because my dad was in the military I ended up having to train at about four different taekwondo schools before I got my black belt. Though, I remember that the last master that I had, always said that the red belt stood for danger, because the practitioner has the skills of a black belt but has not yet learned the control of one.
Thats what we said about the brown belt division in tournaments. The guys were real good but alot lacked the control of a black belt so u could get hurt alot worse in the brown belt division than the black.
The tkd art I train in is somewhat similar but also different. In most tkd schools red represents danger or an animal, vicious and strong. But we used brown in the place of red as he doesn't want blood thirsty fighters, but fit happy people that can defend themselves if they ever need to.
I remember asking my old Sifu why we wear red sash. I expected to hear something about tradition and deep symbolism. Sifu's answer was way better than I anticipated. "The sash is so your pants don't fall down. It's red because I like red"
I started in Shotokan and made it to Yellow Belt. In our dojo, the ranks went as follows: Beginner: White, Yellow, Orange and Green Intermediate: Green with Black Stripe, Blue, Purple and Red Advanced: Red with Black Stripe and Brown Black Belt 1-10 Dan
When I studied Jui Jitsu not BJJ, but the Jui Jitsu style from Japan there was a red belt that over saw all the Dojos in the region. On occasion all the dojos would meet together and the head instructor/red belt would come in. I have argued with so many people over the red belt rank including black belts who said that red was not a “master” rank. This guy does an excellent job of explaining the red belt
Sensei Dan you are definitely the personification of a martial arts scholar, in my opinion. You present things in such a professional, concise, methodical, historical, chronological and academic manner. Indeed the red belt is ambiguous, in terms of its meaning, relevance and level of prestige, across the global, martial arts landscape. As you said in martial arts systems such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu it is awarded to grandmasters 9th dan black belt and above, yet in some Karate styles it is awarded to those of a 5th or 6th degree black belt, ranking pedigree! You are absolutely spot on Sosai Oyama Masutatsu, altered the colour of the red belt to orange, out of respect for some of his fellow martial arts masters and friends, in other Japanese Karate styles and Judo, where they themselves wore these red belts as the ultimate representation of mastery in their arts. Nevertheless as you mentioned some of our Kyokushin Karate schools or organisations, have retained the original red belt. I have been part of dojos and organisations, that utilise either the red or orange coloured belt. Nevertheless as you said in the end belts colours are at the end of the day, symbolic representations of a person's progression in a system of combat, they do not reflect the actual individual's capabilities as a martial artist. Oddly enough the first inaugural, as well as the second Kyokushinkaikan Karate World Champion from Japan, Nakamura Makoto, who is now head of his own independent Kyokushin Karate organisation, wears both a black Kyokushin Karate Karate typical black belt, however controversially having awarded himself an 11th dan, one higher than our Kyokushin Karate founder Sosai Oyama Masutatsu, who was 10th dan black belt himself, but in addition to this he also wears a red belt simultaneously, underneath his black belt. Then there is the late Dutch Kyokushin Karate master, as well as Judo grandmaster Kaicho Johannes Cornelius Bluming, who upon forming his own Kyokushin Karate and Judo, amalgamated association wore a solid and complete 10th dan red belt with gold embroidery for his dan bar ranks, as well as his personal name and that of his organisation in Japanese characters. Aside from these two gentlemen in Kyokushinkaikan Karate, we do not use the red belt, as a colour of masters or grandmasters rank levels, rather as you mentioned Sensei Dan, the first coloured belt awarded after the white novice rank belt in some of our schools. In Enshinkaikan Karate under its founder Kancho Ninomiya Yoko, originally from Japan and residing most of his life in Denver, Colorado, USA, their black belt ranks are all the way as the designated colour, all the way up to the top grandmaster rank level. Nevertheless in Enshin Karate they use the red dan bars like in American Kenpo Karate and some other martial arts systems, to clearly show the various dan levels of progression of an individual's black belt ranks progression. In some other cases in some other arts, I have come across some styles of Karate using a black belt with a borderline in red, with the vast majority of the black, coloured belt textile, in the middle of the actual belt itself. My observation is that throughout history, the red colour has been associated with passion, power, leadership and nobility. The Roman centurions wore red garments including their cloaks, as part of their military uniforms, kings, queens and other members of the nobility in the West again with the case of Roman Emperors or the British royals for example wore red capes, mantles, robes and even as part of their crowns ornaments. So I am not surprised that red has been adopted into the martial arts, belts colours, ranking system to either represent the foundations of the art, or its ultimate pinnacle of mastery. In the end as you said what is important, is our dedication, hard work and what the actual colour of the belt, actually represents and means to us. I hope all is well with you Sensei Dan, as well as your loved ones, may God Almighty bless and keep you all safe as always. Greetings from Melbourne, Australia 🇲🇽🇦🇺🥋🙏Osu!
Not at all schools red is the first gup, in some schools that traditionally where associated to the judo federation, like in Spain where the first eastern martial arts federation was the judo federation and associate sports, the first gup is represented by a brown belt. In other schools where they use belt tips the red represents the second gup and the first one is a red belt with black tips. This choice doesn’t make sense when we see the red and black belt, that is basically a dan grande for young people who didn’t achieved the minimum age to get a black belt, but is a kind of tradition, thats why we must not talk about colors but GUP. In Kukkiwon Taekwondo the highest belt you can get is Black 9th Dan, no other colors are used beside black.
To add to the conversation, in my organization we use belts with red on them as ceremonial belts. These belts are only worn at offical functions and events like promotions and tournaments. They go as follows: 5th dan - Black with red stripe Kari 6th dan (my system is weird) - black with 2 red stripes 6th dan - red with 1 black stripe 7th dan - red with 2 black stripes 8th dan - red with 1 white stripe 9th dan - full red I know that in some okinawan styles they use the renshi, kyoshi and hanshi belts in the same way. However those of the time I see those belts being worn all the time.
