must have trained for at least ten years after seventh dan and be at least 46 years old.
A Japanese university lecture page puts the pass rate of the eighth-dan examination at one percent or less.
Rakugo Ranks
A rakugo storyteller’s career passes through the ranks of zenza, futatsume and shin’uchi. One guide to rakugo says that the zenza stage usually lasts four or five years. Another says that the step from futatsume to shin’uchi takes about ten years.
The first guide puts the whole path from entering the profession to becoming shin’uchi at ten to fifteen years, depending on talent and effort.
Shu, Ha, Ri
A verse attributed to the tea master Sen no Rikyū reads: Kiku sahō mamori tsukushite yaburu tomo hanaruru tote mo moto o wasuru na. Keep the rules and forms completely. Even when breaking them, even when leaving them, do not forget the root.
The verse is linked to shuhari, the stages of learning a traditional art. Shu is holding to the basics. Ha is adapting them. Ri is developing one’s own way.