I was reading this recent article by Kacem Zoughari so called well known Japanese History and Martial Arts researcher and practitioner.

http://ruhadojo.blogs.se/2010/03/01/...aiden-8097775/

Combat: So talking about menkyo and menkyo kaiden, we often see people claiming such things. Could you tell us something about that please and what kind of documentation and licensing should traditionally go with such titles.

KZ: This is a very good question. Actually I’ve dealt with it in my thesis, and it takes me around 20 pages and 50 footnotes.
20 pages and 50 footnotes later he says this

Kaiden means “stairs”, so menkyo kaiden can be understood as the certificate of all the different levels of the school.
Kaidan 階段 stairs

Kaiden 皆伝 initiation into an art or discipline