WHAT IS DAN
Many people who are not very familiar with martial arts think that after receiving a black belt there is nothing left to attain in karate. You may, however, have heard those with black belts refer to themselves as a first dan or higher. As this indicates, black belts have varying degrees, and attaining your first one is just the beginning. The ideogram dan means level or step. A stairway is called a kaidan, or "series of steps," in Japanese. The various dan of black belts, therefore, reflect various steps or levels of proficiency after attaining the black belt Incidentally, dan are assigned in a ....
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