-uRs-Hawkeye

Umm, I guess I'll throw in a $.02 worth. I believe that within a particular system, all the katas should be taught, learned and practiced the same way. Now, with that being said, each student should develop his/her own understanding of each one. That may mean that the katas come out a little different in the end for each one, but everyone knows the same katas in the same way initially. (Did that make sense to anyone?) Take Toyama for an example. Two systems sprang from his teaching. The students he trained were trained in the same way, but went on later to interpret the training differently. (You shudokan stylists should get my meaning best here.) But when you get down to it, people would say "You've been trained by Toyama? Well then prove it, show me _____ kata." Then you would be expected to perform it like he taught it. (ie, not your "interpretation")

Okay, thoses were pretty good answers. As for asking my sensei, I have lost contact with him recently and don't know when we will re-establish. He is shichidan and wears a solid black belt, as does our GM. I understand that other colors are pretty much ceremonial occasions and so they wouldn't be what they would normally wear around the dojo. I was just curious because I ran across a few that I hadn't seen before. Thanks for the help, everyone!

OSU! Hello everyone. I am new to these forums and I have a question. I have done an exhaustive search (well, okay I'm kinda tired) but I can't find much good information on what the various yudansha colored belts are. (ie, red/white, red/black, black/white, etc.) Could anyone explain what ranks get which belts, or point me to a place that already has an answer to this? Thank You very much in advance.