I wonder where that impression that it's a not-inconsiderable acheivement comes from. At least over here in Germany, the formal requirements for 'adults' 14+ (minimal waiting times) are pretty aligned: Kendo ('german' Style) 6. Kyu -- usually 3-6 month 5. Kyu -- 6 month 4. Kyu -- 6 month 3. Kyu -- 6 month 2. Kyu -- 6 month 1. Kyu -- 6 month - 30 month + 1. Dan -- 1 year etc. Shotokan Karate 8. Kyu -- 2 month 7. Kyu -- 3 month 6. Kyu -- 3 month 5. Kyu -- 4 month 4. Kyu -- 4 month 3. Kyu -- 6 month 2. Kyu -- 6 month 1. Kyu -- 6 month - 34 month 1. Dan -- 1 year 2. Dan -- 2 years 3. Dan -- 3 years 4. Dan -- 4 years Judo (14 years+) 8. Kyu -- 3 month 7. Kyu -- 3 month 6. Kyu -- 3 month 5. Kyu -- 3 month 4. Kyu -- 3 month 3. Kyu -- 3 month 2. Kyu -- 6 month 1. Kyu -- 6 month - 30 month 1. Dan -- 2 years 2. Dan -- 3 years 3. Dan -- 4 years 4. Dan -- 5 years (can be shortened by 1 year per dan grade because of competition success, trainer licence etc.) They do have more 'belts' and more testing, certainly different 'technical' criteria - maybe people generally taking longer to crawl trough the ranks and therefor a lot more than minimum time when reaching shodan? Shotokan and the DJB Judo are certainly the most popular branches over here.