When you become a graduated black belt (1st dan), most people get a feeling of having reached a goal. For some students, it is the final goal to become 1 dan, and for others it is only a step on the way to further development. For some, it becomes a resting pillow that stops one's development. For others, it can be the beginning of developing one's skills in a direction that was not thought possible.

I am often asked if it is difficult to become a black belt. Yes it is, but it is even more difficult to move on.

Not because you don't get the opportunity to learn new techniques, but now you have to understand everything you learned as a kyu degree, as well as everything new. You now have to think about how everything works and what makes it work the way it does.

In Jokokan there is room for everyone, including those who want to be 1st dan all their lives. There is also the opportunity to acquire physical and psychological skills that are so effective that you have to be a "skarn" not to accept them.

How do you acquire these skills?

The easiest thing would be for you to continue your training and be taught in the same way. as one teaches kyu degrees. But now it shouldn't all be too easy.

The question is also whether one's independent way of thinking does not come to a standstill if you are taught all the time and do not get the opportunity to work with things yourself. In Jokokan, much is made of getting dan degrees to think for themselves and work with the techniques themselves. This makes it somewhat more difficult to rise in the ranks, because now it is up to you whether you want to move on or stay at the same level.

In Jokokan, there are several opportunities to get training as a black belt.

We have training camps 4 times a year, as well as what are called leadership seminars, which are the development of instructors and future instructors. In 2004 concrete and direct black belt training was also opened up. Once every month there is an opportunity to receive lessons from Yamana Sensei.

So what is the difference in these training options?

The training camps aim to create a community in Jokokan. The training is divided into joint training, with the participation of everyone, and training in groups. That is Jokokidz, adults 10-8 kyu and experienced. Individual teaching of the individual student is not what is emphasized, but it will always be noticed, or perhaps the students who make an extra effort.

As previously mentioned, the leadership seminar is the teaching of instructors and future instructors in the curriculum. There is training in the syllabus from 10 kyu up to 1 kyu. Emphasis is placed on all participants learning to instruct in the curriculum in the same way. That is everyone does the same finishes on Shihos, everyone has the same understanding of the technical order in kumite and kata. Now it's not like it all runs like 10th kyu level. The individual participant must do the techniques as they should be done at their own level.

Of course, there is something to be gained for dangrads at training camps and at the leadership seminars. But it is not direct teaching and individual development that you get the opportunity to do there. On the other hand, you get that in black belt training.

There, it is entirely up to each participant to show that they can and want to. The lines are clearly drawn. If you want to progress and develop, then training is required. Not just once a month, but also between workouts.

Why is that?

Yes, it is between training sessions that you get the opportunity to work with the learned material yourself and thus integrate it into your body. We have now had 4 black belt training sessions in 2004. And after a somewhat difficult start, it has started to become natural for me to work with the learned material. The first time we had training, we had to train Sankaku-kihon-hitotsu (triangle training). It shouldn't be a problem, because it was something you had learned as a brown belt. But we got wiser!

Now it became clear how little we actually understood about Sankaku-kihon-hitotsu (triangular training). After the first training, we now had to go home and practice the learned material, and get the details in place.

But even if the intentions are present, in the end it is a matter of will, and the will has not been at its peak at that time.

For the second training, we therefore had to train exactly the same as for the first lesson. Between the second and third lesson, I got to train a lot more myself, and gradually began to notice how the techniques get better when you get the details.

In the third lesson, we started training Shiho Soku 1 and 2. It is difficult to describe what they are all about, but you work on e.g. by creating cross-tensions in the body, so that you can create power. After the third lesson, I wanted to train all the time. In fact, I got to practice almost every day between the third and fourth lessons. I could gradually feel how the Shiho became a natural thing to train and how important it is to other techniques. It is a feeling that cannot be described but must be experienced. I can only recommend that you try. In the fourth lesson, I was anxious to see if my training had an effect. It had that.

I felt relaxed and had what you might call a great day. Now that day doesn't have to be a one-time pleasure. It must be a day in a series of good days. As a student, you probably can't get more motivation than when it turns out that your homework has caused you to get better.

Therefore, I highly recommend everyone to try it.

INnot for my sake but for your own. Remember that only we ourselves can create our own progress.