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**HassFks** · 01-07-2006, 08:00 AM

Actually, the question "Do you think there will be a Western 8th Dan" may be a bit misleading. It seems, that in countries like the States, there are already "home-grown" 8th dans who were tested outside of Japan. So, in this sense, there already are western 8th dans.

The motivation behind the question, though, was the infamous difficulty in passing the 8th dan examination in Japan. A few years ago, there was a very interesting NHK documentary about the 8th dan exam being the most difficult exam of any type in Japan, with an astoundingly low 1% pass rate (approx.) Thsi means that passing 8th dan in the kendo world in Japan is an almost impossible feat for the majority of kendoka. I am completely unaware of the pass rates and criteria for 8th dan examinations outside of Japan, (maybe they are harder???), but in the survey we were basing the question on the perceived Japanese standard for 8th dan, and whether people think it is likely that a non-Japanese kendoka will make the grade... I for one certainly think it is possible.

01-07-2006, 08:00 AM	#7
HassFks Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 320 Senior Member	Actually, the question "Do you think there will be a Western 8th Dan" may be a bit misleading. It seems, that in countries like the States, there are already "home-grown" 8th dans who were tested outside of Japan. So, in this sense, there already are western 8th dans. The motivation behind the question, though, was the infamous difficulty in passing the 8th dan examination in Japan. A few years ago, there was a very interesting NHK documentary about the 8th dan exam being the most difficult exam of any type in Japan, with an astoundingly low 1% pass rate (approx.) Thsi means that passing 8th dan in the kendo world in Japan is an almost impossible feat for the majority of kendoka. I am completely unaware of the pass rates and criteria for 8th dan examinations outside of Japan, (maybe they are harder???), but in the survey we were basing the question on the perceived Japanese standard for 8th dan, and whether people think it is likely that a non-Japanese kendoka will make the grade... I for one certainly think it is possible.
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