Learning The Belt System In Martial Arts
Almost everyone has read about martial arts, but the ones from the western world really know nothing about them, aside from the fact of the colored belts. They all know the belts are utilized to determine rank but that’s about all they know. Most people do not know which color is the highest ranking or the lowest position. Within the martial arts community, not only are the colors all recognized, but each and every student knows which rank they are going after. Generally the color of the belt shows other individuals how much you know about the martial art you are interested in.
For hundreds of years, the color of the belt has been used to suggest rank in martial arts. It was begun by a man named Jigoro Kano, who created Kodokan Judo, and in order to rank his students within his style of martial arts, he soon started using white and black belts. With a belt system set up, Kano managed to teach specific skills to groups of students in line with the color of their belt. This prevented individuals who were not ready to compete with individuals who were far more advanced. Inevitably other martial art styles did start to use the belt system until it became the standard it is right now. These days, anyone studying a martial art will have a good idea on how skilled and knowledgeable another student is. Popular martial art forms like Karate and Tae Kwon Do use the belt system extensively.
Every school in a martial art will have different conditions to achieving a particular belt rank. This is true for anything since standards might be different from one place to the next. This is often confusing particularly when a student from one school changes to another school to find the rankings do not translate over. You see this happening when a black belt student from one school isn’t qualified to be a black belt in another. Generally, many schools try and follow a standard but usually there are some schools who try to be different.
While the majority of martial arts use a belt system, some tend not to including Shootfighting. A few styles, which have a primary purpose of self defense, don’t even have a ranking system. Another style that doesn’t use belts is Pitfighting, and it is also used for learning how to take care of yourself.
Belt system has been a great help for martial arts. Students are driven to reach a certain goal while teachers can monitor their students’ progress. Having a black belt is what almost all students are pursuing, and it takes several years to get to that level of success. One good thing about the belt system is that you work your way through each and every step on the way, without the possibility of bypassing steps. You’ll never progress until such time as you have perfected a ranking.
Posted by Jamie in Martial Arts