In many Taekwondo schools. White - the color of innocence or the color of the beginner who has no previous knowledge of Taekwondo. A seedling. Yellow - signifies the earth from which a plant sprouts and takes root as the Taekwondo foundation is being laid. Green - signifies a plant's growth as Taekwondo skills begin to develop. Blue - the color of the sky toward which a plant grows as the Taekwondo training progresses. Red - color of danger. Cautioning the student to exercise control as they could be a danger to themselves or others without control. Black- the opposite of white therefore signifying the maturity and proficiency of Taekwondo growth the student has obtained.
Yes except they took the colored system that other martial arts used and added these descriptions after the fact. The ranking system most martial arts used was created by judo's Jigoro Kano and inspired by the existing Dan ranking system in the game Go. The coloured belts system was invented by another judo master in 1930s Mikonosuke Kawaishi who was teaching in Paris. You'd have to read his biography to find out why he chose those colours and order. (I read a french book/article a lifetime ago which claims that he got idea from his students in England where he had a school before moving to France)
In American Tang Soo Do, just like its Korean counterpart red belt is used in lieu of brown belt. There are three levels of red belt: 3rd gup (1 stripe), 2nd gup (2 stripes) and 1st gup (3 stripes). Some ATSD schools have changed it so that for each level/degree its a different type of red belt. One is a regular red belt, followed by a red belt with a white solid stripe down the length of it and then one with a black stripe. Some schools have also added an extra rank, what's known as "cho dan bo" rank after 1st gup which is a half red/half black belt. As for the Dan ranks, ATSD traditionally only uses regular black belts. No "masters" or "grandmasters" belts. Neither Chuck Norris, Pat Johnson or Bob Wall for example, wear special belts. With that being said, over the past few years some schools have added Korean Tang Soo Do style "masters" and "grandmasters" belts.
I love the symbolism for the black belt. Back in the day, you start with a white belt, and as you trained, your white belt would get dirty and stained by sweat and dirt from training, eventually becomming blackened by years of intense training. Then, when you have achieved a fully blackend belt, it meant that you have already spent enough time on your basics, it showed you REALLY had put time into it, and hard training at that. your belt wont be blackened by standing around, but intende training, being taken to the grund by other students, etc. So a blackend belt REALLY meant a guy had trained. The traditional white-brown-black also reflects this. I love this symbolism Furthermore, by the time you reach the master ranks, you'd probably switch you old and worned belt which started its life as just a cheap un dyed for new, shinny and expensive red belt as at this point you probably have status and really earn some cash from teaching.
The white belt turning black is actually a myth and not how the black belt came to be. It has great symbolism to it but the black belt was implemented by Judo founder Jigoro Kano and in the grand scheme of martial arts, hasn't been around that long. We did a video topic on this a while back. ruclips.net/video/KGRGzyWBArY/видео.html (the black belt part starts at 2:28).
Took a couple of days to think about this one, but I think what resonated with me the most was your commentary at the end that it doesn't matter what belt/sash is around your waist. It's abound the training and what you put into it
The reason the Korean Taekwondo systems replaced the brown belts with a red one was to insult the Japanese. The insult being that a red belt master in Karate was below a black belt in Taekwondo !
Howdy! I am a Karatedo practitioner in Shudokan! In the style I study, Redbelt is equivalent to 10th dan, the highest rank of Blackbelt. The last thing I noticed in Shudokan Karatedo, the rank of Ichi-kyu was the third rank of Brownbelt (which is actually 1st degree) (3rd degree, San-kyu, 2nd degree, Ni-kyu, and 1st degree, Brown Belt, Ichi-kyu) now Ichi-kyu is now represented by a Red belt with a Black stripe that goes parallel along the Belt!
In soryu Karate that comes from the root of Shudokan the Red belt is the 10th Dan. The brown belt is sankyu nikyu ikyu. I have been in Soryu karate since 1966. At my age now the belt is invisible to me. But I wear one on occasion for my students.
In my kenpo class red was between green and brown. Red was very difficult because of how much more you had to learn from the green belt. You had to learn almost all of the forms, and techniques that a black/brownbelt. A lot of people including myself would get stuck on the red belt for many years because of how much you had to learn to go from green to red.
You are definitely the best RUclips martial artists out there you have such Direct way of expressing yourself and this video explains what I explained to my students. The belt you wear it in your waist and not in your forehead so it really doesn't matter what belt you have what matters is who you are and what achieve and if you have a good purpose for it. Oss
In Isshin-ryu and Jiu-jitsu, the red belt is the master rank. Neither teacher plays around with it. They both kept it traditional. My Taekwondo class was interesting. They used 3 ranks of red before Bo-Dan, aka Bo-Black. And the Red-3 belt was actually optional. My instructors decided to let students choose either Red-3 or Brown when they reached 1st Gup. I personally went with Brown because after a year of red, another 6 months at 1st Gup, and then another 6 months at Bo-Dan which is a half black half red belt, I really needed a break in there so I wasn’t seeing just red for 2 years. As for custom belts that we give meaning to, I did this. When I was way younger, I was enrolled in 5 different martial arts all at once because I was stupid. And I had a different rank in each one. I really enjoyed working out in the dogi because I loved the sound it makes when you move and the snap when you strike. So since I had so many different ranks, I sought out one belt I could wear to represent everything and I settled on a Camo belt. Camouflage is a mix of several different colors and I thought that was the perfect representation of how many different styles I was in with different ranks. I understand today that the Camo belt is pretty much the telltale sign of a McDojo, but you know what? I don’t care. I love my Camo belt. I still wear it today. It’s the most worn out belt I have. I wear more than my Black Belt. Out of all the arts I was in back then, I only stuck with Isshin-ryu and Taekwondo, and I recently joined a Jiu-jitsu class, but I still like my Camo belt and feel like its mix of colors represents the different arts I do.
I like this! Despite how many people view the camo belt, you gave it a valuable representation and it means something to you, which is great. You put the meaning in the belt...not the other way around.
