Around the 1920's, Funakoshi adopted the Kyu/Dan system, along with the keikogi that had been developed by judo's founder Kano Jigoro. This system used colored belts as an indication of rank. Originally, Karate had only 3 obi (belt) colours, white, brown and black, with several ranks within each. Here is the original belt system, still used by Shotokan Karate of America.[8]
Ungraded - white
8th kyu - 4th kyu - white
3rd kyu - 1st kyu - brown
dan grades - black
The first "shodan" (初段) ranks given by Funakoshi in karate were to Tokuda, Otsuka, Akiba, Shimizu, Hirose, Gima, and Kasuya on April 10, 1924.
Most schools use the kyu/dan system but have added other colors. The most common, used by the JKA and most other large mainstream, international Shotokan associations is given below but other variations exist.
10th kyu - White
9th kyu - White
8th kyu - Yellow
7th kyu - Orange
6th kyu - Green
5th kyu - Blue
4th kyu - Purple
3rd kyu - Brown & 1 White Stripe
2nd kyu - Brown & 2 White Stripes
1st kyu - Brown & 3 White Stripes
1st dan and above - Black
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