i used to trin shotokan for a year or 2 and then switched to wado-ryu and the belt systems were almost identical and also i did aikido and jujitsu and all mentions had a irst belt as red. i never came across any class that had red before black apart from tikwando. i did not know that i guess it makes sense tho as like you siad light to dark is rule of thumb and red is an add ball http://www.cobrakarateclub.com