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 in Brazil Judo at the 2012 Summer Games, signifying the continued vitality of the martial art in Brazil. Mitsuyo Maeda introduced Judo to Brazil in November of 1914. Maeda was a member of the Kodokan, and one of five of Judo’s top groundwork experts. Judo founder, Kanō Jigorō sent Maeda as something of an ambassador to broaden Judo practice on a worldwide level. Maeda introduced Judo, (designated ‘Kano Jiu-Jitsu’ in that period) to Carlos Gracie, the first of several in his family that would take up the sport and eventually mold it into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, sometimes referred to as Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. After