Kyu

From MartialTalk Online Martial Arts Encyclopedia Project

Kyu (級) is a Japanese term in martial arts used to designate various degrees or levels of proficiency or experience below black belt or shodan rank. Generally speaking, while dan level start at 1 and numbers go up, kyu rank start at a larger number and goes down to 1. So 1st kyu would be the final rank before shodan or 1st degree black belt.