How does the belt system work?

[Mervyn]

And what kind of belts are there [what does each represent]?

[Koji-Kabuto]

Depends on style.

My style/school:

White

Orange

Blue

Yellow

Green

Brown

Black

[SANCHIN31]

Yes,it does depend on the style and the schools within the styles. Our school is Goju. The belts represent the different levels of what you know.

White-Green-Brown-Black

Most karate systems have kyu(beginner) and dan(advanced) levels.

10th kyu-1st kyu then 1st dan to 10th dan

The 1st dan is blackbelt,this is where the real learning begins.

[ivette_green]

I was talking to a friend who trains shotokan karate, and she says there are only two or three belt levels. There was white and black (of course), but I think there may have been another belt level. Can someone clear this up for me? Thanks.

[y2_sub]

The way i remember it shotokan has the following belts order :

white , yellwo , orange , green , blue , brown , black

Not sure though

[Kane]

I was talking to a friend who trains shotokan karate, and she says there are only two or three belt levels. There was white and black (of course), but I think there may have been another belt level. Can someone clear this up for me? Thanks.

It depends on which shotokan organization your friend's club is part of. Most organizations and clubs habe colored belts, but some don't. Shotokan Karate of America for instance only have white (8th to 4th kyu), brown (3rd to 1st kyu) and black (1st to 5th dan) belts.

[ivette_green]

What you, Kane, described sounds like what my friend told me. Shotokan doesn't go stripe crazy or anything does it? If two people have a white belt and one is 8th kyu and the other is 4th, how can you tell?

[Kane]

What you, Kane, described sounds like what my friend told me. Shotokan doesn't go stripe crazy or anything does it? If two people have a white belt and one is 8th kyu and the other is 4th, how can you tell?

Shotokan Karate of America is but one organization teaching shotokan karate. There are many others, and most of those do have color belts for each kyu level. In SKA, there are only three belt colors (white, brown, black), and there are indeed no stripes. The belt of an unranked beginner will look the same as that of a 4th kyu whitebelt, the belt of a new 3rd kyu will look like the belt of a 1st kyu about to test for shodan, and the belt of a shodan (1st dan) is the same as that of a godan (5th dan).

You asked how one can tell the difference between an 8th kyu and a 4th kyu whitebelt. The answer is that you cannot tell by the belt, or even by such things as which kata they are working on, as whitebelts in SKA are taught all Heian kata and Tekki Shodan pretty much from the get-go. But you can tell an 8th kyu from a 4th kyu quite easily by the skill level of the people in question.

[makiwaraman]

My school belts go like this and its shotokan

White

Orange

Red

Yellow

Green

Purple

Purple & White

Brown

Brown & 1 White

Brown & 2 White

Black dan grades

I do not like the Western belt system and have been told its done this way as we need constant recognition and back slapping. In my system each kyu/belt repressents 3 Months training with over 50% attendance and the pattern of a new kata Oh and £22.00 grading fee. I do not like this but as IMO its the best school in my area and I obide by their rules. I wished to train in white belt until Shodan but still grade at each kyu, but after complaints was forced to wear courlored belt. If it were upto me you would have white ,brown and black/ dans. Rant over

Regards maki

[aefibird]

My school belts go like this and its shotokan

White

Orange

Red

Yellow

Green

Purple

Purple & White

Brown

Brown & 1 White

Brown & 2 White

Black dan grades

ditto for my karate school, as it is Shotokan based.

I do not like the Western belt system and have been told its done this way as we need constant recognition and back slapping. In my system each kyu/belt repressents 3 Months training with over 50% attendance and the pattern of a new kata Oh and £22.00 grading fee. I do not like this but as IMO its the best school in my area and I obide by their rules. I wished to train in white belt until Shodan but still grade at each kyu, but after complaints was forced to wear courlored belt. If it were upto me you would have white ,brown and black/ dans. Rant over

Regards maki

...and ditto again for the rant! I personally do not like all of the belts that we have in my dojo - if it were up to me I would certainly ditch the striped belts, even if nothing else. Brown with 2 white stripes??? Just seems like another way to make some £££ for me. Now, that's not really the reason in my dojo (we kept the same grading and belt system that my instructor had in his dojo with Shotokan Karate International, back in 'the good ol days' of the 70's), but it just seems a little unnecessary. My instructor has not been a member of the SKI for years and years. He has now also left the break-away association which formed from the SKI and used the same grading structure. So, he (theoretically) now has no ties with this belt system and could make changes to it. I would certainly like to see him do so. However, it isn't my dojo and I must respect Sensei's wishes. He knows I have 'issues' with the whole belt/grading system thing anyway.