The arrangement of tkd belts here in the Philippines is different from how the tkd belts are arranged there in the US. Belt arrangement of wt tkd here is white,yellow,blue,red,brown and black. It's nice to know that belt arrangements are different from the US and other countries.
In Okinawa the "Gold" (Not dark yellow) is a tenth Dan. TKD uses red before black to insult the Japanese belt ranking system,. (This goes back to the 60-early 70's. Back in the 60's I went from white to green to brown and then after being a brown for about ten years I received a third dan.
When I startet Kyokushin Karate someone told me the belt means nothing it is all about yourself and he was right someone could train 5 years of Martial art then switch to a similiar art starting as a white belt. So always believe in yourself regards of the belts, and stay open mindet.
You 're right. Belts don't matter because the system itself is extremely flawed and stiff. Against a fluid and fast opponent, such as a traditional wing chun master, he wouldn't stand a chance in hell!
I did exactly that. I had years of training, then spent 5 years as a senior student/assistant instructor, then got hurt and after my rehab I started going to a traditional ITF style taekwondo school. The 1st Dan black belts were unhappy when they thought they were going to show me how tough they were..
@Sergio Díaz NilaI like what you said. I agree, I'm a Karate student. As we develop our skills in kata, bunkai is a great skill. We at higher ranks of colored belts we sometimes do for warm ups by doing a kata and then after working on some of the Bunkai with our partner, then we take a section of the kata that we like and work on it, and develop our own bunkai with our partner. The logic behind doing this is to help us learn to not be all stiff learn to be more fluid. It helps develop a way of understanding how to apply the moves in a fight. In a fight on the street. Every move we make must be made by instinct and follow through with no hesitation once an attack happens. We must react accordingly, not trying to think of what move we should use. If I were attacked and tried to think what moves to use, I would be done for.
Bro. I haven't trained seriously in months and I can't even bring myself to wear my brown belt. I feel like I would be disrespecting it if I wore it now. Time to put on my white belt again!!!
In my school, when we were part of the Genbukan, the belts were white, green, brown, then black. One spent the most of amount time on the green belt, taking at 6 stripes, or kyu levels before receiving brown. As a female, Tanemura Sensei said we were special and we could choose to have a red belt as an equivalent to green. So, I earned and choose the red belt and kept that until 3rd kyu.
Very informative video Mr. Dan and quite accurate. I truly believe what you said when you ended the video about the idea of any kind of belt. Imo “it’s not what’s around your waist that says what type of a person or martial arts practitioner you are, but rather what you do when you step on the mat and how you conduct yourself in front of your peers and others.”
I always enjoy your videos. In my system we use the red belt for student instructors who aren't black belts yet. To become a student teacher you have to go through special training on how to teach (like being able to mirror your stances, techniques, etc. to make it easier for students to just mirror you back so they can get the technique right, we have something called 'sensei left' and 'sensei right' which is basically right and left respectively) Once you go through the training you can help teach, usually the younger students with the bigger classes (and not for free, you get paid to help teach). I think the red is to prevent anyone from talking back to the instructor by saying something like 'well you're only a green belt, what would you know?' That's my guess as to why we use a red belt. Some say it makes it easier to identify the helpers, but I've had little kids come into the dojo who need help with something (outside of a class) and they'll ask me simply because I'm an adult, so I think the real reason for the red belt it to prevent talking back.
I will agree with this, and I wish I would have remembered this when filming the episode. My first instructor had exactly this, an assistant who taught classes and was a green belt, but he was really good but parents didn't want to see a green belt teaching classes so he got to wear a red belt with the gold letters "ASSISTANT" on it. I never questioned it until one day I saw him take his own class. Thank you for bringing this up!
@@ArtofOneDojo oh my gosh I bet it IS 100% because of the parents. I can't believe I didn't see that. I assumed it was the kids, but I couldn't imagine my dojo letting anyone talk back in a nasty manner to anyone regardless of rank (versus just being silly). (For example even to be a junior Blackbelt you need maturity and a sense of humility and grace or you can't get promoted no matter how good your skill is) but I could absolutely see the parents throwing a fit! It's why parents will insist their orange belt get taught by the master of the dojo (a 6th degree black belt) when really a blue belt and up would still give the kid a million helpful things to work on. Parents man...
Oh wow, that is really interesting. In the dojo I had trained in, which was Isshinryu, all those purple and above had to help teach, and even the green belts were expected to go over drills with lower ranked students, if called upon to do so by the sensei. And on top of all that, it was without pay. I don't even think that the lower ranked sensei was paid to teach, under the head sensei. So I think that kenpo seems to be all the more so considerate in that respect.
So a bit of history of the red belt and the belt ranking system in general. It originated in Judo (Originally known as Kano Jujutsu), much like the custom of practicing in a gi, in which Jigoro Kano would use the black belt to represent students and the black belt to represent instructors. Later on intermediate belt colors were added as a way to retain students. Currently in Judo it's white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, brown then black. When the kodokan was established they added a striped red and white belt for their sixth instructors, and the red belt for their ninth dans and higher. To date the Kodokan has never promoted anyone above tenth dan, and few living individuals altogether. Now Bjj is a descendamt art of Judo through Mitsuyo Maeda (Known in Brazil as Conte Combe) who taught the first of the Gracies and Osvoldo Fadda (creating a lineage of BJJ that isn't part of the "Gracie System"). A lot of the belt system was directly incorporated into BJJ, however the Gracies do a lot to distance themselves from the Kodokan although many of them have Judo black belts. The gracies maintain a red belt for ninth degree or higher, but only a gracies have one in BJJ, due to the age requirements. The belt system was adopted by other martial arts due to geographic proximity. Really, Judo was one of Japan's first contribution to the Olympics and helped to inform the world's idea of a "Black Belt". Kano would actually send his instructors abroad to teach Judo in other countries to help grow the sport. All in all though, the practice of a belt ranking system is a relatively new practice that came about in the 20th century with the growth and proliferation of sports organizations. It's a convenient way to match competitors by rank and experience rather than throwing all competitors into a giant pool.
