What's After Black Belt?

[patusai]

If you look at MA as swimming, Shodan means that you graduated and that you can finally leave the kiddy pool and enter the shallow end of the big pool You learned to keep you head above water, don't swallow the water, don't breathe the water in your nose and have a basic sense of comfort in the water Just MO

[ps1]

cheeks wrote:

so what else is there...?

bleedinglion wrote:

How bout you get there and let me know?

I really enjoyed reading this Bleedinglion. Attempting to explain it would be overly ambitious of you. Sorry Cheeks. You just won't understand until you get there. Then you'll see how naive you seem.

[ps1]

btw...good analogy patusai

[jaymac]

Black Belt is definitely not the end, but it differs from person to person. I realized at Shodan level that I really was relearning everything and learning to perfect my technique. Some people train to only get black belt and then quit. Too bad really. It seems so overly stated, but my true learning did begin at black belt and after I had began to assist with teaching, I gained even more insight.

[Fairfax_Uechi]

On average, there is a wait period of approximately three years between black belt. You will almost never see less; but you will more than likely see more.

When it comes to requirements, then you enter an area similarly colored to Delta1's belt and gi. The only requirements for 2nd black are Long Form 5 and Long Form 6. After that, it's all political...do you have a lot of students...do you look good...have you been training for a long time...do you have a cute kitten...the list goes on and on.

[other quotes cut out]........

Long Form 5, Long Form 6, and the techniques thereof. Long Form 5 is the "Throw Kata". In it, you must do the techniques as though they are unexpected, as they come from obscure angles. Long Form 6 is the "Weapons Kata." In it, you will adapt some earlier techniques to fight against clubs or knives, as well as learn a good deal of the "Rod" techniques (Just as "Storm" signifies a club, and "Lance" a knife, "Rod" is a gun).

There are book-version extensions to all the previous techniques, but I will quote my instructor again.

"

Actually this may be true for your style but it's not true for all. In Uechi, you (usually) learn the first five Kata to earn Shodan, then one more for each rank until you've learned all eight. (some folks learn them earlier so this is more a rule of thumb) After that it's more about perfecting your art internally and then giving back to the art.

[Fairfax_Uechi]

Umm, in most Okinawan styles you don't get stripes to your black belt to mark your dan-grade. You get one stripe to mark a grade of renshi (usually around 6th dan), two stripes to mark a grade of kyoshi (around 7th dan) and three stripes to mark a grade of hanshi (around 8th-9th dan). Those grades aren't dan-dependable (although there are rough guidelines).

Some styles use a red and white panel belt (originally taken from judo, where it's a sign of a 5th dan black belt) to mark a kyoshi grade and a red belt as a mark of the style's head at 10th dan (in some styles even at 9th dan).

That's so true. It's kind of funny when you think about it. Some arts are big on the stripe thing. A friend of mine trained at a McDojo. The owner had a whole bunch of stripes I think it was 5 or 6. (nothing wrong with this) But the guy was only 30 or so. IMHO not really old enough to be that high ranking. While some very senior Uechi folks "only" have a stripe or two and are 6 or 7 Dan.

[CathShadow]

In my Style (Kimura Shukokai) you get Shodan-Ho (which is what I am (I just got that on saturday) which is Provisional Black belt... ie. they want to see u again in 6 months) then shodan, nidan, sandan, yondan... etc. bascally from 1st to 10th.

I don't ever see "stripes" nor "red belts" nor anything like that.

at 2nd Dan u can start teaching (though u CAN assist at my level)

You START training at 1st Dan, though by no means should white to brown belt be discredited, since no white to brown = no black.

If you did not learn to crawl at white belt, you cannot learn to walk at shodan-ho.... and to run at 10th dan...

1 grade opens doors... though you CAN learn enough to be AS good as a black belt even if u're a white belt... the point is it's up to YOU to train, be dedicated, and enthusiastic... and NEVER sarcastic or egotistic.

Karate is about discipline.

Peace

[patusai]

What's after black?...the rest of your life

[phatkata]

What's after black belt??..umm..eternity for ur life..that u goes to the level of grandmaster with red belt or red/white pattern belt.

[Shotokan-kez]

My sensei is 5th Dan and he has been training for 25 years. I really look up to him and have the uppermost respect for him. I Have a book on martial arts and in that it says that from 5th dan in Shotokan an instructor can chose weather to wear a red and white belt. My instructor disregarded this and shook his head. He has been wearing his black belt since he gained it, it's all worn but i like that, that really symbolises how long they have been training.