The Name Dan in Japanese/Chinese on a Custom-Made Wall Scroll.

Click the "Customize" button next to your name below to start your personalized dan calligraphy artwork...


  1. Dan

  2. Ni-Dan

  3. Roku-Dan / 6th Degree Black Belt

  4. San-Dan

  5. Sho-Dan

  6. Yon-Dan

  7. Ichi-Dan / First Degree

  8. Go-Dan / 5th Degree Black Belt

  9. Nana-Dan / 7th Degree Black Belt


 dān
Dan Scroll

丹 is the most common transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the name Dan.

 dan
Dan Scroll

ダン is the name Dan in Japanese.


Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

 ni dan
Ni-Dan Scroll

二段 is a Japanese Kanji word that literally means “second degree.”

二段 is the second black belt rank in Japanese martial arts.

The first Kanji means two or second in Japanese.

The second Kanji means step, grade, rank, or level.


二段 can also be written as 弐段. This version just uses a more complicated Kanji for the number two.

Roku-Dan / 6th Degree Black Belt

 roku dan
Roku-Dan / 6th Degree Black Belt Scroll

六段 is the Japanese title for the 6th Degree or 6th Level.

This applies mostly to martial arts and earning the title of a 6th-degree black belt.

The first character is simply the number 6.
The second character is “dan” which is often translated as “degree” in the context of Japanese martial arts. 六段 means grade, rank, level. When a number is in front like this, it refers to a senior rank in martial arts or games of strategy such as go, shogi, chess, etc.

 san dan
San-Dan Scroll

三段 is a Japanese Kanji word that literally means “third degree.”

三段 is the third black belt rank in Japanese martial arts.

The first Kanji means three or third in Japanese.

The second Kanji means step, grade, rank, or level.

 sho dan
Sho-Dan Scroll

初段 is a Japanese Kanji word that literally means “beginning degree.”

初段 is the lowest black belt rank in Japanese martial arts and the game of Go.

The first Kanji means first, new, or beginning in Japanese.

Other ways to translate this title include “lowest grade” or “first grade.”

 yon dan
Yon-Dan Scroll

四段 is the title for 4th Dan, a rank used in many schools of Japanese martial arts.

Ichi-Dan / First Degree

 yī duàn
 ichi dan
Ichi-Dan / First Degree Scroll

In Japanese martial arts, this usually represents the first-degree black belt rank.

It can also be like a linguistic stair step of “more, much more, still more, all the more.” It can also be a step, rung, level, or rank.

Also sometimes used in the context of Buddhism to mean “first step” or “first stage.” This might presume the first step towards enlightenment etc.

Go-Dan / 5th Degree Black Belt

 go dan
Go-Dan / 5th Degree Black Belt Scroll

五段 represents the 5th Rank or 5th Degree (5th Degree of black belt) in Japanese martial arts.

This can also be the 5th rank in other fields such as chess play (Japanese “Go”) etc.

Nana-Dan / 7th Degree Black Belt

 nana dan
Nana-Dan / 7th Degree Black Belt Scroll

七段 represents the 7th Rank or 7th Degree (7th Degree of black belt) in Japanese martial arts.

This can also be the 7th rank in other fields such as chess play (Japanese “Go”) etc.


The following table may be helpful for those studying Chinese or Japanese...

Title CharactersRomaji (Romanized Japanese)Various forms of Romanized Chinese
Dandān / dan1 / dantan
Danダンdan
Ni-Dan二段ni dan / nidan
Roku-Dan
6th Degree Black Belt
六段roku dan / rokudan
San-Dan三段san dan / sandan
Sho-Dan初段sho dan / shodan
Yon-Dan四段yon dan / yondan
Ichi-Dan
First Degree
一段ichi dan / ichidanyī duàn / yi1 duan4 / yi duan / yiduani tuan / ituan
Go-Dan
5th Degree Black Belt
五段go dan / godan
Nana-Dan
7th Degree Black Belt
七段nana dan / nanadan
In some entries above you will see that characters have different versions above and below a line.
In these cases, the characters above the line are Traditional Chinese, while the ones below are Simplified Chinese.


Dictionary

Lookup Dan in my Japanese & Chinese Dictionary

All of our calligraphy wall scrolls are handmade.

When the calligrapher finishes creating your artwork, it is taken to my art mounting workshop in Beijing where a wall scroll is made by hand from a combination of silk, rice paper, and wood.
After we create your wall scroll, it takes at least two weeks for air mail delivery from Beijing to you.

Allow a few weeks for delivery. Rush service speeds it up by a week or two for $10!

When you select your calligraphy, you'll be taken to another page where you can choose various custom options.


A nice Chinese calligraphy wall scroll

The wall scroll that Sandy is holding in this picture is a "large size"
single-character wall scroll.
We also offer custom wall scrolls in small, medium, and an even-larger jumbo size.

A professional Chinese Calligrapher

Professional calligraphers are getting to be hard to find these days.
Instead of drawing characters by hand, the new generation in China merely type roman letters into their computer keyboards and pick the character that they want from a list that pops up.

There is some fear that true Chinese calligraphy may become a lost art in the coming years. Many art institutes in China are now promoting calligraphy programs in hopes of keeping this unique form of art alive.

Trying to learn Chinese calligrapher - a futile effort

Even with the teachings of a top-ranked calligrapher in China, my calligraphy will never be good enough to sell. I will leave that to the experts.

A high-ranked Chinese master calligrapher that I met in Zhongwei

The same calligrapher who gave me those lessons also attracted a crowd of thousands and a TV crew as he created characters over 6-feet high. He happens to be ranked as one of the top 100 calligraphers in all of China. He is also one of very few that would actually attempt such a feat.


Some people may refer to this entry as Dan Kanji, Dan Characters, Dan in Mandarin Chinese, Dan Characters, Dan in Chinese Writing, Dan in Japanese Writing, Dan in Asian Writing, Dan Ideograms, Chinese Dan symbols, Dan Hieroglyphics, Dan Glyphs, Dan in Chinese Letters, Dan Hanzi, Dan in Japanese Kanji, Dan Pictograms, Dan in the Chinese Written-Language, or Dan in the Japanese Written-Language.