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
German Judo Federation German Judo Federation The German Judo Federation (}) is an association of German judoka. The judo sport in West Germany was organized as a sport of heavy athletics from 1949 to 1954 in the German Athletes Federation (DAB). On 8 August 1953 the German Judo Association was founded by Dan-bearers of the German Dan-Kollegium (DDK) like Alfred Rhode of the 1st German Judo-Club (1st DJC in Frankfurt am Main). Alfred Rhode had introduced judo sport in Germany with the 1st DJC at his Frankfurt summer school in 1932. The separate areas of responsibility of the two associations DJB and DDK