HOW DO YOU BECOME A 7th DAN? DON'T DIE! | ROBERT MUSTARD SHIHAN 

Say it like it is! Love this guy :)

This has been a great series of videos, I've really enjoyed how honest he (and you of course) have been

Another great video Dunken. Some may disagree with me but I believe (right or wrong) that the original martial arts were Family oriented and each Family taught a Style, and you joined that style and became part of that dojo and dedicated to that Family/Style - no ranks, just long hard training. Then along came the Americans and said 'We are the king of badges! You need badges.... and coloured belts too, and videos and magazines. So we can sell you grades and make money.' Gotta love those industrious Americans. This brought on the decay of traditional martial arts and they became Modernised. In the USA bigger is better. You need lots of members and lots of clubs and therefore lots of instructors to show your club prosperity, and all this pivots on the greenback. Dilute the teaching hirearchy and you need belts, gradings, a syllabus, to measure progress. This is where it all starts to fan out. More clubs, lower ranked teachers, lower expectations... which brings me to my point. Time on Distance. To begin you need to put in some HOURS and show some ABILITY, over time you knock off a few ranks and you can add KNOWLEDGE. We get to the Dan grades by now. You still need these 3 aspects bust as you get to Nidan - Sandan the HOURS get replaced by YEARS so ABILITY+YEARS+KNOWLEDGE = GRADE. By Sandan most practitioners are teaching so we begin to add CONTRIBUTION and as we get to YONDAN ability falls behind Knowledge (Do less, Less is more). There is no need to kick up to 6ft high anymore there are easier ways and better techniques that require less exertion on the old body. So along comes GODAN. Hours and Ability gives way to KNOWLEDGE+CONTRIBUTION+DEDICATION = GRADE. As Shihan Robert said "You want to reach Shihan, don't die. This is the crux of the matter, how do you grade 5th-8th dans? Many have historic injuries compounded by arthritis or damaged joints and the inevitable 'old age'. You can't be expected to be as fit and agile as you were in your 20's and 30's but DEDICATION now sets the bar. The best player in the All Blacks isn't the Coach, it might be the Captain, but everyone listens and respects the Coach because of the years of dedication and knowledge they posses. I believe that judging senior kodansha should be done on YEARS/HOURS i.e are you doing 2 hours a week or 10, your LINEAGE = who were your sensei, who taught them, do you have roots back to Japan or a teacher who studied in Japan. CONTRIBUTION: do you still run clubs, attend seminars, take gradings, teach by example. DEDICATION: have they put the effort in above and beyond self-betterment but rather to other students and teachers. That to me is a Shihan. It's a cumulative result, not just "I started in 1980 and I have done martial arts for 30 years so I deserve 6th dan."

A big shout out to Robert Shihan for taking time to contribute to the channel.

I absolutely fully agree with this

Rank inflation exists outside martial arts too, believe me! anything that involves power and money gets exploited.

Once again a forthright and open opinion. refreshing.

Bang on the money! or should I say "Follow the money", because that's what causes this, rank = $$ in the long term either for the individual or the organisation.

fascinating stuff, what an interesting guy

honesty is the best policy, but not always easy to do

Thank you, starting to understand a bit about the aikido culture and the different schools. Loved the explanation of rank vs ability and how to recognise them.

👍🥋

So the grade inflation wasn't the most staggering part of this for me. It was the details of the approach by the linked group. I knew that kind of thing happened but still, that's astonishing.

There are positives and negatives in joining a 'larger internationally recognized' organization. Once I tried to participate in a seminar but was rejected because I wasn't a member of the organization... and when I tried to find out what's the requirements to join, well you have to pay so that the shodan will be recognized... I'm still considering to do this though... so that I have more options to join the seminars...but still not sure..

As one of those guys who can't get to my dojo more than a few times a week, this interview kinda wrenches at me. I respect Mustard Sensei hugely, but I almost feel like I am doing Aikido a disservice by turning up to my dojo, even if I have intent and purpose. In your opinion, is it worth training at all if a student can't commit full time?

First! Also, I'm pretty sure you still need to be alive to achive every rank lol