Honorary rank...

[parkerlineage]

What's everyone's opinion on honorary rank?

Personally, I would never take anything higher than a white belt from any style when I first started, and I'd want to put in the right amount of time to earn anything else I've got.

My instructor (6th Dan) has an honorary brown belt in some Okinawan Kenpo he got from Okinawa after a grueling week's training with the Masters. I suppose that's okay...

Everbody else?

Parkerlineage

[UseoForce]

Hmmm...

I know of a UFC legend I trained with in a seminar, a great fighter and a gentleman as well. I was surprised when he told me his blackbelts except for one were honorary. It didn't diminish his accomplishments in the ring, and it didn't mean he didn't have some awesome skills (He was VERY good at what he did). I'm sure he didn't ask for any honary rank, and wouldn't it be an insult if rank was refused? Perhaps other styles just wanted to connect themselves to this great fighter, maybe hoping to win some popularity. But this guy was a fantastic grappler, an all his black belts were in grappling arts. In end, for me, it didn't matter what he wore, but what he could do,

[AngelaG]

I think as long as people are honest that they are honorary ranks I have no real problem with it. As a real grade might show what level you are at within a particular club an honorary grade shows that someone, somewhere respected you enough (for whatever reasons) to bestow an honorary rank on you.

I train in shotokan but when I go up to a friend's ryukyu kempo he still lets me wear my grade, as he says he has seen me train and knows what I can achieve, and also because he respects my instrutor's opinions of my capabilities. He says he considers me an honourary grade in his system at whatever grade my instructor says I am. It is not to say that I am actually that grade in his system. However one day I would like to gradually take full grades in his system, and yes I would work my way up from white belt.

[UseoForce]

AngelaG Said:

I think as long as people are honest

Yeah, that's huge. It's when people try to use honary rank to sell a product or service that you encounter problems.

[Sam]

So long as you mention they're honorary, i wouldnt hold anyone in any lower regard for accepting a honorary belt although i personally wouldnt.

[granmasterchen]

i started off in MDK TKD, the katas and all that I learned were very easy transition to other styles, I quickly got an honorary BB in shotokan, asahi ryu, then shito ryu and shorin ryu. I then started training in japan where I quickly was given honorary BB in kyukushin karate and ninpo budo taijutsu. After training with ITF and WTF TKD, along with MDK TSD, I again got honorary BB in their styles as well......It all started because of my knowledge of techniques and skills, since they were all similar or the same, I actually received a higher dan rank in some of the styles than I had started with in my original style. Now for styles that were very different like the kung fu arts....now that is a different story.....it intitled new moves and so forth yet I eventually made my way in that as well....the point is, once you have a great foundation in any art, it is much easier to get a BB in any other style....once you are a master, you will realize how easy it is to transition from one style to the next, because after you reach a certain level you come to the realization that ALL styles ARE the same at a certain level, they just train the techniques in different orders with different focus on certain techniques.....

[UseoForce]

Do you consider your honorary belts as valuable as your other belts? Do you feel you've earned them?

[Sam]

I definitely see wehere you're coming from granmasterchen, I just personally wouldnt feel happy accepting the honorary belts... unless it would offend someone to refuse them.

[granmasterchen]

well, as it worked out, the set up of techniques in each style for black belt were the same things that I had done in other styles, just different terminology. Some of the styles had me do a one on one with instructors where we could go through the terminology and show the exact same movements and such. So in that sense I went through the exact same black belt testings as the others of that school had done, only with the instructors substituting terminology in for those that i was more familiar with. Doing demonstrations of all your techniques and such and showing them all that you had to learn and know gave other instructors an idea of where I would rank in their system. In some systems I was a brown belt, where as other systems I would be a fourth dan. The big factor for most styles and instructors were the forms. The fact that I know bassai would easily get me black belt in many styles, yet in some styles they study the tekki/nihanchi katas before bassai and others they do them after bassai....and so forth....So, in the aspect that the styles are nearly identical to many that I have studied in the past, I have no problem with accepting the rank, seeing as I can step in front of the class at any time and feel comfortable teaching them the same movements that their normal instructors would. In the aspect of styles where I am not comfortable with their movements and such I feel odd. Many styles have granted me honorary black belt and master titles simply by my combination of knowledge, skill and philosophy in regards to budo and bujutsu.....so there are many mixed emotions, but I am comfortable in many styles, others I am honored for the title and still have much new information to teach them, yet much to learn from them as well.

[UpTheIrons]

One of the problems I have is when someone tries to justify their 10th Dan by listing all the honorary black belts and master ranks they have. Sorry, having a resume full of honorary ranks doesn't justify you being 10th Dan. It just means you are pals with whoever issued it to you, and you probably issued one to him.