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
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"