Belts question

[Age-Uke]

there is a white belt and a black belt..

no more are needed

[Spartacus Maximus]

Belts and the ranking system have only been used for a little over a hundred years, starting in Japan with Judo. Before that time people just trained until the instructor was satisfied enough to teach them something new.

Even the oldest of old timers with decades of practise have known of and gone through a system with coloured belts between white and black. Only black and white or no belts at all is the exception and it has been for a long time. Maybe since the time martial arts became publicly taught to larger groups instead of privately or in secret.

How many on the forum train at or know of an instructor/dojo where there are only white and black? How about 5 or less(white/black included?).

People like knowing where they stand and having some sort of tangible sign of their progress. Having milestones also keeps students motivated by giving them a goal to aim for. On the other hand the belt system is a double edge sword. Everyone involved in martial arts long enough can give several examples and experiences of how this system has been used and abused for less-than-ethical and dastardly reasons.

We(martial artist) are stuck with them, whatever we think of them. Doing without belts or reducing the number would be very difficult.

[sensei8]

Belts and the ranking system have only been used for a little over a hundred years, starting in Japan with Judo. Before that time people just trained until the instructor was satisfied enough to teach them something new.

Even the oldest of old timers with decades of practise have known of and gone through a system with coloured belts between white and black. Only black and white or no belts at all is the exception and it has been for a long time. Maybe since the time martial arts became publicly taught to larger groups instead of privately or in secret.

How many on the forum train at or know of an instructor/dojo where there are only white and black? How about 5 or less(white/black included?).

People like knowing where they stand and having some sort of tangible sign of their progress. Having milestones also keeps students motivated by giving them a goal to aim for. On the other hand the belt system is a double edge sword. Everyone involved in martial arts long enough can give several examples and experiences of how this system has been used and abused for less-than-ethical and dastardly reasons.

We(martial artist) are stuck with them, whatever we think of them. Doing without belts or reducing the number would be very difficult.

Solid post!!

Currently, we've white, green, brown, and black. Whereas once, we had white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, brown, and black.

[aurik]

Belts and the ranking system have only been used for a little over a hundred years, starting in Japan with Judo. Before that time people just trained until the instructor was satisfied enough to teach them something new.

Even the oldest of old timers with decades of practise have known of and gone through a system with coloured belts between white and black. Only black and white or no belts at all is the exception and it has been for a long time. Maybe since the time martial arts became publicly taught to larger groups instead of privately or in secret.

How many on the forum train at or know of an instructor/dojo where there are only white and black? How about 5 or less(white/black included?).

People like knowing where they stand and having some sort of tangible sign of their progress. Having milestones also keeps students motivated by giving them a goal to aim for. On the other hand the belt system is a double edge sword. Everyone involved in martial arts long enough can give several examples and experiences of how this system has been used and abused for less-than-ethical and dastardly reasons.

We(martial artist) are stuck with them, whatever we think of them. Doing without belts or reducing the number would be very difficult.

Our school has white/yellow/green/brown/black, but we put up to two stripes on each of the yellow/green/brown to indicate the kyu grade. (e.g, yellow = 9th kyu, yellow with one stripe = 8th kyu). This matches pretty well with our requirements, since the requirements for each yellow belt rank are essentially the same (kanshiwa + yakusoku kumite), green belt ranks require kanshu + kyu kumite + kicking drill, and brown belt ranks require seichin + dan kumite + sparring.

Of course, as your kyu rank goes up, the expectations for execution, technique, and power increase.

[bushido_man96]

We have white, orange, green, blue, brown, and black, but at the colored belt levels, they are divided into a lo and hi belt, except for brown, where there are lo, middle, and hi designations.