A lot of people had gathered at the headquarters of the Dutch HKD Federation in IJsselstein to witness the dan test of their family, friends or students. In total 17 people tested for a dan rank. Eight people tested successfully for their first dan. The test for second dan was completed by three persons while one student tested for his third dan. At the higher dans three instructors tested for fifth dan and two others for sixth.
Yudanja
Yudanja is the Korean term for a person with a black belt rank. Your first dan test is probably the most excited one. The moment you have worked for so long as finally arrived. The preparations paid off and we welcome Lisa, Albert, Mike, Hans, Jan, Leon, Rutger and Peter to our yudanja.
Ruben, David and Justin tested successfully for their second dan. Master Ko Baek-yong wasn’t easy on them and made them work hard to get their second grade. The same was true for Levi who tested for his third dan.
Jidoja
Jidoja in Korean means masters. It is quite common in other organisations to use the title master and great master. However our federation is often quite different from other organisations and we prefer to use the term instructors, with master Ko Baek-yong being our head-instructor. Jidoja are those people who have a long record of training and teaching. Our newest jidoja are Evert, Jelle and Paulus who passed the technical test for fifth dan. Jenne and Edith passed the technical test for sixth dan.
Students who test for fourth dan and up are also required to write an essay. They will be upgraded to their next rank after the essays have been graded.
More photos can be found on the website of the Dutch HKD Federation.