Washing your obi/belt?

[A. Orstrom]

Hello fellow karateka and others.

 

I have heard that there is a superstition in karate that if you wash your belt all of your sweat, hard work and ability will be washed out with the water and you will lose your karate skills.

 

What is your take on this? Do you wash your belt? If you don't wash your belt is it because of respect for the tradition or because you are afraid that there is a hint of truth in the story?

 

Also, is this a karate-only superstition or is it shared by other MAs?

 

Osu!

 

(Please accept my apologies if this has been covered before.)

[Shorin Ryuu]

Well, seeing how the belt system in karate is less than a hundred years old, it'd have to be a pretty new superstition.

 

I've never even heard of it, to be honest. I've never washed mine because it seemed tacky (There are those who wash their belts to make them appear older and more worn out). I wear my belt because it is an organizational thing, but I don't have any especial attachment to it (certainly not through a reverence for "tradition", which is often misunderstood or misrepresented, especially in karate).

[traz]

I don't wash my belt because my belt never gets dirty.

[smr]

If you've ever pulled your belt out of your bag the night after an intense workout, and it's still sopping wet, then you'll understand why you should wash your belt.

[Kieran-Lilith]

There's one boy in our dojo who washed his yellow belt....it looks more like a white belt now, and Sensei said to let that be a lesson the the rest of the belts. I think the kid was in trouble, too. Not to mention the kids who forget their belts three classes in a row....

[vertigo]

I have heard of this superstition, but in my dojo, I think its just more of a joke... "Don't wash your belt or else! ;)"

 

I have never washed my belt though... never seen a reason to. I've thought about running my belt through a dryer though, to break it in a little bit more.. but I probably won't... it'll get broken in eventually.

[pineapple]

We are taught that your belt represents your knowledge so washing your belt means that you're washing away your knowledge.

 

We don't believe that this actually happens but we don't wash our belts out of respect for our system's tradition.

[Kempohands]

Pineapple, I heard that in Kajukenbo when high-ranking black belts go up in rank they are struck with the belts of the highest level grandmasters of the system, does this have anything to do with "transmiting" knowledge? I don't know if this is what is done, but some of the students at my school say that when my Professor recieved his 8th DAN in Vegas in '04 he was struck with the ranks of the grandmasters above him. I never asked him, so I'm not 100% sure if this is true. Let me know, thanks (oh and congrats again on member of the month).

[Harmony]

I respect others traditions, but to me the belt at any color is just a symbol to remind us of the level we have achieved in self understanding and technical prowess. What Ive become through training, no belt can encompass, wash it or not, wear it or not, not important to me. Theyre just adornments that accompany the learning process on the the way to my main goal, and that is to be the best fighter I can be, and survive the best I can.

[ShotokanKid]

You're not supposed to wash your belt but I did when I was a white belt. I stopped doing that long ago. It makes the belt softer.