fifth dan; 5th dan
Used in martial arts (judo, kendo, karate, etc.), board games (go, shogi), and other ranking systems to denote the fifth level of mastery.
He holds a fifth dan in judo.
Memorizing the conjugations of godan verbs is tough.
囲碁で五段を取るのは難しい。
It's difficult to achieve fifth dan in go.
In Japanese grammar 一段 (ichidan) and 五段 (godan) are the two contrasting categories of verb conjugation.
五 (five) + 段 (step, grade, row). The grammar sense comes from the five kana rows used in conjugation; the rank sense comes from the fifth step in a graded ranking system.