, literally meaning "beginning degree," is the lowest black belt

Black belt (martial arts)

In martial arts, the black belt is a way to describe a graduate of a field where a practitioner's level is often marked by the color of the belt. The black belt is commonly the highest belt color used and denotes a degree of competence. It is often associated with a teaching grade though...

 rank in Japanese martial arts

Japanese martial arts

Japanese martial arts refers to the enormous variety of martial arts native to Japan. At least three Japanese terms are often used interchangeably with the English phrase "Japanese martial arts": , literally meaning "martial way", , which has no perfect translation but means something like science,...

 and the game of Go. The 2nd dan is higher than Shodan, but the 1st dan is called Shodan traditionally and the 1st dan is not called "Ichidan". This is because the character 初 (sho, alternative pronunciation: hatsu) also means first, new or beginning in Japanese

Japanese writing system

The modern Japanese writing system uses three main scripts:*Kanji, adopted Chinese characters*Kana, a pair of syllabaries , consisting of:...

.

Also frequently referred to as "first dan", it is a part of the kyū

Kyu

is a Japanese term used in martial arts, chadō, ikebana, go, shogi such as Japanese traditional culture, and academic tests and in other similar activities to designate various grades or levels or class of proficiency or experience...

/dan ranking system common to modern Japanese martial arts

Gendai Budo

, meaning "modern martial way", are modern Japanese martial arts which were established after the Meiji Restoration . Koryū are the opposite: ancient martial arts established before the Meiji Restoration.-Scope and tradition:...

. The term may be used to describe both the rank a person holds, as well as the person (i.e., it is proper to say that a person holds the rank of shodan, and it is also appropriate to say, "I am a shodan in 'x' martial art").