My red belt story I spent a few years training at a Kempo school. I got up to green belt, next would have been brown then black ( no red). Than my family moved to a small town 50 miles away, i couldn't afford the commute. I started training at a small TKD school that was trying to become a " More street effective system." After a month or so, the head instructor approached me and said. " In our school green belt is a lower rank. I think it's confusing the students. I'd like you to wear this black belt in class."... I thought about it for a minute, and said. " I don't feal comfortable taking a belt I didn't test for." Next class he presented a RED belt, and said. " I don't know how to test you, but I'd like you to wear this belt in class because it better represents your skill level." This time it was in front of the students, I couldn't say no... That's how I got my honorary Red belt.
very interesting and informative. Also good to avoid misunderstandings. The most important though to me are white (the beginner) and black, which are older than the colour system which originated with Kano. I like the BJJ approach where you know that a black belt has 9-12 years of practice. Giving black belts to teenagers or after just 3 years is just ludicrous.
In the dojo where I teach we define Red Belt as the transition from beginner student to advanced student. *White, Yellow, Green, Red, Brown, 2nd Brown, Black. The yellow & green tests are pretty easy. The Red Belt test is a miniature Black Belt Test, usually taking 8 hours, but up to 9 hours.
Being a "Karate Kid" enthusiast, you may remember in part 2 that Sato wore a red belt with a black gi top & white gi pants when he was practicing chopping hitting a beam of wood and Miyagi visited him. As a kid, that mystified me ("Why isn't he wearing a black belt? Isn't he a karate master?").
I think it is implied that Sato commercialized Miyagi Do or the teachings into his own school. He was a businessman from a wealthy family. He had a school downtown to teach the American servicemen and had posters everywhere at the airport. I think it is implied that he's a local martial arts celebrity and wearing a master belt is part of that image. He's all about the show. Look at the billboard...it's red white and blue while he's advertising teaching American soldiers and even lists himself as "Master Sato". images2.static-bluray.com/reviews/2758_4.jpg
...adding in, respectfully, a clarification for Bujinkan; white @ 10th kyu, green until 5th kyu, brown thereafter until Shodan, regardless of gender...and we have a saying, "don't trip over your belt, or anyone else's." Great channel, many thanks, keep up the good work!
That's interesting, I haven't seen brown associated much with Bujinkan. "Traditionally", green is male and red is female but a lot of schools will keep both green or like you mentioned, utilize other colors.
At my sons previous Goju-Ryu Karate Club his first colour belt was red. Their system works - Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Brown, Brown with Black Stripe and Black. The system at the Shotokan Club is - Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Brown and Black.
In the system I was taught, red signified a learning instructor between 1st degree black belt and 2nd degree black belt. They're black belts, but they're learning to teach, and run classes.
My Martial Arts instructor Chief Grandmaster Rudy Jones in his Ninjitsu system it takes a while to get to your Black Belt, after you received your Brown Belt, it takes four Black Stripes to get to your black belt 🥋. But in his system there is no full red belt only red stripes on the black belt to indicate your Dan
Fun Fact: Red, in Shintoism, is the color of the gods. This is why red is used by many systems as master. In other countries, however, its possible to see different color belts according to the meaning of certain color. For example, there are various karate and jujutsu systems in England and the UK that do not designate red as master, but rather royal purple.
Interesting tidbit. If I were in the UK however, this would have caused me confusion, as in Isshinryu, among other schools of karate, purple comes right before brown.
Love those shout outs to Tang Soo Do. In our TSD federation red symbolizes summer, ripening, and the Yang portion of the Korean Um-Yang. This comes before the calm, maturity, and harvest of midnight blue.
In our Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo association, which is based on Tang Soo Do, red is the last of the color belts before black belt. Plain red belt is 3rd highest color rank (3rd gup), then you add a stripe for 2nd gup, then another stripe for 1st gup. Next step after that is 1st dan black belt. In our system, red belt signifies the ability to draw blood. Red belt or 3rd gup is the first rank where we are allowed to strike the face in sparring. We are also expected to occasionally teach full classes in preparation to become an instructor. As you get into the upper color belts, you begin to see how everyone becomes their own martial artists, as two students of same rank can show very different levels of expertise and each will have their own specialty, whether it be sparring, forms, breaking, self-defense, etc...
I am currently a solid red belt in what I believe is kenpo. In our dojo we have solid and high belts of each color (white, yellow, green, blue, red, brown) plus candidate belt before black belt. After watching this video again, I can appreciate how red can feel like a beginner expert or an expert beginner.
In my early days of Karate, the first style of Karate I trained in was Shito-Ryu. The school had pretty much every color you can think of. The belt after white was red and then you move on to orange.
The school I grew up in, the Grand Master started out with four belt colors: you started wearing no belt, then went to yellow, than blue, then red, then black. Yellow was after about six months to a year, blue a year to two after that, red two to five years after that, then black was five to ten years after that. He had no degrees. Once you had a black belt, you were a master. When he started joining competitions, people complained that his blue belts had been practicing as long as some other people's black belts. So he looked around at other schools and adopted a new scheme that was kind of an amalgamation of other systems. That was about six months before I joined, and my instructor was still adjusting to the new system. One of the advantages of the old system was that there were only two forms for the yellow belt, so you spent most of your first three or four months learning stances and basic step movements. Than you learned the first two forms in the last two months. When it transitioned, out was unclear to the satellite schools (like mine) which if any forms were needed for yellow belt, and when I took my first test in front of the grandmaster it was, to put it mildly, chaos. Some people testing for yellow belt with me only knew basic movements and some who had been there less time than me knew five forms but did them very poorly. My school were in the middle: we had learned the forms in the last week and did them *very* poorly (wrong moves, moves out of order, lots of pauses) but our stances and movements were awesome because we had been doing pretty much only those for months. I learned over the years as the grandmaster adjusted things that what the rank means is not important, what's important is that everyone knows what it means.
Northern Shaolin Long Fist and Praying Mantis. He grew up in styles with no belt rankings so he was doing his best to make sense of it based on what he saw around him.
