20 years in the making! Judo Shodan!

**Phil82** · Posted On: 9/06/2012 2:07pm

nicely done Sir...got a ways to go myself!

**Lanner Hunt** · Posted On: 9/07/2012 3:55pm

Having only been in Judo for nine or so months, seeing the level of skill you'd need for shodan just makes me appreciate such an accomplishment that much more. Congratulations!

**DarkPhoenix** · Posted On: 9/07/2012 4:40pm

Thanks guys. I am by no means a good judoka. I am mediocre, at best! :)

**Naszir** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 6:37am

Well done, man! My coach actually required me to do the NNK as well as the demos for mine. What was the most difficult part for you? Did you switch out ukes for your demos? Again congratulations and great job!

**DarkPhoenix** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 12:51pm

Originally Posted by Naszir

Well done, man! My coach actually required me to do the NNK as well as the demos for mine. What was the most difficult part for you? Did you switch out ukes for your demos? Again congratulations and great job!

I think the most difficult was just starting it. I had known when it was going to be for a good month or so. When the day came, the biggest thing I had to get over was nerves. After I demonstrated my first throw, it was pretty much smooth sailing. He had me do a throw that I didn't think I know, and that was mostly due to I didn't know the name. It happened to be a name that didn't describe the throw (Yama arashi - Mountain Storm). All the time that I had done that throw, I just thought is was a harai goshi variant.

I kept the same uke for the entire test. He is someone that I have been working on my NNK with. It was a great experience. The last time I tested for a black belt was when I was 18 for my TKD black belt, and that was pretty rough for a TKD test.

Thanks for the congrats. It is just a new beginning in my judo career.

**BKR** · Posted On: 9/09/2012 11:29pm

Originally Posted by NeilG

Nope. Kata is the big focus but there's a written test (mostly vocab) and a waza demo as well. When I tested they had a number of sheets of paper on the table, each one had a collection of waza listed. I think there were around 10 throws, and a few holds, chokes and locks. You picked a sheet at random and that's what you had to demo. I was also asked to demonstrate a combination and a counter. I've heard that some have been asked to teach a technique but that wasn't the case for me. Finally we had to do a little randori, but they explained that was primarily for the candidates that don't actively compete.

Kendo is so much different. There, kata is done but it is not dissected in nearly as much detail. There is no waza demo other than the kata. Instead you have to play two other guys going for the same rank and that is the real meat of the exam. You have to show you can walk the walk against another guy of roughly the same level. You don't necessarily have to beat them, you just have to demonstrate the elements of your kendo that they are looking for at that level.

I should have wrote"British Columbia".

I had to do a huge test for my shodan in Texas back in 1985/6. No way you could test a lot of people at the same time.

Ben