Rank in Judo English language edition (1955) of "Illustrated Kodokan Judo", edited by the Kōdōkan, says: This statement was later clarified, however. Essentially, the dan-rank system was capped at 10 after the death of Kanō. In that respect, in the November 1963 issue of "Jūdō", the Kōdōkan's official magazine, the Kōdōkan responding to the question "Do the 11th and 12th Dan really exist?" clarifies that the hierarchy now stops at 10 and that the Kōdōkan does not envisage any nominations to these grades. There have only been fifteen 10th dan promotions awarded by the Kōdōkan in the history of Judo. Although "dan" ranks
Rank in Judo are yet to attain that level and who hold grades. Those who hold "dan" grades are collectively termed (literally "person who has dan") and those with "kyū" grades are , literally "person without dan". This ranking system was introduced by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo, in 1883. However, the current system is not the original one, but based on Kanō's last system introduced between 1926-1931, with some modification shortly after Kanō's death in 1938. The first "dan" grades were awarded to his students Saigō Shirō and Tomita Tsunejirō. Since then it has been widely adopted by modern martial arts.