Black belts, white belts, purple belts, polka dot belts: There are a lot of different ways to rank someone according to martial art skill. Each art has its own methods. Karate, the mainstay art that many folks are familiar with, ranks from white belt to black and then different degrees of black, per MMA Channel. Aikido has a similar system but with fewer ranks overall, as the official Japanese Aikikai Foundation website depicts. Brazilian jiu-jitsu uses a highly stratified system that is also dependent on age, as the North American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation says. Within each art, ranking can also change depending on schools of thought and practice.
In the end, we've usually got pre-black belt ranks and black belt ranks. Pre-black belt ranks count from a higher number down to one, and then black belt ranks start with one and rise from there. As sites like Goju Karate explains, pre-black belt ranks are "kyu" ranks, and black belt ranks are "dan" ranks. So fifth kyu in karate — or "go-kyu" if we're using proper Japanese — is kind of intermediate, pre-black belt level. Shodan (first dan) is the lowest black belt level, godan (fifth dan) is an intermediate black belt level, judan (10th dan) is an ultra-mega-master rank, and so forth.
And hanshi? This also goes back to the Japanese language, which is where lots of martial arts — judo, kendo, aikido, karate, etc. — come from.
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