Belts & Grading System

Junior System (Under 14 years old)
The junior grading system is universal through all branches of the Matsubayashi-Ryu Karate Association of Australia. This belt system is for karate students under 14 years old.
N.B. When tying a belt, the stripes should end up on the right side.

White Belt	Yellow Belt	Orange Belt	Blue Belt	Purple Belt

Junior belts can gain up to 3 Stripes on their belt before the next full colour.

Senior (Kyu) System
The senior grading system is universal through all branches of the World Matsubayashi-Ryu (Shorin-Ryu) Karate-Do Association and all associations under Takayoshi Nagamine Soke. This belt system is for karate students over 14 years old, and are refered to as 'mudansha'.
N.B. When tying a belt, the stripes should end up on the right side.

White Belt	8th Kyu (Hachikyu)	7th Kyu (Nanakyu)
6th Kyu (Rokkyu)	5th Kyu (Gokyu)	4th Kyu (Yonkyu)
3rd Kyu (Sankyu)	2nd Kyu (Nikyu)	1st Kyu (Ikkyu)

Black Belt (Dan) System
The black belt grading system is unversal through all branches of the World Matsubayashi-Ryu (Shorin-Ryu) Karate-Do Association and all assocations under Takayoshi Nagamine Soke. Black belt karate students are refered to as 'yudansha'. A black belt may also have additional writing on their belt, such as their name & style, usually in Japanese.
N.B. A 'Dan' is often refered to as 'Degree of black belt', for example a 1st Dan (Shodan) may often be called a 1st Degree Black Belt'.

1st - 10th Dan	Renshi	Kyoshi	Hanshi	Hanshisei

Forms of address
Within the dojo, certain students and instructors are addressed with specific terms. These are used to pay respect to those who are senior to you. For example, you would call your instructor 'sensei' in class.

Title	Definition (Literal meaning)
Senpai (先輩)	Senior (One who is senior)
Sensei (先生)	Teacher (One who has gone before)
Osensei (大先生)	Grandmaster / Founder (Great Teacher)

Positions within the dojo
Certain instructors have special positions within their dojo or organisation. These are only used in formal situations and are not usually used to address the person.

Positions	Definition (Literal meaning)
Dojocho (道場長)	Head Instructor (Head of Dojo)
Kancho (館長)	Chief Instructor (Head of Branch)
Kaicho (会長)	President (Head of Association)
Soke (宗家)	Headmaster (Head of Family / Style)

Shogo System (Teaching Titles)
These titles are given seperate and in addition to the normal grade in order to recognise the ability of an experienced senior instructor.

Shogo Title	Minimum Grade	Definition (Literal meaning)
Renshi (錬士)	6th Dan	Senior Instructor (Polished expert)
Kyoshi (教士)	7th Dan	Expert Instructor (Teaching expert)
Hanshi (範士)	9th Dan	Master Instructor (Model expert)
Hanshisei (範士正)	Head of Style	Senior Master Instructor (Senior model expert)