[seienchin]

With Sublimo celebrating hard earned success, it gave me pause to reflect on the very high attrition rate in Kyokushin. My sensei used to say that 1 in every 1000 students who commence will make it to shodan, and only 1 out of 100 who make it to shodan will do nidan.

What is the experience of others here?

for those of you nidan and above, what kept you going once you had finally achieved your goal of "black-belt" - if indeed that was your original goal?

Alternatively, if you have stopped grading, but kept training, why is that?

Do many of you still have shodan-ho (where the real grade of shodan, including belt and certificate) is awarded only after a further year of training. The shodan-ho is allowed to wear a generic blackbelt. After proving his/her ongoing dedication, a certificate and personalised belt are presented.