This is not meant to be critical in any way, but the truth is that our ranking system is firmly embedded, and I can't imagine it changing in any way. There are pros and cons. Regarding the pros, I think the idea of rewarding time in rank has merit. One of the best things we can have in karate is lots of old masters who have consistently practiced throughout their lives. Their years of training can bring wisdom, so I wouldn't want to lump together everyone at say 5th dan, because that would not recognize the lifetime achievement of these old masters. If they have achieved great skill in their life, and are good, decent human beings with the character and demeanor befitting a master, then we should hold a place of special respect for them since that, IMO, is their due. High rank accomplishes this goal admirably.
The challenge we have is that there are often no standards so that many get to high dans at a very young age. We have lots of people starting in the arts as children, and for those that are devoted, by the time they are in their 30's they really do have enormous skill. Some systems wouldn't promote them above 5th or maybe 6th dan, but some would promote them higher, based on their remarkable skill.
In looking at the explosion of high dans, one should be cautious in judging the present by looking at the past. I will keep this to a discussion of the growth of karate, but there are parallels in other arts as well. The primary reason for the growth of karate in the US has its historic roots in the closure of WWII. The US required a large presence in Japan, but the Japanese did not want thousands of troops in the heart of Japan, so a deal was eventually reached where the US would locate its large bases in Okinawa. And today, nearly 60 years later, a rather large percentage of Okinawan soil is part of American air and naval bases.
On Okinawa, tens, if not hundreds of thousands of GIs were exposed to karate. Many studied arduously in Okinawan dojos under some of the very best masters. They took this art home with them. Sometimes they took the masters as well. (Oyata is a case in point who was encouraged to come to the US by a group of his students.)
In some cases, Japanese and Okinawan systems sent out "emissaries" to grow the art abroad. And the case of TKD, this was done on a grand scale and this mass migration of Korean TKD teachers to the US is the foundation for the enormous popularity of this art. But regarding karate, it was the numerous GIs who brought the art to all corners of the US.
If you go back to the 60s, there were just a handful. But they began teaching students in the 60s and 70s, and thousands of those students, now with 25, 30, 35 and 40 years in the arts are still active, training and teaching. The important point is that in the 60s, we had a handful of ex GIs in the US all with perhaps 5 years of training. So of course their rank was relatively low. Fast forward 35-40 years, and now we have these senior masters, and their senior students all with 30+ years in the arts. Should we expect a corresponding explosion of high rank as a result. I am not sure how one would argue we should not.
It has been argued that it doesn't seem appropriate for a master in style A to award a 6th dan to a 5th dan in style B. One of the reasons this is done is purely organizational/financial. If the 5th dan has good schools and students under him, but is not really gaining much from his present organization and teacher, then he is, to some degree, on the market. Although this may sound crass, he is open to the highest bidder. If the master of style A really likes how good this 5th dan and his students are, and thinks his system would benefit from bringing this group into his organization, one of inexpensive ways to do this is to promote the 5th dan to a higher rank. Now some may think that this might be ill-deserved. But perhaps the 5th dan hasn't been promoted in many years, and a promotion might be very appropriate.
You could take this argument a step further. Suppose an instructor has not had good experiences as part of other systems. Let's say that after his many years training in many systems, he has concluded that most karate systems teach a lot of bad fighting concepts, and he doesn't want to be part of an organization the insists that all its sensei teach the same old lousy approach to fighting. So this student of the art might find real value in being independent, and this could go on for many years.
In this case, we should expect that he might not have received any promotion in many years as well. Now let's suppose he meets up with a high ranking master of a large system and finds this group is just what he was looking for and wants to join. It is conceivable that the master would award this student a rank commensurate with his years in the art, skill level, quality of students, and contribution to the art. And that just might qualify a skip in rank.
I bring this up because it happened to me. I had been an independent for many years and remained a 3rd dan as a result. Recently I was invited by a respected American master with 39 years in the arts to teach my ideas at his biannual gathering of his 35 blackbelts from the 9 dojos under him.
It couldn't have gone better. In less than 4 hours, I had given them an introduction to my art by teaching nearly 20 combinations, all with takedowns, from the sequential movements of Pinan Shodan.
But that was just the beginning. After years of searching, I had finally found a master who is not only a great person, but values my approach to the art (few kata, lots of applications) and has no intention of imposing his system on me and my students. We are both Shito Ryu stylists and have the same complaints of a system with 50 kata, and he thinks my teaching of just 5 kata has a lot of merit.
His system has a council made up of his senior students, (several 5th and 4th dans). He asked whether any had any reservations about bringing me in as a 5th dan. He told me they all thought it was a good idea, and given that his senior students were only 5th dan, I should consider it a strong vote of confidence.
Some people, myself included, would say that given my time studying various arts (just shy of 30 years) that 5th dan is nothing special, and therefore the skip in rank shouldn't be considered any big deal. Others might argue that any skip in rank is suspect.
We are all entitled to our opinions, and this is a great forum to share them on, in agreement, and respectful disagreement. I would like to commend the contributors to MT for the respect and friendliness I have found on this forum during my recent posts. It has been great.
I came to believe in the idea that if they don't know by watching me that I am of higher rank, then I shouldn't be wearing that rank afterall. So I don't wear any belt/sash/patch/ect. in training, only at a formal event. Part of being a martial artist is being humble and part of being a warrior is deception.
