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
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