Judo belt ranks (kyū and dan)

Kanō's original kyū-dan system (senior)

1. Sixth kyū(beginner) — LightBlue rokkyū (六級)
2. Fifth kyūFourth kyū — White gokyū (五級)yonkyū (四級)
3. Third kyūSecond kyūFirst kyū — Brown sankyū (三級)nikyū (二級)ikkyū (一級)
4. First danSecond danThird danFourth danFifth dan — Black shodan (初段)nidan (二段)sandan (三段)yondan (四段)godan (五段)
5. Sixth danSeventh danEighth danNinth dan — Red and WhiteorBlack rokudan (六段)shichidan (七段)hachidan (八段)kudan (九段)
6. Tenth dan — RedorBlack jūdan (十段)
7. Eleventh danTwelfth danand higher* — White orRedorBlack juichidan (十一段)junidan (十二段)

IJF kyū grades

1. Kyu 6 — White
2. Kyu 5 — Yellow
3. Kyu 4 — Orange
4. Kyu 3 — Green
5. Kyu 2 — Blue
6. Kyu 1 — Brown

Dan grades

1. 1st–5th dan — Black
2. 4th and 5th dan (select dojos) — Black or Red-Black Coral
3. 6th–8th dan — Black or Red-White Coral
4. 9th, 10th, and possible 11th dan — Black or Red

Open the belt order tool

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Belt colors shown as swatches are approximate.

Data: Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.