Worn/Frayed Black Belts

[Shotokan-kez]

I love frayed belts and i love the look of them. Yes they are a piece of cloth, but i love my piece of cloth and i'm very proud of it. I have had my black belt for over a year now and it hasnt started fraying yet, but i cant wait until it does.

[tweak9]

I love frayed belts and i love the look of them. Yes they are a piece of cloth, but i love my piece of cloth and i'm very proud of it. I have had my black belt for over a year now and it hasnt started fraying yet, but i cant wait until it does.

I will be getting my Shodan Ho October 4th...can't wait to wear it. It will have the skunk stripe on it but that's ok (school policy I guess). When I reach Shodan it will be completely Black...Either way it's a Black Belt. I don't want the Kanji on it but the school does it that way. I just want a humble belt for the rest of my studies. When I reach Nidan or Sandan someday (and I will), I want the same belt. No Kanji or stripes. But I will follow what my Shihan says. (It won't hurt to ask if I can wear a simple humble Black Belt.)...it will fray over time but I don't want to replace it(my piece of cloth) ever(unless it snaps)...Hanshi Del Saito, head of the Shito Ryu organization in the US wears a belt so old it looks like it would snap like a shoe string. I know he has been studying for over 40 years...not too shabby huh

JMHO,

pete

[kansascityshuffle]

I respect my rank, what it means to me, anyhow..the hours spent bleeding and sweating and having some bones broken to get my rank. However, the whole worn belt thing looks cool, I suppose..like a comfortable pair of old worn jeans. If you ever have the means and train in Japan in some dojo they will think you're kind of silly having a kuro obi that is almost all white. Especially if you follow the "tradition" of never washing your belt...that's going to smell a lot after 5-10+ years. At the same time I have witnessed a legit Yodan/4th Dan take a brand new tokaido belt and scrape at it with a sharp katana right behind his dojo on a summer day. He was a little embarassed I happen to find him doing this but I'll never forget it.

Here's an interesting read if you have never read it: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/09/09/urban-legends-of-karate-belts/

Remember, if you train in an art that has a kyu/dan system or has more or less copied the Japanese kyu/dan system...it comes from Japan. However, some funny "traditions" have spread outside of Japan in more western countries that aren't "traditions" in Japan, go figure.

The bottom line is, the proof is in the puddin'. Meaning, if you got the skills, that's what counts, not how your uniform or belt looks.

[Zanshin]

I respect my rank, what it means to me, anyhow..the hours spent bleeding and sweating and having some bones broken to get my rank. However, the whole worn belt thing looks cool, I suppose..like a comfortable pair of old worn jeans. If you ever have the means and train in Japan in some dojo they will think you're kind of silly having a kuro obi that is almost all white. Especially if you follow the "tradition" of never washing your belt...that's going to smell a lot after 5-10+ years. At the same time I have witnessed a legit Yodan/4th Dan take a brand new tokaido belt and scrape at it with a sharp katana right behind his dojo on a summer day. He was a little embarassed I happen to find him doing this but I'll never forget it.

Here's an interesting read if you have never read it: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/09/09/urban-legends-of-karate-belts/

Remember, if you train in an art that has a kyu/dan system or has more or less copied the Japanese kyu/dan system...it comes from Japan. However, some funny "traditions" have spread outside of Japan in more western countries that aren't "traditions" in Japan, go figure.

The bottom line is, the proof is in the puddin'. Meaning, if you got the skills, that's what counts, not how your uniform or belt looks.

Well said.

I have to admit that I have owned a silk black belt that I wore until it turned virtually all white. It was sort of the fashion back then.

It seems to be a bit of a western thing though, as all of the senior Japanese sensei that train with always wear a perfectly black belt. Apart from one that is. Mr Shiomitsu 9th dan Wado Ryu wears a pure white belt (not a black belt that has turned white).

Today I just wear a plain and simple cotton black belt. It does the trick for me.

Z

Edited September 6, 2008 by Zanshin

[doug_kissaki]

I have to agree that a belt is nothing more than a piece of cloth. What it represents is much more, but the belt itself means very little.

If tomorrow I walked into the dojo and tied on a white belt, I would still be me and I would still receive the same level of respect from the other members of the dojo.

[quinteros1963]

I think its a matter of choice. I see it as a symbol, so why not have more than one? Do you own more than one gi? Why not have more than one belt? I'm a long way from black belt so perhaps I dont understand.

[jaddensinn]

The belt debate is always kind of amusing because there are so many points of view on it. My black belt is special for me because its a physical representation of 3 1/2 years of hard work, other than college that's the longest I've ever stuck with something so the physical belt does mean a lot to me, but our head instructor will always be the first one to say that if a class is ever run and no one wore their belts it should be obvious who the black belts are.

As for worn and frayed belts, as far as I can tell i mostly depends on the type of belt. I have a tokaido satin belt and its already begun to wear in nicely after about 6 months. On the other hand one of our 4th degrees has had a shureido satin belt for something like 15 years and it hasn't remotely frayed one bit, in his words "he just can't kill it".

[sensei8]

While the topic of frayed or not concerning the obi is interesting in hearing the varying opinions/believes and the like, the fraying of a Yudansha obi doesn't lessen the knowledge base of the practitioner, imho!

Many here know of Iain Abernethy. He's a Godan. He's well versed in many aspects, theories, applications, methodologies, and the like to be for sure. He's well respected by many Martial Artists, both here at KF and over the world. He's well spoken in both the written word as well as the video genre is concerned.

Iain's Yudansa obi is frayed. That being said, does this take away from his knowledge base? Does this cause practitioners to take him less seriously? Does this turn the stomach of the most staunchest "traditionalist" at the sight of Iain's frayed Yudansha obi? Does this same "traditionalist" turn on a closed ear to what Iain has to say on any subject of the Martial Arts because his Yudansha obi is frayed?

Speaking for myself...NO! The fraying of ones Yudansha obi is of a miniscule importance to me. Whether I like it or not or if my obi is frayed or not is the furthest thing from my mind because it's unimportant to me in the scope of expanding my knowledge base.

To be frayed or not to be frayed; that is the question. The answer is up to each individual, imho.

[Erin]

Personally I like the frayed obi. To me, it's a representation of many many years of experience practicing and applying the art. Yamashita-Sensei's obi is quite frayed and worn. Seriously, the last seminar we had with him I thought it would snap off.

To me, it's a symbolism thing. Like someone else pointed out, even without the belts, we'd know who the black belts are.

[bushido_man96]

I would be worried that if my belt did fray that much, that I might end up pulling it apart in class. I don't want that!