Free your mind and dont care about belts

[Shadow90]

I once read that if you want to be a great martial artist then you should not care about materials. With that they mean you shouldnt care much about stuff... like belts. I read this a lot in books this does not only count for MA but for a lot of other things too.

These belt gradings are stupid... if you are a bb or a ''high'' belt, people will think you can do everything, and if you make a mistake they will think; ''Lol even I can do that, Im SO better than him/her''. Everyone makes mistakes.

Or some people have high belts and cant fight at all :s Ssome of them even dont have respects for others; ''Hey look I'm a BROWN BELT YOU'RE A PUNY BLUE BELT!'' Maybe they are good at kata and such, but the respect is gone.

People kinda lose themselves because of this belt stuff. They will see themselves as weak because someone younger has a higher belt, or if they're a high belt they will think they can do everything and get too cocky...

Dont take this is an offense... In my opinion these gradings just ruin whats martial arts is really about; Respect, dicipline and honor, you should be humble and friendly. Karate (or any other martial arts) is not about stupid colored belts.

What annoys me the most are those little kids with bb... Even though I do not care much about belts, I do get annoyed by that. I think of my sensei who is friendly and does his best to teach us something about karate and much more. And then I see some 9 year old snickering at everyone and acts though all the time... It insults many sensei's who trained more than 5+... no wait make that 10+ years for their black belts. Even if you know every move of your style, and you are really good at sparring and such doesnt mean you deserve your black belt. As I said you should be respectfull, honorbale humble friendly and much more, and not some arrogant jerk...

***Also note that English is my 3rd language ''>_>

[Whitefeather]

I agree. Martial arts is about achieving excellence of technique and achieving excellence of self. But, unfortunately, the belt system makes running a dojo much easier (you can have a bunch of different skill levels in the same class without getting confused, and that is just one reason), so it just seems to prevail. Sad.

David

[Zatoichi]

I agree somewhat with what you said.

I believe that hardwork and dedication should show in your form and power regardless of what belt you are. BUT It's nice to have that black belt hanging from your waist as a sign of the amount of time you've put it.

It would be like asking everyone to drive a toyota camry. It's a wonderful car. It runs well. But some people can afford to drive a ferrari. Is the toyota worse than the ferrari? Not necessarily. It's just a sign of wealth and prosperity. And they are fun to drive.

The only thing I don't like is the arrogance that some people have when achieving their black belt. If we could take away the arrogance and just train hard regardless of your ability then all would be well and we wouldn't have a need for belts.

[Holland]

I like the belt grading system I believe it inspires a feeling of accomplishment, and if handled right is extremely beneficial.

I think a dojo without a ranking system is ludicrous. Just my opinion though.

[Sohan]

I hear a lot of people who say "rank doesn't matter" and I think they are not being honest with themselves. Rank does matter, because it is a statement of the work that you've put into your martial arts career. I think we sometimes get TOO caught up in what rank someone has, but to say it is not important at all is as dangerous as saying that a second degree brownbelt is superior to the rank below that.

Dojo rank, much like your status in society, is a function of relativity. In the big scheme of things perhaps it's not the most important aspect of life, but it certainly has its place in MA as a motivator and in the maintenance of an orderly dojo.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[ebff]

I haven't done enough martial arts to comment on such things as gradings (also I've trained mainly in ungraded schools) but I can draw a parallel with the music world. More particularly the piano playing world, but it applies to all instruments.

Amateur musicians in the UK will usually rank themselves according to whatever grade they've last taken and passed. E.g. to get in the NYOGB you need Grade 8 distinction, which is as high as you can get before you start getting into college-level diplomas. Grades are according to both teachers and students a royal pain in the backside, because of their format and their rather specific marking scheme. On the other hand what they do is give a good indication of the technical proficiency of the player which is very useful if you are for example fixing an orchestra and have no time to hear all applicants. E.g. you can get very talented musicians who have reached gr.8 after 4 years (rare but happens), and some who have droned on for 10+ years and still trying for their gr.6.

I may be completely wrong, but I think that belts in MA are similar. I.e. they should be taken with a pinch of salt - they are a good indication of the rough amount of knowledge an artist has, but are no garrantee of quality - I knew plenty of gr.8+ players who were absolutely awful, and of course some excellent gr.5-6 players who I would much rather have playing with me...

[Holland]

Ranks are not equivalent for sure...Brown belt requirements are pretty tough at my school, but less so at others. My brown belt may not be equal to yours...but within the same school my brown belt is better than your yellow belt.

Its a measure of work and effort. Too many sanctimonious types like to come on here and elsewhere and talk about how unimportant belts are...well good for you. Go train without them.

As for me, I like the color rank system and employ it at my school.

Edited April 27, 2006 by Holland

[danbong]

If you think that we shouldn't care about ranks and belts then why do young black belts bother you? This inconsistency has been pointed out in other threads.

[EmrldWepn]

Ive learned that in my style some of the belts were "created" to give students a sense of progress. There are 4 different ranks with stripes that were made to breakdown the length of time at one belt. Youch.

I dont have any problems with taking my time through the ranks. Ive been studying for 15 of the last 18 years and am only a 1st degree black. I'm up for a test in 2 months and in a way, dont want to take it. I dont need any more material. What i need and want to work now is precision and adapting techniques for different situations. IN my mind, stuff like that doesnt come with more materiel but length of time training and how much dedecation you put into it.

I certainly dont mind the ranks though.. i think they are needed to determine what materiel a student should have. In most cases the higher the rank, the better they are as well. Most of the time anyway.

Cheers!

[lilkarate75]

just focus on materials to protect yourself.