In the Kempo system I studied in the 90s, Red belt was a teaching belt, All Jr Instructors who were not black belt would earn a red belt, the testing for it was more rigorous, and also focused a lot on philosophy. You could not even test for a red belt until you reached blue belt, and you had to be sponsored by a black belt instructor. You wore you red belt only when you were teaching other students (always students lower rank than you), otherwise you wore your regular rank color belt for your lessons.
I forgot to mention that, good point about the teaching belt! We had an instructor MANY years ago who was a green belt but REALLY good, but our head instructor didn't think parents would like their kids taught by a green belt so he got to wear a red belt with the words "ASSISTANT" embroidered on it. Looked advanced and no one questioned it.
Nicely done Dan! Very interesting and informative. In some arts of Ju Jutsu like Miyama Ryu, and San Yama Bushi Ryu, there is no red belt. Their highest ranks attainable are "Kaiden", belts which have red on the top half and white on the bottom half. Also their title is modified from being referred to as "Shihan"....all other, lower black belt ranks are referred to as "Sensei". The Headmaster's belts, which were unattainable (Red for life on the upper half, and black for death on the lower half), were uniquely referred to as "Shinan". This was reserved for the founders of the art. Another interesting note is when a martial artist dies (especially a high ranked one), they are buried wearing a white silk sash for a belt, signifying the completion of the circle of life.
Red was predominantly an instructors color for us, until it was integrated as the 10th belt preceding the 11th and 12th you receive prior to your 1st Black (I Tuan). However, I think your statement is enticing and valid when examining the curiosity behind the usage of the red belt.
I am doing shotokan karate in Germany. We use the red belt exclusively in kumite to distinguish the partitioners. We have shiro, Japanese for white, without an additional belt, and aka, a short red belt you wear on top of your regular obi. The WKF (World Karate Federation) uses red (aka) and blue (ao) for the same reasons. Thank you for broadening my perspectives on the red belt! =)
Ive been learning tkd for a while and as a kid i just accepted that red belt was before black and i thought it was a normal thing in any other art with a belt system I looked up belt rankings like a couple years ago and i was surprised to see that the red belt is actually associated with the 10th dan (the level of "true mastery" or the highest level) in some martial arts
The belts are inconsistent because they are an import from judo and are not native to traditional karate. In Isshinryu there were was variety in the 90s, but the one I best appreciated philosophically only had white, green after you learned the first four kata, brown after you got the next two, and then black for all 8. Kobudo was then taught to black belts. But there were no belts in the early day of Isshinryu. If you look at the photos from the 1950s. They most often didn't wear shirts and the pants were the length of modern capris.
Thank you, very interesting. This subject is long overdue for some explanation. I appreciate this video. In our school a great deal autonomy is given to each black belt, each lineage holder, so they can structure the individual requirements for grading up to black belt. At which point proficiency with the whole of the curriculum is the goal. This leaves students with ample material for their health and basic self-defense needs, while providing them a strong foundation with which to pursue future progress in the finer points of these arts. It has taken me forty-five years to come to these conclusions, in my own school I offer students belts white, green, brown, and black. Not testing any student before two years of regular training. My motto is ''Ten years to black belt. A lifetime to mastery.'' After receiving black belt, prospective students work on specialized technique, skills, or qualities, which become their unique talent. And for this the particular Chinese character is sewn in red thread in their blackbelt. The plan here is to give rise to the development of more individual assets, and less bureaucracy. Black Belts should see themselves as no more than sincere students. The Black Belt testifies that the student has developed themselves, physically, morally, and spiritually. At least it should be an assurance that the person holding the title has an elevated sense of justice, is merciful, humble and wise. In my school the brown belt is a sign that the student can fight, and is capable of defending themselves. And the black belt a sign they know when not to do so. Peace, its good karma. Laoshr#60 Ching Yi Kung Fu Association
At the company that I teach at we use Red belt with a black stripe going across the middle of the belt for students that have been certified by our Z-Ultimate University system to teach Karate but have not yet reached the rank of Black in their town individual training. I was a red belt when I became an instructor(actual rank, Green w/ brown stripe) until I got my Shodan in Novmeber of 2021
In the Kenpo dojo where I grew up...the Red Belt was a Jr. Instructor belt. It was awarded to certain individuals who were invited to a class (and passed a written and oral examination) that taught the basics of teaching. This was (un)usually awarded after Purple, but in my case (and that of my Sensei) it was awarded near the end of Orange. It was for Instructors who were below the rank of Brown, and was worn on a daily basis. You wore your actual rank in your belt tests. As such I wore my Purple, Blue, and Green belts twice; when receiving them and when leaving them. As a Red Belt I taught all ranks of Junior students, and any rank of Adult that I had personally attained (but typically one rank below)...and often intro lessons and exercise classes. It absolutely accelerated my learning curve tremendously.
My Sensei is a 9th dan, I half jokingly asked why he doesn't wear red belt, he laughed and said back in the day in japan red belts were used to denote women black belts(for some sexist reason women could not be presented a "black" belt at the time) also in Japanese karate a red belt is not typically used as a rank but is widely used for competition purposes to denote your side and correspond with the color flag. In shobu ippon there is a white and a red. In wkf competition there is a blue and a red. Red or "aka" will have to wear a red belt with red gloves.
Really cool video! I am really curious about the red and white alternating stripe belt. Will you be doing a video on it or know what it's about? I cant find anything.
The Red and White alternating stripe belt is called a Coral belt, and is usually for higher ranking seniors. Typically above 5th Dan but below Red belt, if they have a red belt. Not all arts use this. BJJ, JuJustu, Judo, and some Karate systems have this belt.
I'm from shotokan karate, when I used the red belt as a color I was 4th kyu.it was the color before brown. I still use the same red belt for WKF competition.
