Judo in Canada Canada there are six "kyū" grades for seniors (people 16 years of age or older), eleven "kyū" grades for juniors (people under the age of 16), and ten "dan" grades that are restricted to seniors. Both senior and junior students begin as white belts ("rokkyū") and progress with promotion through yellow, orange, green, and blue, to brown belt ("ikkyū"). Half-grades for juniors were introduced in 2010 and are represented by belts that combine the colours of the previous grade and the next grade (a white and yellow belt, for example, represents a half-grade between "rokkyū" and "gokyū", which the grading
Judo in Canada starting at first "dan" ("shodan") and ending at tenth "dan" ("judan"). Grades are also differentiated by belt colour. Kano originally adopted white and black belts in 1886 to mark the distinction between "kyū" and "dan" grades, and red and white and solid red belts were later introduced to distinguish judoka who were sixth "dan" and higher (collectively referred to as "kōdansha", or 'ones with high dan'). Coloured belts for "kyū" grades were first introduced by Mikinosuke Kawaishi in France in 1935 because he felt that European students would progress more quickly if they received visible recognition of their achievements. In