Around the 1920's. the KYU/Dan system was adopted into Shotokan.

This system used colored belts as an indication of rank. Originally, Karate had only 3 obi (belt) colours, white, brown and black, with several ranks within each. Here is the original belt system, still used by Shotokan Karate of America.

• Ungraded: white
• 8th kyu: 4th kyu: white
• 3rd kyu: 1st kyu: brown
• dan grades: black

Most schools use the kyu/dan system but have added other colours. The most common, used by the most large mainstream, international Shotokan associations (including Shotokan 2000) is given below but other variations exist.

• 9th kyu: Red
• 8th kyu: Orange
• 7th kyu: Yellow
• 6th kyu: Green
• 5th kyu: Purple
• 4th kyu: Purple/white
• 3rd kyu: Brown
• 2nd kyu: 2nd Brown
• 1st kyu: Brown/white
• 1st dan and above: Black