I've studied two Korean arts and both have interesting uses of red. My main style is Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do. It's related to Tang Soo Do and the red belt is not only the rank before black, but is also used as a master color. When one reaches 4th dan, which is the master ran, they get a black (or midnight blue) belt with a single red stripe through it. At 8th dan, one reaches grand master, and the belt now as two red stripes through it. I always thought it was strange that red is both above and below black. My other style is Hapkido. When my instructor first opened his school, red was originally the third belt (white (no rank), yellow, then red), but this caused a lot of confusion with other Korean styles where red is just before black, so he changed it to orange.
@George Amaru: Fellow student of Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo here! Really enjoy all of the forms(poomsae) in the style and all of the kicking techniques that Taekwondo is known for.
When i tudied Choe Lay Fut Kung Fu the red sash was the belt you wore at the very beginning. When I studied Korean Hwa Rang Do the red belt was the next belt after the brown, then was a black and red striped belt then black. I had often wondered about it as it seems to be the only color that doesn't have a universally accepted meaning...everyone knows a white belt means beginner and black means expert at least it most systems and other colored belts denote some level of intermediate learning. But the red is more...enigmatic. If nothing else I suppose the red belt is a good lesson in not assuming someone's skill level based on a colored belt because of the differences in ranking systems throughout the marital arts. Admittedly the same could be said for other colored belts for the same reason but this on in particular is so malleable in its placement that I think it warrants the particular attention that it has been given.
In the system I've trained in white is unranked and then red was only used for those who would be at the brown belt level but were under 16. Essentially a "junior" brown belt. Our black belt also had a white stripe for those rare individuals who earned it before 16. The curriculum was the same and the only need to distinguish between "junior" and regualr was about emotional intelligence and physical strength. If you turned 16 between ranks your next belt would be a regular brown belt or a regualr black belt. For junior black belts you might be given and invited to wear a solid black belt after turning 16 before earning 2nd Dan, but mught also just have to wait until you earned 2nd Dan.
It's funny that you put this video out as I was looking at this the other day. In my judo club there is no red belt in the adult syllabus but there is in the junior's and it's low ranking. When I was looking for a club to join I saw one local club that had red after white, while another one had it instead of brown! ... Also, as far as I'm aware in BJJ they don't even give out red belts anymore :(
I study Gracie JiuJitsu and Judo, which you've already touched on. In both cases, Red is a master color. Coral belt and white/red belts are very high up. Then Red belt is the highest in both systems. I've also started training IKCA Kenpo Karate, where our belts go orange, green, blue, purple, brown, and Black. No red at all until you get much higher up.
I got up to green belt in my Shaolin class as 9 year old, but it waas the third grade up in that class, so I guess it was just a beginner belt really, cool vid x
When someone is choosing to enter a tournament that has point sparing the belt ranking typically go like you said for the most part. Beginner White, yellow, orange Intermediate Purple, blue, green Advanced Brown, black, red So if a system has a red belt at the beginning of there system how would they work that out at the tournament? Would they just have to explain that red belts are a beginner in their system or would they have to do more than that?
If it is a mixed tournament I don't think it would be organized by belt rank, but rather classified as "beginner" or "advanced" or something like that. You could technically put on any belt you wanted for a tournament, they don't check for certification usually.
Tournaments are WORTHLESS because they do not depict the REAL STREETS and the REAL DANGEROUS of said streets! You can't win a fight on the streets doing point karate!! Sorry, it just doesn't work that way! The same goes for ALL boxing derivatives including MMA, boxing, muay thai, jiu jitsu, kickboxing, JKD and all other boxing derivatives! They are SPORTS-ORIENTED which is a nice way of saying FAKE FIGHTING, not REAL STREET FIGHTING, where, weapons and multiple opponents could be involved!
In Wado-ry karate we have white belt 9kyu and 8 kyu is White belt whit Red stripes or fully red belt. In Japanese jujusto is white belt 6 kyu and yellow belt 5 kyu.
At the TKD school I went to I dont remember which one is before brown but it's either purple or red, probably red. We had red then red with black center stripe 👍 10:03 ouch RIP 🙏😞
My GMs belt is thick and red with gold running through the middle. But it's really his ceremonial belt. He wears his black belt with gold stripes because he was also the Shihan.
I did shotokan when I was a kid and got up to 2nd brown belt before other priorities took over and I had to stop. My school when White, Yellow, orange, green, purple x2, brown x3. from what I've gathered, some schools add blue belt instead of a second purple, and red instead of a third brown. It's probably just to keep kids engaged so they're excited to get a new belt
In my system the red belt is the highest belt. However no one gets awarded a red belt not even myself. We use black Belts with a red master core from Katarro belts. The longer you’re in your belt the more it shreds. Your level of Mastery depends upon the amount of work to put in which is reflected by the wear and tear on your belt.
In traditional Kang Dukwon TKD we go brown, red, red/black then black. The reasoning behind it is we are creatures that seem to need affirmation of progress. In the past it was 3 degrees of brown, denoted by black stripes. Holding at brown belt for so long seems to have a negative effect on some people and causes "brown belt blues". I'm currently a brown belt in Kang Dukwon, working towards red. I also want to add, our red/black is a red belt with a black stripe through the middle. Junior black belts (poom) wear the red/black bi-color belts. That's typical of the Kukkiwon rank system. Years ago I was in TKD that utilized red belt then 3 degrees of brown before black... Keep up the good work, Dan.
In soo bahk do, red is right before midnight blue... But once you become 4th dan tmyou get a belt that is midnight blue with the center color red all through the belt... and those who get from that belt up need to pass s kilitsry bootcamp type of testbfor each belt
I had a friend that was maybe still is the head instructor at lomita park soo bahk do. He used to invite us to watch the testings. Man those things were intense!
