Rank Stripes on Black Belts. A Korean thing? Or just Western

[IcemanSK]

I just read on Toakido's website that rank stripes on black belts are not really a Japanese thing. Makes me wonder if its a normal Korean thing to do. Anyone know?

[Ottman]

Well, I'm pretty certain that you're right and it's NOT a Japanese thing. Whether it is Korean and/or wesern I'm not too sure about. I spar with an Isshin Ryu Karate school that DOES use stripe rankings on their belts, and also a TKD school that DOESN'T, so who's to say for sure?

[IcemanSK]

Well, I'm pretty certain that you're right and it's NOT a Japanese thing. Whether it is Korean and/or wesern I'm not too sure about. I spar with an Isshin Ryu Karate school that DOES use stripe rankings on their belts, and also a TKD school that DOESN'T, so who's to say for sure?

I'm training w/ some Okinawan stylists who do stripe their belts. I've training w/ Korean stylist who don't & those that have everything on their belts but a GPS unit!

My 1st instructor wore an old masters belt (2" wide) w/ no stripes, just his name & the school where he got it.

I think its definitely a Western thing to have the hash marks on it. In the East, everyone knows who to bow to.

[JKN Dean]

Kuk Sool Won is Korean, but doesn't put rank stripes on the black belts.

We do have formal "Generals" uniforms that signify a group of ranks, but even then you can't tell exactly what rank a black belt is, and they're not for every day working out, but rather for formal events such as demonstrations and promotions.

[Steve_K]

I don't know about other school, but at the school I trained at, instead of having a separate belt color for each rank, we would just take every other belt color and put a tip on it, each tipped belt was a separate rank all together, white 10th kup/kyu, white/yellow tip 9th kup, yellow 8th kup, etc. This saved money and the confusion of having ten separate belt colors, so the only colors we used were, white, yellow, green, brown, red, and black. My point is, that when I started training a friend in college, who also attended our school back home, he or I didn't have a way of sewing the tips onto his belts, so I just had him order his belt with the next color stripe down the middle, instead of translating them into orange and blue or purple or whatever. I don't know how others use them for, but that's just how we used them.

To repeat, a tipped belt, was a completely separate belt rank, they didn't mean you were almost a green belt or almost a brown belt, you were a yellow belt green tips, or a 7th kup/kyu.

[Steve_K]

Whoops, nevermind, I just realized the title specifies black belts with stripes.

The only stripes I have seen on black belts, are the stripes denoting the degree of black belt the person is. This is common with most all systems that have the classic belt rank system. The striped belts I described earlier, are the ones with the stripe running along the entire length of the belt, usually of a different color, or black. If I recall correctly, the belts with the black stripe are sometimes used to show that someone is a member of the "black belt club" you don't have to be a black belt to be in it, but sometimes schools give special offers to members of the club. In case anyone wanted to know, that's the story about the those striped lower rank belts.

[niel0092]

I think there are as many different ways of handling stripes as there are MA schools. Not sure if a definative answer is even possible...

[coralreefer_1]

I am here at a college in Korea, and I am around many black belts, and none of them have stripes on their belts recognizing their degree of black belt. My dojang in America uses that system, 1 stripe for 1st Dan, 2 stripes for for 2nd dan and so on. Of the many masters and instructors I have met here, I cant recall seeing one with any stripes on their belt.

Something my master started doing last year, was giving out new uniforms that signify rank. He said it was going to become regular practice here in Korea, though i havent seen it yet. It is a regular uniform, but for 1st degree, around the collar there is a white stripe and the black collar, 2nd degree has 2 white stripes, then 3rd and 4th degree use a yellow stripe, with 4th having 2 yellow stripes...5th and 6th use green, 6th being 2 green stripes..up through the colors. My master is 7th Dan, so his is a black collar with a single blue stripe all the way around.

Anyone else seen this style of uniform?

Todd

[Ottman]

I haven't heard of the uniform system like that, but I know that there are uniforms distinguishing masters (4th dan and up where I come from) from other black belts. The masters are allowed to wear uniforms with either 1 or 3 black stripes going down the pant leg. I don't know why it's either 1 or 3, (I've never seen one with two stripes) but they both signify a master rank. I also don't know if there is another style for grandmasters, but I suppose there probably is. Anyone have any details on this?