washing your belt

[DWx]

we had a white belt who's belt started to turn yellow before he tested for his yellow. how cool is that.

Me just being me would wonder whether the guy had provision for washing clothes at home. Walking around in something with months old sweat soaked into it doesn't appeal to me.

The thing that gets me about the whole not washing your belt thing because its tradition or washing away your knowledge is why do you wash you gi then? or why bother cleaning your sparring gear? You wear them just as much and surely if your belt reflects how much effort you put in by being sweat stained and stinking then everyone should not bother washing your gi and sparring kit. Personally I think it shows more respect if you take time to clean and make yourself presentable to your instructor and class. You'd get frowned upon if you turned up to a football session in dirty, muddy unwashed clothes so why do it to a MA session.

[A. Orstrom]

A lot of footballers choose not to wash their socks for the entire season due to tradition as well

I don't wash my belt, again due to tradition. It is still a tradition if enough people follow it If smell is the issue, hang it outside in cold and/or damp weather. I have hung mine from the windowsill several times, and as long as it doesn't get wet, the fresh air will work wonders on the smells.

[NightOwl]

Ew ew ew! I am a quasi germaphobe- all this talk of no washing makes me sad

[bushido_man96]

A lot of footballers choose not to wash their socks for the entire season due to tradition as well

I think that has more to do with superstition than tradition. There are some Major League Baseball players out there that have some weird superstitions that they adhere to as well. Not to be confused with tradition.

[IcemanSK]

I don't wash my belt because of the tradition. But if I did, I'd just hang it up on a clothesline & hose it down & let it air dry.

The tradition that I tell my students about it (& I tell them it's a tradition, not the gospel truth) is that all your knowledge & pain goes into your belt. So, you don't want to wash that away. I'm not sure why anyone would want to keep their pain, but oh well

[NewEnglands_KyoSa]

I don't wash my belt because of the tradition. But if I did, I'd just hang it up on a clothesline & hose it down & let it air dry.

The tradition that I tell my students about it (& I tell them it's a tradition, not the gospel truth) is that all your knowledge & pain goes into your belt. So, you don't want to wash that away. I'm not sure why anyone would want to keep their pain, but oh well

either way, whatever tradition you do or do not believe in is fine and acceptable. this is what i like about this site, any other site would have a full-fledge argument over this conversation, but whatever you want to believe in about this stuff is yours and yours only, nobody here is going to try to take it away from you with cyber 'fight words'. just a random thought, but kudos to everyone on this site, from administrator(s) to whoever just signed up today.

[bushido_man96]

The tradition that I tell my students about it (& I tell them it's a tradition, not the gospel truth) is that all your knowledge & pain goes into your belt. So, you don't want to wash that away. I'm not sure why anyone would want to keep their pain, but oh well

I prefer to think that it goes into my mind. But, I can see what you are saying.

[IcemanSK]

The tradition that I tell my students about it (& I tell them it's a tradition, not the gospel truth) is that all your knowledge & pain goes into your belt. So, you don't want to wash that away. I'm not sure why anyone would want to keep their pain, but oh well

I prefer to think that it goes into my mind. But, I can see what you are saying.

I tell the kids that what's the tradition says. Then I ask, "does your knowledge really go in your belt or your head?" They say, "in your head." I say, "exactly. But it's a tradition that we keep." I think it's important to explain things like that so that kids get that it's a part of what we do without them believing it's somehow mysterious.

I also tell them it's tradition to not let your belt touch the floor. Then I point out that it does touch the floor when we do push-ups & sit-ups. I tell them the point is to treat their uniform & belt with respect. Much like a police office probably wouldn't drag his uniform on the ground on the way to the hamper at night, we don't wanna do that with our belts & uniforms either.

[kachido]

wash your belt?

DON'T Do IT!

Kachido

[Ninjanoir78]

wash your belt?

DON'T Do IT!

Kachido

why???? almost everybody in japan do that!!