Dan (rank) is by far the most recognizable symbol to the general public. The highest dan ranks are sometimes reserved for the founder or leaders of a style and only high-ranking students can be promoted to them. For example, only five living people hold a tenth dan in judo and only about thirty-five worldwide have been promoted to the rank since its inception; of those 10th dan promotions only fifteen were conferred by the Kodokan, all of them to Japanese judoka. This has led to upper level ranks becoming extinct in some arts. In other styles, the dan ranks are not the
British Judo Council British Judo Council The British Judo Council (BJC) is a membership organisation and a governing body for Judo in the United Kingdom. In 1955 Kenshiro Abbe, then a 7th dan Japanese judoka and the highest ranked judoka outside Japan, was invited to Britain on a two year contract to teach Judo at the London Judo Society, a Judo School in South London. Abbe parted ways with the LJS in the following year and started his own school for Judo. He formed the British Judo Council in 1958, soon being joined by another high-ranked Japanese judoka living in Britain, Masutaro Otani.