Blank black belt "shodan ho" / before 1st degree awarded - how common?

[matrim13]

Just curious, I've done a bit of digging and haven't found a whole lot. How common in Kenpo systems is a "shodan ho" type of black belt, which is a plain black belt, before a first degree is awarded? My friend is in a system in which a plain black belt can be achieved in ~3.5 years, and then 1st degree can be achieved in a year and a half or so after that.

So we were trying to figure out how this would translate to my place (traditional 1st degree for a new black belt).

My question is not how does it translate (that is very subjective) but I am just curious to those here, how common/uncommon is a "blank" black belt awarded before a 1st degree?

Thanks, love lurking here, rarely post.

 

[JCreelUKJJ]

I can't speak to how common it is, but I've seen it done in the AKKI a few times, for brown belts ready for black but were unable to make it to a board-run test.

 

[HighKick]

Just curious, I've done a bit of digging and haven't found a whole lot. How common in Kenpo systems is a "shodan ho" type of black belt, which is a plain black belt, before a first degree is awarded? My friend is in a system in which a plain black belt can be achieved in ~3.5 years, and then 1st degree can be achieved in a year and a half or so after that.

So we were trying to figure out how this would translate to my place (traditional 1st degree for a new black belt).

My question is not how does it translate (that is very subjective) but I am just curious to those here, how common/uncommon is a "blank" black belt awarded before a 1st degree?

Thanks, love lurking here, rarely post.

I have never heard of a black belt being awarded Before actually attaining black belt level in any style. I have seen red/black belts before black belt in Japanese styles.

 

[Stuarto85 4]

A friend of my mine does Kenpo like me (though a different style) They have a kind of probationary black belt. I guess a year of testing and receiving your black belt, they test again and give you a higher quality, fancy belt. I can understand that because many students leave after making it to Shodan, and if a school is going to spend money on getting you a high-quality embroidered belt, they want to know that you are going to continue training.

 

[JonBhoy44 2]

Ive never seen a "shodan-ho" except in The Bujinkan, and they shouldve probably waited for full shodan.

 

[HighKick]

I cannot edit my post #3 but should have added that po don belts to underage children are rather common in KMA's.