Official BKA gradings

[BKA]

Congratulations to Sam B. for getting his Pre-Dan certificate today!

[BKA]

Congrats to Daryll for jumping straight up to 4th Kyu yesterday.

[BKA]

We were asked some questions offline, but we'll answer them publicly here for everyone's info:

Q: So, you don't have to do moshi kame for 5th & 6th Dan?
A: That's correct.

Q: Do you have to do the 4th Dan before you can enter the 5th?
A: You can 'jump' grades in one exam (if you achieve all the relevant tricks along the way), but only to a maximum of 4th Dan. So you have to get to 4th Dan and then wait to take another exam.

Q: When can I take my next exam?
A: You have to wait a minimum time between exams. How long exactly depends on the grade you are going for:
Kyu 10-6: 1 day
Kyu 5-1: 1 week
Pre-dan - 5th Dan: 1 month
6th Dan: 1 year

[KendAlex]

oke, thanks.

just for example, i have the first Dan, and i want to do the 4th dan, then i first have to do the 1000 moshikames?
and after that i do all the tricks that belong to the 4th Dan.
after that i have to do the Speedtrick B in 60 seconds for the final to pass.

then i have to wait one month to enter the 5th Dan (if it is possible), and then i don't have to do the moshikames 1000 times but only the tricks in the ladder and the speedtrick B in 45 seconds?

[BKA]

Yes, exactly.

[BKA]

Congratulations to Matt who improved his grade today to 1st Dan: the first person to get a Dan grading under the BKA system.


Matt has also become an official BKA examiner (to Pre-Dan), as has Sam B (to 1st Kyu).

[PAshaRome]

Congratulations to Matt ...

Congrats!

[BKA]

Congratulations to Chris, who moves straight up to 2nd Kyu in his first exam, and to Donald and Natx, who both hit Pre-Dan level on Thursday.




Moshi Kame is HARD!

[SamB]

I've now seen these gradings done by a few different and very highly skilled players on 3 occasions and attempted it twice myself now and would like to offer 1 tip.
If you are going to attempt any grading (BKA or JKA) it is all well and good practicing the trick list but...

PRACTICE MOSHI KAME!!!!!

It is by far the hardest part of any grading and it is completely different doing it with someone watching and knowing you have only one attempt to do a certain number whilst worrying that you're doing it fast enough than doing it in your own home with unlimited attempts and no specific target. Plus it can be over brutally fast (one rimshot at 196 ball flies off subconsciously caught by my left hand while the rest of my brain stops in disbelief that I was so close to a dan grade).

This one reason is why a huge amount of respect should be given to anyone with any of these grades because, to be honest, it is really flipping hard!!!

[The Void]

PRACTICE MOSHI KAME!!!!![/size]
It is by far the hardest part of any grading...

QFT
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Me too.
What he said.
etc

[BKA]

Donald Grant has become our North-of-the-border Examiner, for Kyu grades.

Current examiners and locations are:
Void, (->4th Dan), Bristol
Matt, (-> Pre-Dan), Bedford
Sam, (-> 1st Kyu), W. London
Donald, (-> 1st Kyu), Fife

Next scheduled grading opportunity: Lestival. Although if you are local to one of the examiners, send them a PM via the forum, and perhaps they will be able to meet up with you.

[ChrisD]

Thanks for the encouragement and the exam at BJC, Void.  All in all I'm pretty pleased to have 2nd Kyu to show for a few months practice.  Perhaps on a good day I might have reached 1st, but then on a bad I'd have fallen short of 2nd.  As Sam said, it's harder in an exam than in your own home.  After being brought down to earth in the Kendama comp it was good to finish with this!

[ChrisD]

Could someone help with the following queries please?

For 1st Kyu, does Moshi Kame need to be at 135 bpm (or indeed at any particular speed)?  What about pre-dan? 

Looking ahead, you understand - I have no illusions about passing pre-dan just yet!

Thanks,
Chris

[BKA]

For Pre-dan and above, it certainly does need to be at that speed (at least). For Kyu grades, in theory it should, but since it is only a "beginner" grade, we (and the JKA too, I believe) are more lenient. As long as a constant pace[1] is kept, say at about 60+ bpm, then that's okay.

1.	more or less

[Thorny]

First off: All the information I'm referencing, if from the JKA Advanced Skill Level Table on www.kendama.co.uk

Let's take 3rd Dan for example (the one I regularly attempt...)

For 1st and 2nd Dan you have to do Around The World and Lighthouse 4 and 5 times (respectively for 1st and 2nd Dan) but for 3rd, these boxes are left blank. This mean you begin with landing Slip-On-Stick 5 times out of 10, correct?

I was unsure whether or not you perform these tricks as they aren't listed in the table (but I presumed you don't).

I was also wondering, for 4th Dan you have 1 attempt to perform at least 1000 Moshikame - for 5th and 6th Dan the Moshikame section of the table has no information. Does this mean you have to again, only perform at least 1000 Moshikame to proceed? I never questioned this, as I've only ever reached in excess of 1000 Moshi's once!
I did self-certify myself as 4th Dan afterwards as well.... but I got lucky on the Moshi's. I'd say I'm 3rd Dan!

Some enlightening on these questions would be great! Thanks people!