Saturday, 23 August 2025

Black Belt promotions

 Iceman


now holds the grade of

Yondan Fourth Degree Black Belt

with the titles

Renshi

and

Full Instructor

in

Shiro Tora Budo Kai

White Tiger Martial Arts

August 2025



-------------------------


Tank

now holds the grade of

Sandan Third Degree Black Belt

with the titles

Sensei

and

Associate Instructor


in

Shiro Tora Budo Kai

White Tiger Martial Arts

August 2025



------------------------------


Joker

now holds the grade of

Nidan 2nd Degree Black Belt

with the title

Assistant Instructor

in

Shiro Tora Budo Kai

White Tiger Martial Arts

August 2025




--------------------



The "Traditional" Titles:

3rd dan Sensei
4th dan Renshi
5th dan Shidoshi
6th dan Shihan
7th dan Kyoshi
8th dan Hanshi
9th dan Soke


Sensei is the title awarded at 3rd dan meaning "teacher" or "instructor"
Shihan is the title awarded at 6th dan meaning "master" or "master instructor"

Renshi, Kyoshi and Hanshi are titles from traditional ryhua awarded at 4th, 6th and 8th dan respectively
they are hard to translate directly but are like Professor titles at a University



The "Modern" titles

4th Dan Renshi
Full Instructor

3rd Dan Sensei
Associate Instructor

2nd Dan
Assistant Instructor

1st Dan
Apprentice Instructor

BLACK BELT
Senior Student Sempai



-----------------------------


STMA Black Belts

The first three BB we had were Baloo, Chip and Tork

Ice was our fourth BB

Baloo and Chip were the first to get to 2nd Dan - Ice was the third


Ice is the first BB to reach 3rd Dan, and the only BB to reach 4th Dan


Tank is our fifth BB, and the fourth to reach 2nd Dan, and the second to reach 3rd Dan


So you can see how rare and significant these Dan grades are


Maverick, Viper and Cipher our sixth, seventh and eight BB, and are the BB who achieved 1st Dan

(Maverick was on the cusp of reaching 2nd Dan when he suddenly disappeared Trojan style)


Viper was our seventh BB, and the fifth BB to reach 2nd Dan


Rogue, Bane and Shamrock are our other three BB, our ninth, tenth and eleventh


Joker is our 12th BB, and 9th to reach Shodan, and now 6th to reach 2nd Dan

(Cyclops was on the cusp of being graded to BB before he left)


There are only 12 STMA Black Belts, 12 Tigers in 16 years


Baloo II

Chip II

Tork I

Iceman IIII

Tank III

Maverick I


Viper II

Cipher I

Rogue

Bane

Shamrock

Joker II



Nine went on to Shodan

Six of them went on to reach Nidan

Two have reached Sandan

Only one went on to Yondan



People tend to think that Black Belt and 1st Dan are the same thing but they are not

BB is the highest coloured belt, the title of Senior Student

one has to train as a BB for a year before consolidating their knowledge to receive the Shodan degree rank and title of Apprentice Instructor

this is signified by the first stripe on the black belt