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
Judo in Canada be promoted after five years in the previous grade, but a 'good' candidate would have to wait eight. There have only been seventeen "judan" (tenth dan) judoka in history, fifteen promoted by the Kodokan and two by the International Judo Federation. None of them are Canadian, but Canada does have a group of more than 100 "kōdansha" (high dan holders), all of whom have devoted much of their lives to Canadian Judo. The late Yoshio Senda became Canada's first "kudan" (ninth dan) in 2007, and since then three more Canadians have been promoted to "kudan" by Judo Canada: Yeiji Inouye