# Origins of the Japanese "S-Rank"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 25, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265 "2007-06-25T01:03:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/1 "2007-06-25T01:03:36Z")
Everyone who has played some Japanese console games and watched anime knows that if you do well you get an A-Rank, but if you do something near perfect it’s considered S-Rank.
But why S? And where did they get that from?
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### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/2 "2007-06-25T01:43:29Z")
I always figured that it stood for “super,” or perhaps “sugureru” (excellent).
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/3 "2007-06-25T01:44:41Z")
Perhaps A-rank is for “Amachua” (amateur) and S-rank is for “Shihan” (master)?
There’s really no reason for them to pick “A” as the lower rank just because we begin our alphabet (and therefore our alphabet-inspired lists) with it.
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### Author:  [@archmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/archmichael)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2007, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/4 "2007-06-25T03:06:10Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay]
Perhaps A-rank is for “Amachua” (amateur) and S-rank is for “Shihan” (master)?
There’s really no reason for them to pick “A” as the lower rank just because we begin our alphabet (and therefore our alphabet-inspired lists) with it.
[/QUOTE]
Things is the ABCD ranks are just rated just like we would.
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### Author:  [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2007, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/5 "2007-06-25T13:55:26Z")
My understanding was that in Japanese schools the top grade you can get is “S.” I have no cite, however.
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### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/6 "2007-06-25T15:10:47Z")
[QUOTE=awldune]
My understanding was that in Japanese schools the top grade you can get is “S.” I have no cite, however.
[/QUOTE]
Nope. Or at least, all of the public schools I taught at used numbers (1-5 scale, iirc), and given the centralized nature of the Japanese school system, it’s most likely standardized.
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### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2007, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/7 "2007-06-26T05:59:04Z")
Googling turns up a lot of references to the Naruto series: in that anime/manga/game S-Class criminals are scariest.
I see from [this site](http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2401) that the allies sorted Japanese WWII era war criminals into Classes A, B and C. There’s even some controversy involving public figures who visit shrines connected with Class A criminals.
Pure speculation: manga authors wanted something beyond “Class A”, which was both familiar and tainted. Settling on “S Class” may have merely been a matter of alliteration.
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### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2007, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/8 "2007-06-26T06:24:46Z")
[QUOTE=Measure for Measure]
Googling turns up a lot of references to the Naruto series: in that anime/manga/game S-Class criminals are scariest.
I see from [this site](http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2401) that the allies sorted Japanese WWII era war criminals into Classes A, B and C. There’s even some controversy involving public figures who visit shrines connected with Class A criminals.
Pure speculation: manga authors wanted something beyond “Class A”, which was both familiar and tainted. Settling on “S Class” may have merely been a matter of alliteration.
[/QUOTE]
Interesting idea, but seems very unlikely to me. The ranking system used (most often in video games rather than manga or anime) mimics the American grade system, going down to F (and skipping E). Also, saying something is Class A in Japan does not carry a negative connotation.
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### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2007, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/9 "2007-06-26T06:32:33Z")
The Japanese wikipedia article on the letter S says that it stands for “special” or “superior”, although it doesn’t give any kind of citation.
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### Author:  [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2007, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/10 "2007-06-26T08:47:33Z")
[QUOTE=cckerberos]
Nope. Or at least, all of the public schools I taught at used numbers (1-5 scale, iirc), and given the centralized nature of the Japanese school system, it’s most likely standardized.
[/QUOTE]
[Here’s an example](http://www.mi.sanno.ac.jp/station/sac/result.html) of an university that uses the S-A-B-C-D-F ranking system. [Here’s another.](http://muse.tuad.ac.jp/docs/grading/grading_j.html)
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### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2007, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/11 "2007-06-26T11:07:46Z")
[QUOTE=jovan]
[Here’s an example](http://www.mi.sanno.ac.jp/station/sac/result.html) of an university that uses the S-A-B-C-D-F ranking system. [Here’s another.](http://muse.tuad.ac.jp/docs/grading/grading_j.html)
[/QUOTE]
Interesting. I was only referring to secondary education, but your post makes me wonder about Japanese universities. At the one I’m currently studying at there is no S rank for grades.
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### Author:  [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2007, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/12 "2007-06-26T13:53:04Z")
[The Wife](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=426324) says that one of the universities she teaches at uses S as the top grade and the other uses A. Tokyo University (where she got her masters and is getting her PhD) uses kanji and not ABCs for grades.
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### Author:  [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2007, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/13 "2007-06-26T13:57:38Z")
Just to complicate things further, if there is a rank beyond “S” on Japanese games, it’s usually “SS”.
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### Author:  [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)
#### Post date: [June 26, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origins-of-the-japanese-s-rank/409265/14 "2007-06-26T15:52:53Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold]
Just to complicate things further, if there is a rank beyond “S” on Japanese games, it’s usually “SS”.
[/QUOTE]
That one’s pretty easy to understand, I think. I assume that just as the Japanese write LL for XL size (and LLL for XXL), the additional S is just show that it’s even more superior.