The grading system in Shindo pertains to the study of Shinseido and the classical martial arts. It does not apply to the Project 5 system, which has its own qualifications. Nor does it apply to the practice of Shiatsu, Qi Gong or any other related disciplines.
Shindo uses a grading structure similar to many oriental martial arts. A differentiation is made between teacher, practitioner and student levels. During training students wear a coloured belt to denote their current grade, practitioners and teachers wear a black belt. Students who have yet to be assessed for the first time wear a white belt. Student ranks are known by the Japanese term as kyu ranks. They are separated into 3 categories as follows.
| Competency Level | Grade | Belt colour | Minimum training time |
| Foundation | 9th kyu | Red |
50 hours / 3 months |
| 8th kyu | Orange |
100 hours / 6 months |
|
| 7th kyu | Yellow |
150 hours / 9 months |
|
| Intermediate | 6th kyu | Green |
200 hours / 12 months |
| 5th kyu | Blue |
300 hours / 16 months |
|
| 4th kyu | Purple |
400 hours / 20 months |
|
| Higher | 3rd kyu | Brown |
500 hours / 24 months |
| 2nd kyu | Brown & White |
600 hours / 28 months |
|
| 1st kyu | White & Brown |
700 hours / 32 months |
|
| Practitioner | 1st dan | Black |
1000 hours / 36 months |
Students should understand that achieving grades is not the purpose of studying Shindo. Grades are simply intended to give students an indication of their progress in the art. Even the 'coveted' black belt should not be seen as something special or different. It is not an end-point. Rather it indicates that the student has now reached a certain level of competency. There is still much to learn. Indeed the learning process should never end, no matter how long or diligently a person has been studying Shindo.
Unlike many systems Shindo does not necessarily have fixed criteria for each grade. Different teachers may choose to examine students on different material. Likewise, one teacher may examine different students on different material, depending on what they perceive the needs of the student to be. However the material chosen for each assessment is likely to consist of some combination of the following: