Where did the Myth of the Black Belt start?

[pineapple]

I've encountered numerous non martial artists who had no idea that there were different degrees of black belts so to them, all black belts were at the same level of skill.

[CapitalKarate]

I guess I misunderstodd what he was asking. O well.

[KarateChick06]

CQG -- your belt system ideas seem very realistic to me. I know I've gotten much more aggressive as brown belt. Haha.

[Samurai Shotokan]

So any real black belts get flak from people? Like after thier grading.No wonder why McDojos Florish because people want to training for very little time and say im a black belt making me a fighting machine otherwise McDojos wouldnt exist today or ever but people want the end and not the means.

Yeah people can be really misinformed. like my friend asks if they taught the five point palm heart explode technique so i tell yeah its the first thing we learn so he will shut up.Or how the watch UFC and read a few articles on Martial Arts and think they know everything but it really means nothing.All they know is what Ian Malcom said in Jurassic Park where he sees the dinosaurs "droppings"

[Skeptic 2004]

I believe the belt ranking system orginated with some judo grandmaster (this is what I've read, not sure if it's true).

Yes, this is actually correct. Jigoro Kano introduced the ranking system in Judo to identify the lesser skilled students from the more skilled students, so he wouldn't inadvertently pair up a highly skilled student with a beginner when they would free fight (randori) and have the beginner get his butt thrashed. It was also an incentive based system to encourage his students to train hard. Gichin Funakoshi borrowed Kano's ranking system and introduced it to Shotokan; this was how kyu and dan rank was first introduced into karate.

Originally, there was no rank in karate. The closest thing to rank in karate before Kano was sempai-ship (mentor-mentee, elder-junior, etc). You trained with a master. After a LONG period of training with him/when he felt you were qualified he gave you a menkyo kaiden (or some other teaching certificate), you went and opened up your own school and the cycle began again.

History lesson aside, I've always had this dislike of the ranking system anyway. I've mentioned this in another post, but I'd like to throw out there at the expense of sounding cheesy that a blackbelt means absolutely nothing. With this in mind, people's ignorance concerning it shouldn't test your patience. If anything, it should be comedic.

[Sauzin]

I have to dissagree with CQC here, at least as there is a large difference in the arts I have seen and practiced. In most Okinawan styles it goes something like this.

White belt - You walk in the dojo and you get this belt. It means you are there assuming you know nothing about what is being taught and are completely open to instruction and learning how to learn. Technically all color belts are a white belt and represent these same aspects.

Yellow belt - You've managed to take your first steps toward being a student.

Green belt - You are well on your way to being a student and have at this point learned to keep up with the class well enough not to need special tutelage to do so. You are helping other white belts with their first steps.

Brown & Purple belts - You are training for your black belt. You are nearing the final steps of learning how to be a student. You make a great uke, and are given this honor often. Things are starting to make sense on their own, without having to have it explained though you are still open to instruction. You are beginning to realize just how little you know. You are a leader among the other white belts.

Shodan (Beginning Black Belt) - At this point you are officially a student of your art though you have just begun. Traditionally the testing for this belt is the hardest test because it is designed to leave you with an accurate impression of just how little you know. Gaining this knowledge is the beginning of really moving forward. Application is often the focus of this rank.

Nidan (2nd Black Belt) - At this point you are an intermediate student. You have begun to flesh out your art and work on the areas you learned you didn't know when you made shodan. And there's a lot of them. Theory is often the focus of this rank.

Sandan (3rd Black Belt) - At this point you are an advanced student. At this point you should begin to feel that the art you practice is more your own. The shoe should fit at this point and it should begin to evolve to who you are. Learning how to teach is often the focus of this rank. And sandans often teach under the more laxed tutelage of a qualified instructor.

YonDan - Godan (4th-5th Black Belt) - At this point you are a teacher. You find ways to contribute to your school and art overall. You continue to learn by teaching, protecting, propagating, and developing your arts legacy

RokuDan and beyond - These ranks are given to karate-ka that have devoted their lives and provided significant contributions to their respective arts. Often seen as more political then skill related, these ranks denote status, contributions, hierarchy, and sometimes a longstanding proficiency in rear end kissing .

Redbelts are not worn by color belts in most Okinawan arts. In Okinawan arts, redbelts are worn by 9th -10th degree blackbelts and are reserved for grand masters of a given art. Rumor has it that the red belt began to show up in korean color belt systems as a insult to the old Japanese masters.

The major difference here is Okinawan arts see obtaining a black belt as a beginning not an end. There are a lot of people out there who drop out upon reaching Shodan thinking they've been given the full course when in fact this is when it starts in Okinawan arts. This may be something that has evolved differently in other arts and may be an area of confusion for some.

[Shorin Ryuu]

A lot of people have said a lot of what I wanted to say.

Basically, the tradition of seriously wearing belts in karate is less than a hundred years, and it is even less recent in the more Okinawan styles. Many of them didn't really start doing it full-time until after Chibana Chosin started to do so or even more so after his death (he was considered one of the last "old masters" and was the head of one of the larger Okinawan inter-style karate organizations at the time). In most traditional schools on Okinawa, shodan really did (and still does) mean absolutely nothing, nor are the tests really hard.

I think part of the build up in the mystique surrounding the black belt, in addition to the other things mentioned, is the huge emphasis and overly rigorous black belt grading tests in many places such as the States. Having a day long, two day long or weekend long testing where most of the time spent is doing push-ups or techniques past the point of exhaustion doesn't test your technique or understanding of the martial arts. All it does is test your mental limits, perhaps discipline, blah blah blah. All fine and good, but making such a large milestone test out of something as insignificant as shodan contributes to the current perception. Sure, if you want to test someone's character and discipline, do it in class, not at some specific test. By associating a specific rank with such a large (for many people) hardship during a test, you mix in the minds of students and others the concept of overcoming a large physical hurdle with the concept of achieving great martial skill.

[Sam]

Wow, that was a really good post Shorin Ryuu;

I dont agree that thats necessarily true in all martial arts (about shodan meaning practically nothing) but you did use Okinawan styles of Karate as an example - so i guess you're not generalising.

I do definitely agree that there is too much emphasis put on the physical endurance of the test rather than the skill or knowledge of the practitioner.

[pineapple]

In most traditional schools on Okinawa, shodan really did (and still does) mean absolutely nothing, nor are the tests really hard.

Shorin Ryuu, This is an interesting statement. Can you tell me where you got this information??

[Skeptic 2004]

Shorin Ryuu is pretty correct about belt tests and belts in Okinawa with regards to karate. My current instructor trained with Chibana in the 1960s, and he described a typical belt test with Chibana as follows: Chibana called you up and asked you to do a kata or two. He watched. If he liked it, he gave you your new rank. If not, he told you to go practice more. For higher dan ranks (yondan and above), you did the same thing, except in front of Chibana and some of his senior students or a board of visiting teachers.

To our understanding, this has not changed much. Shorin Ryuu and I have had the fortune of training with several nanadans who tested in Okinawa; their description of their belt tests is very similar to what Chibana was doing forty years ago.

As far as shodans being meaningless in Okinawa, according to the senior individuals we've managed to be in contact with they pretty much are for all intents and purposes. Shodan gets your foot in the door if you want to visit a dojo - maybe. That's about it. Shorin Ryuu and I were trying to plan a trip to Okinawa to go train when we were told that we'd be largely ignored or rebuffed as shodans unless we had a letter from someone senior (i.e., a nanadan or better). There's no reverence (or much respect for that matter) for your skills just because you're a black belt. It's similar to turning 18; sure you're legal, but no adult takes you seriously.

As Shorin Ryuu said, strenuous days long exercise in order to surmount some mental/physical plateau for belt promotion is a largely Western ideal. To those who wish to cite Masutatsu Oyama, bear in mind his weekend retreats to the mountains to beat the heck out of himself and his students was something he largely did for fun and because he felt it was good training; to my knowledge I'm not even sure he conducted belt tests during his beat downs.