Just wanted to share my good news and a pic of me taken on Sunday (8/31) at Hombu.
This is me, holding my 1st dan black belt certificate. It was a bit intimidating to jump from the local doin for the kyu tests, to hombu, and see all the gold shoulder patches. YIKES! But it was a great experience and I look forward to the next dan test!!!
It was kind of cool to have it presented by So Yuki at Hombu.
But I enjoyed it more last night, amongst the boxes and papers (we are in the process of moving- our doin is being destroyed and replaced with a new one), at our doin when our doin master Kubo-sensei presented us (training partner and I) with our newly earned black obi.
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Rob,
I remember you telling me that you were not allowed to take part in randori as part of your exam because you were over 40. In my case (also over 40), we are given the option, "don't have to but can if you want". (I did) I have also heard though that if there are an "odd number of partners" or too many examinees, that people over 40 will be told that they cannot do it. (I am not sure whether the rules are different for overseas kenshi, ???)
Cheers
Peter