Martial Arts Grade Crossword

Martial arts grade crossword clue. A quick one crossword puzzle question in Sydney Daily Telegraph on Monday, 10 July 2017. 3 letters

Answer: DAN

The dan (段) ranking system is used by many Japanese organizations and Korean martial arts to indicate the level of one’s ability within a certain subject matter. As a ranking system, it was originally used at a go school during the Edo period.[1] It is now also used in modern fine arts and martial arts.

The system was applied to martial arts in Japan by Kanō Jigorō (1860–1938), the founder of judo, in 1883, and later introduced to other East Asian countries. In the modern Japanese martial arts, holders of dan ranks often wear a black belt; those of higher rank may also wear red-and-white and red belts. Dan ranks are also given for strategic board games such as go, Japanese chess (shōgi), and renju, as well as for cultural arts such as flower arrangement (ikebana), Japanese calligraphy (shodō) and tea ceremony (sadō).