WapCaplet Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 Ah yes, the wonderful "Revenue Rainbow". I think I first heard that term on Rob Redmond's old 24 Fighting Chickens website (sadly, gone now). As far as I can tell, the color belt system exists for two reasons: 1) We like to know how we're doing. It takes YEARS to master a martial art (or DECADES!). And we've been taught from birth that it's important to know how we are doing, how we measure up (to everyone else) on a regular basis. Without the color belt system, most people would probably constantly pester their sensei with questions like "How am I doing?", "Am I better than so-and-so?", "Can you see an improvement?", "Do you think I could kick your butt yet?", and so on. Interestingly, this tends to be a more 'western' philosophy. I suspect that many 'eastern' martial arts students don't really care about belt ranking and just wear the white until their instructor gives them a black belt, which usually takes many years. 2) The second reason for the belt system, and we all know it, is money. Dojos get to charge you money for each grading you attempt, sometimes charging you more if you pass. Ooh, and they get to sell you a nice new belt too. Most of us don't mind this because of reason number 1 above; we like to know how we are doing and we like to know how we measure up with everyone else. Although it's a good excuse to say that many belt colors exist because there is so much to learn, the truth is the more color belts there are, the more money the dojo makes. But, that's not necissarily a bad thing either. Most dojos don't make tons of money and our grading fees help support the club and keep the training available. Anyway, there's my 2 cents. For what it's worth, the belts in my Shotokan club are: white - yellow - orange - green - 1st purple - 2nd purple - 1st brown - 2nd brown - 3rd brown - red - black (1st Dan through 10th Dan) Wap "Fighting fighting. Same Same""But you know karate!""Someone always know more..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlienRage Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 Wow! I like that, AlienRage How long at each belt? I'm guessing a year or two, right? yeah, about. it takes longer as you go up the ranks. white to green tip is a couple months. green tip to green takes a little longer. green to brown tip has a 50 class requirement before promotion. brown tip to brown has a higher class requirement, etc. so, depending on how often you take classes, it could take anywhere from i think 3 years or more to reach 1st degree black belt. 3 years would mean working EXTREMELY hard, however. i like this system too...it takes a lot of emphasis off belts, and testing is always optional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaidenTB Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 Our belt system goes like this: white I white II white III yellow orange green blue brown black ... Imagination is more important than knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngelaG Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 My style goes: White Orange 12 kyu Orange - 11 kyu Yellow 10 kyu Yellow - 9 kyu Blue 8 kyu Blue - 7 kyu, Green 6 kyu Green - 5 kyu Purple 4D kyu Purple -- 4C kyu Purple -- - 4B kyu Purple -- -- 4A kyu Purple -- -- - 3D kyu Purple -- -- -- 3C kyu Purple -- -- -- - 3B kyu, Purple -- -- -- -- 3A kyu Brown 2D kyu Brown -- 2C kyu Brown -- - 2B kyu Brown -- -- 2A kyu Brown -- -- - 1D kyu Brown -- -- -- 1C kyu Brown -- -- -- - 1B kyu Brown -- -- -- -- 1A kyu Black Then 8 levels of black belt. Do you have to pass through every belt to get to black? Do you have to pay for grading? If so, how much does it set you back? What sort of time scale are you looking at to get to black belt? What sort of difference are you looking at with a 3D Kyu as compared to a 3C Kyu... surely the differences are very minor? Sorry about all the questions... just curious. My school's system is: White Orange Red Yellow Green Purple Purple/White Brown Brown/White Brown/2 White Black - up to 10th Dan Tokonkai Karate-do Instructorhttp://www.karateresource.com Kata, Bunkai, Articles, Reviews, History, Uncovering the Myths, Discussion Forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XxpengwynxX Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 Do you have to pass through every belt to get to black? Do you have to pay for grading? If so, how much does it set you back? What sort of time scale are you looking at to get to black belt? What sort of difference are you looking at with a 3D Kyu as compared to a 3C Kyu... surely the differences are very minor? Sorry about all the questions... just curious.Yes you have to pass thru all the belts. But if you're an adult you don't test for Purple 4D & 4C. You go right to 4B. And same for the brown. Because adults learn faster or something. Yes, its about 15$. You get to black in about 6-ish years. Yea, the differences in the Purple and Browns are minor. But it's harder than the lower ranks because the things you're learning. Even though there are less between belts, they're very different. In the lower ranks, things focus normally on the same things. Like good stances and proper techniques and stuff like that. The higher ranks are how you exicute it. But I guess that's the same for everyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ramymensa Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 17 exams (if we count only the A and * from purple and brown). This is double the "usual" number of exams. Seems kinda much to me, but if it's OK with the people in your dojo, than it really is The downside would be the cost, almost doubled. The good thing is that frequent and many exams don't leave time to relax. When you test in 1 year time you tend to be a bit relaxed the first period, especially after taking an exam. Testing in few months keeps you training hard, because you know you've got an exam in little time. The stress can be good and motivating as well as a tormenting experience. Many pros and cons for this, but as I wrote before, you are the ones to decide what's good for you 6 years to BB sounds realistic to me ... World Shotokan Karate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chibi Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 When I studied Hakko-ryu we had ; white black purple In the style I'm studying now, Setku-do, we have white blue yellow green brown black Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aefibird Posted July 27, 2004 Share Posted July 27, 2004 When I studied Hakko-ryu we had ; white black purple Chibi, did students recieve their purple after getting black or was that a typo? As far as I know, most styles have all their coloured belts before getting black (except for red & white or red & black etc Masters belts) "Was it really worth it? Only time and death may ever tell..." The Beautiful South - The Rose of My CologneSheffield Steelers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chibi Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 aefibird, in Japan purple is the colour of royalty, and because of this the founder of Hakko-ryu decided on purple for the highest level. I think Hakko-ryu gives coloured belts in America, but in Japan coloured belts aren't used. Purple is given for the rank of Shihan and above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aefibird Posted July 28, 2004 Share Posted July 28, 2004 OK, thanks. "Was it really worth it? Only time and death may ever tell..." The Beautiful South - The Rose of My CologneSheffield Steelers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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