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Paul_D
Paul_D's picture
Yudansha Fees

Never heard of these until recently, just wondered how common they were?

Wastelander
Wastelander's picture

Paul_D wrote:

Never heard of these until recently, just wondered how common they were?

I'm afraid this is a bit vague, so it's hard to say. What are you calling a "yudansha fee?" Are you talking about a fee to test for a dan rank? A fee for a yudansha to attend a class? A fee for having a dan rank recognized by an organization? A fee for not being respectful to a yudansha? :P

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

Paul_D wrote:
Never heard of these until recently, just wondered how common they were?

Never hear of that term before. I Googled it, and this webpage came up as number 1! If a new page asking “are they common?” is a top search, then the answer would seem to be that they are not common :-)  It would help to know what the term is referring to though in case another term is more widely used?

All the best,

Iain

Les Bubka
Les Bubka's picture

I know an organisation where you pay (Ithink) £60 per year if you are a yudansha, compare to £40 if you are a mudansha. Baically it is a tax on black belts :)

Kind regards 

Les

Heath White
Heath White's picture

Our org has a $50/yr charge to black belts to stay a member of the organization, plus a few hundred dollars (it varies by rank) for black belt testing.  I don't think it's that uncommon, but I guess I'd be interested to find out.

tubbydrawers
tubbydrawers's picture

Hi, we have the obvious black belt grading fee for either 1st, 2nd and above. As for yudansha fees, we have none. I organise yudansha training every month for our association and its free. If a black belt helps out at black belt gradings, or kyu gradings they get fed for free and usually if I organise a seminar the yudansha get a heavily reduced cost compared to the kyu grades. I'm even thinking of throwing an end of year yudansha pizza party for those who turned up over the year to the yudansha training, in December. Never been done before and that would be free. Association would pay.

Iain Abernethy
Iain Abernethy's picture

I can see why you may charge a higher fee for dan grades if there was extra training being put on for them. However, you would hope that if they are contributing back to the group in some way (i.e. teaching) then they would actually pay less; if anything at all. We’ve always had a policy of no fees at all for the dan grades regularly teaching. The other dan grades also don’t pay any more even though there are special sessions for them each week (they pay the same as all other members). It always a matter of what works for the group and the individuals that comprise it. I can’t see any reason for increased fees simple because one holds a dan grade though?

Paul – What do you mean when you say “yudansha fees?”

All the best,

Iain

Tau
Tau's picture

I know some groups don't charge at all for gradings. I respect that. I respect that there are many different ways to grade someone for the grade to still hold significance. I do charge for gradings. I've read that one sign of a McDojo is grading fees increasing with grade. Well mine do. But that's because the grading event costs more!

My method of club grading is that everyone starts together. After two hours the citrus belts finish. Another hour and the blues-and-purples finish. Another hour and the browns finish. And so on. So for each grading you're covering massive amounts of the syllabus from the first level. For this reason, there are more venue costs! And for the black belts I want a guest instructor and want to be able to cover (at least) their costs. And there are other costs such as certficates, belts and so on. As higher grades grade less often it actually works out cheaper overall.