Re: A word on Time Trained and Ranking
About people outside of martial arts thinking that shodan = master. Indeed the numbers don't support that.
According to the 10000 hours rule, it takes about 10000 of study/training to become a master in some field. Translating that to education in some subject of higher learning, that would be like a PhD or assistant professor. Translating it to the game of chess, I think it would correspond to USCF Master. Translating it to the game of go, I think it would correspond to EGF 4th dan. In aikido it may correspond to 4th dan as well.
If shodan would require about 1500 hours of training as a guideline, it would be more like a sophomore (a student that has completed the first year of a higher education) than a master. I think in chess it corresponds to USCF class A and in go it would correspond to EGF shodan.
And 10000 is not the end of the scale. In education, you have full professors. In chess and go you have grandmasters. I estimate those people have invested about twice the effort of masters. With that kind of investment, it's just about one's life's work. I think in aikido it corresponds to shihan.
I think these numbers are reasonable guidelines, but talent, youth and teaching quality are important factors. A best case scenario (highly talented young students taught well) can halve these guideline training hours. A worst case scenario (untalented old students taught badly) can multiply them indefinitely.