Rank in Judo first five are colored black, 6th, 7th, and 8th "dan" have alternating red and white panels (dandara), and for 9th, 10th "dan" and above, the belts are solid red. In judo's promotion system as originally finalized by Kanō around 1926 there was no maximal dan rank, and judoka holding 10th dan would normally wear a red belt, but also could wear a white belt, the same color as the lowest kyū rank. However, since the highest dan rank reached in judo for a living person or conferred posthumously remains 10th dan, any judo dan rank higher than 10th dan is
Judo particularly from more powerful throws that uke lacks the skill to breakfall from. For these reasons, throws are normally taught in order of difficulty for both tori and uke. This is exemplified in the "Gokyo" , a traditional grouping of throws arranged in order of difficulty of ukemi. Those grouped in are relatively simple to breakfall from whereas those grouped in are difficult to breakfall from. A practitioner of judo is known as a . The modern meaning of "judoka" in English is a judo practitioner of any level of expertise, but traditionally those below the rank of 4th "dan"