Mitsunari Kanai was an aikido and iaido teacher born in Japan, who spent most of his teaching career in the United States. He was an 8th dan teacher with the title shihan in the organisation Aikikai.
The dan ranking system is used by many Japanese, Okinawan, Korean, and other martial arts organizations to indicate the level of a person's ability within a given system. Used as a ranking system to q
Shogi
Diploma of 7th dan in Japanese kendo
Black belt, wadō-ryū karate
Some Korean martial art schools use embroidered bars to denote different dan ranks, as shown on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd dan belts above.