Judo in Canada Sasaki's students went on to establish their own dojos across Canada. The Canadian Kodokan Black Belt Association was incorporated in 1956 and recognized by the International Judo Federation in 1958. Now known as Judo Canada, it is the national governing body and a federation of associations in each of the ten provinces and three territories. Today, an estimated 30,000 Canadians participate in Judo programs in approximately 400 clubs across Canada. Judo uses a hierarchical ranking system divided into "kyū" and "dan" grades that its founder, Jigoro Kano, adapted from the ranking system for the traditional board game Go. "Kyū" grades
Rank in Judo a patch specifying the practitioner's level. This is true for both "kyū" and "dan" levels. The USJF Juniors ranking system specifies ranks to 11th "kyū" ("jūichikyū"). The USJA Juniors ranking system specifies twelve levels of "kyū" rank, beginning with "Junior 1st Degree" (equivalent to "jūnikyū", or 12th "kyū") and ending with "Junior 12th Degree" (equivalent to "ikkyū"). As with the senior practitioners, the USJA recommends that juniors wear a patch specifying their rank. When a USJA Junior reaches the age of 17, their conversion to Senior rank is: Rank in Judo In Judo, improvement and understanding of the art is