The local Karate DoJo here in England, uses the following belt colours / levels: 9th kyu - Red Belt 8th Kyu - Orange Belt 7th Kyu - Yellow Belt 6th Kyu - Green Belt 5th Kyu - Purple Belt 4th Kyu - Purple and white stripe 3rd Kyu - Brown Belt 2nd Kyu - Brown & white stripe 1st Kyu - Brown & double white
The multiple colours of belts for junior grades came in when Karate became monetised and commercialised, The majority of people don’t have the self discipline to continue training without a public symbol of their achievements to show for it. As you say in the early days a Shotokan student would train from 9th Kyu to 4th kyu as a white belt which could be a period of 2 years or more, before spending another year or so as a brown belt from 3rd to 1st kyu before going for black. In today’s world we are fickle and need our little badges of honour. But in reality the colour of the belt means nothing.. it’s the person who wears it that matters.
@Art of one Dojo... I'm sure we've met at a seminar. Maybe Grandmaster Larry Tatum, or at an East coast Kenpo Association event; Grandmaster Steve Arsenault? , Hulk Planus?. I live in Ontario Canada, and my main art is Shorin Ryu, but I have over a decade of Tracy and EPAKK under my belt, and for several years travelled extensively throughout the United going to various seminars and training events.
I have never met Mr. Tatum or Mr. Arsenault. I was at a Huk Planas Seminar once back in 1998. I have never attended a Kenpo seminar outside of Florida. Were you ever at one of Master Sean Kelley's Kenpo Camps?
Very good explanation, Dan! At my next promotion to 5th Dan, (my style is Tracy's / Kang Duk Won) I have the option of a red and white belt, at this point, I don't think I will do that. I like the black belt best, though I rarely wear a belt much as I like to mix submission grappling with striking so I usually go no-gi. Maybe one to hang on the wall :-)
In Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan red belt is the rank under midnight blue. It has gold stripes and blue stripes, gold stripes mean half so you get red, red gold, red blue, red blue gold, red 2 blues etc.
Our dojo has red belt as part of the beginner levels however because the school is a mix ( hybrid system) red is present in the black belt rank too same as American Kempo.
For my school (songham taekwondo) our order is white, orange, yellow, camouflage, green, purple, blue, brown, red, recommended black (half red half black) then black and black has 9 degrees with stripes until fifth then stars until ninth with 5 stars. ( I could be wrong but I believe that there is technically 10th degree for the eternal grand master who was the founder of the art but not entirely sure about that.) I’m currently recommended black so hopefully I can get black later this year.
If you’re curious the belt colors represent a tree growing (orange-black I mean. white is still pure without knowledge) orange is the sun is rising. yellow is the seed seeing the sunlight. camo-brown is the tree slowing growing more each belt. Red is the sun setting. recommended black (or red/black) is the sun rising again and black is the tree at maturity planting seeds for the future.
Thank you Mr Dan again a great job good video you know this is going to sound funny and I'm hoping it puts a smile on your face but honestly confused the crap out of me because with my background Japanese martial arts Okinawan martial arts Korean martial arts your traditional Filipino combat Arts have no belts and then you have your Indonesian pentchak silat... do Rankin and belts systems are completely different in every one of these Arts some of them don't even have a red belt and some of them do and it literally depends on the system and I have noticed in even Korean hapkido there are systems of hot hapikido that has the red belt and there are other systems that does not so trust me I've always end up scratching my head figured that one out the same thing with somebody traditional Japanese Arts where do red belt is toward the beginning or middle stages and then the other Arts that does not even have a red belt for a master thank you so much I really enjoy your videos
In our system red comes just before black. And when I earned my 5th degree I got a black belt with red fringe and a solid red bar at each end. At my current rank of 6th degree I just continue to wear the same belt. Frankly, the belt ranking systems are interesting in that there is such a wide variety. At my age I’m just glad to still be training every day. 😊
I use gold belt as the highest instructor rank (chief instructor) in my school in place of red belt. And I use red belt right after orange belt for students in my school.
Belt colors only matter within your own school. One black belt is not equal to another black belt in a different school. Personally, in my opinion, a belt is just a piece of clothing; it's what you know and how you can effectively apply it that interests me.
The last couple years in my program ive actually implemented a gray belt. Its basically a yellow belt for adults. I figured no adult wants to wear a yellow belt with a bunch on 6 year olds runnin around in em. So yellow and orange are strictly kids ranks. They are replaced by gray belt and gray belt with a black stripe. Adults seem to dig it it puts a clear division between kids and adults. And this way no child ever out ranks an adult. Similar to bjj.
@@ArtofOneDojo i wanted there to be a clear cut separation like in bjj. I didnt wanna use red for reasons in this video. And camo mmmmm no lol. As far as belts go ur about out of colors, then i started seeing the gray belt pop up in my suppliers inventory. It works it actually looks really nice next to the other colors
Why is the red belt the most important belt? Because one of America's greatest playwrights, David Mamet, didn't make a movie called "Orangebelt" Also a funny story: One of my fellow teachers is a Shotokan Karate Instructor who represented Thailand at the JKA Championships back in the 90's. Back then, like in old school Judo, both competitors wore either a white or red belt. He showed us some old videos he had transferred from VHS camcorder of his competitions (in the one we saw he was wearing the red belt) and one of the other teaches asked "why are you beating up on some poor white belt?" His English wasn't fluent so I helped explain that they were both black belts. and that in competition back then one person had to wear red and the other white so the judges could tell them apart in scoring. I guess they must have changed from red and white to red and blue to get away from the implied nationalism of red and white being the Japanese flag.
Also my style's system: white (un-ranked) yellow (5th kyu) green (4th kyu and usually a hakama if you're a lady) blue (3rd kyu) brown (2nd kyu) brown (1st kyu Hopefully if one day you forget to bring your belt to class, you can find your old one in the back somewhere and if you are lucky nobody will notice) and then black (Shodan and men finally get their hakama as the women laugh as you trip over yourself trying to learn to wear it.)
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
because my dad was in the military I ended up having to train at about four different taekwondo schools before I got my black belt. Though, I remember that the last master that I had, always said that the red belt stood for danger, because the practitioner has the skills of a black belt but has not yet learned the control of one.
Now that's the best martial-arts-ranking quote that I've heard in years!
:)
Thats what we said about the brown belt division in tournaments. The guys were real good but alot lacked the control of a black belt so u could get hurt alot worse in the brown belt division than the black.
The tkd art I train in is somewhat similar but also different.
In most tkd schools red represents danger or an animal, vicious and strong.
But we used brown in the place of red as he doesn't want blood thirsty fighters, but fit happy people that can defend themselves if they ever need to.
@@kob3178 i agree with that👍
@@sliderx1897 thanks, I thought it was a smart idea when I heard it.
I remember asking my old Sifu why we wear red sash. I expected to hear something about tradition and deep symbolism. Sifu's answer was way better than I anticipated.
"The sash is so your pants don't fall down. It's red because I like red"
😂😂😂
I started in Shotokan and made it to Yellow Belt. In our dojo, the ranks went as follows:
Beginner: White, Yellow, Orange and Green
Intermediate: Green with Black Stripe, Blue, Purple and Red
Advanced: Red with Black Stripe and Brown
Black Belt 1-10 Dan
I can’t wait until I get my BJJ red belt 😂
9th Daveed red belt in Bjj takes you’re whole life bro. Keep striving if you want that shiny red belt!
y d what about Amazon prime?
y d fake Bjj black belt I see coming
That takes over 40 years or more.Rickson took 55 years.
Apparently, the laughing face emoji after the statement doesn't make it that clear that it was a joke. 🙄
When I studied Jui Jitsu not BJJ, but the Jui Jitsu style from Japan there was a red belt that over saw all the Dojos in the region. On occasion all the dojos would meet together and the head instructor/red belt would come in.
I have argued with so many people over the red belt rank including black belts who said that red was not a “master” rank.
This guy does an excellent job of explaining the red belt
Sensei Dan you are definitely the personification of a martial arts scholar, in my opinion. You present things in such a professional, concise, methodical, historical, chronological and academic manner. Indeed the red belt is ambiguous, in terms of its meaning, relevance and level of prestige, across the global, martial arts landscape.
As you said in martial arts systems such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu it is awarded to grandmasters 9th dan black belt and above, yet in some Karate styles it is awarded to those of a 5th or 6th degree black belt, ranking pedigree!
You are absolutely spot on Sosai Oyama Masutatsu, altered the colour of the red belt to orange, out of respect for some of his fellow martial arts masters and friends, in other Japanese Karate styles and Judo, where they themselves wore these red belts as the ultimate representation of mastery in their arts. Nevertheless as you mentioned some of our Kyokushin Karate schools or organisations, have retained the original red belt. I have been part of dojos and organisations, that utilise either the red or orange coloured belt. Nevertheless as you said in the end belts colours are at the end of the day, symbolic representations of a person's progression in a system of combat, they do not reflect the actual individual's capabilities as a martial artist.
Oddly enough the first inaugural, as well as the second Kyokushinkaikan Karate World Champion from Japan, Nakamura Makoto, who is now head of his own independent Kyokushin Karate organisation, wears both a black Kyokushin Karate Karate typical black belt, however controversially having awarded himself an 11th dan, one higher than our Kyokushin Karate founder Sosai Oyama Masutatsu, who was 10th dan black belt himself, but in addition to this he also wears a red belt simultaneously, underneath his black belt.
Then there is the late Dutch Kyokushin Karate master, as well as Judo grandmaster Kaicho Johannes Cornelius Bluming, who upon forming his own Kyokushin Karate and Judo, amalgamated association wore a solid and complete 10th dan red belt with gold embroidery for his dan bar ranks, as well as his personal name and that of his organisation in Japanese characters.
Aside from these two gentlemen in Kyokushinkaikan Karate, we do not use the red belt, as a colour of masters or grandmasters rank levels, rather as you mentioned Sensei Dan, the first coloured belt awarded after the white novice rank belt in some of our schools. In Enshinkaikan Karate under its founder Kancho Ninomiya Yoko, originally from Japan and residing most of his life in Denver, Colorado, USA, their black belt ranks are all the way as the designated colour, all the way up to the top grandmaster rank level. Nevertheless in Enshin Karate they use the red dan bars like in American Kenpo Karate and some other martial arts systems, to clearly show the various dan levels of progression of an individual's black belt ranks progression. In some other cases in some other arts, I have come across some styles of Karate using a black belt with a borderline in red, with the vast majority of the black, coloured belt textile, in the middle of the actual belt itself.
My observation is that throughout history, the red colour has been associated with passion, power, leadership and nobility. The Roman centurions wore red garments including their cloaks, as part of their military uniforms, kings, queens and other members of the nobility in the West again with the case of Roman Emperors or the British royals for example wore red capes, mantles, robes and even as part of their crowns ornaments. So I am not surprised that red has been adopted into the martial arts, belts colours, ranking system to either represent the foundations of the art, or its ultimate pinnacle of mastery. In the end as you said what is important, is our dedication, hard work and what the actual colour of the belt, actually represents and means to us. I hope all is well with you Sensei Dan, as well as your loved ones, may God Almighty bless and keep you all safe as always. Greetings from Melbourne, Australia 🇲🇽🇦🇺🥋🙏Osu!
In TKD, the red belt is like a brown belt in Karate, it is the previous belt before black belt
I thought it was Brown belt, black belt, THEN red belt, which is the highest you can go??
Not at all schools red is the first gup, in some schools that traditionally where associated to the judo federation, like in Spain where the first eastern martial arts federation was the judo federation and associate sports, the first gup is represented by a brown belt. In other schools where they use belt tips the red represents the second gup and the first one is a red belt with black tips. This choice doesn’t make sense when we see the red and black belt, that is basically a dan grande for young people who didn’t achieved the minimum age to get a black belt, but is a kind of tradition, thats why we must not talk about colors but GUP.
In Kukkiwon Taekwondo the highest belt you can get is Black 9th Dan, no other colors are used beside black.
@@sirdeetoh Thanks for clearing that up!
All belts r before blacc
To add to the conversation, in my organization we use belts with red on them as ceremonial belts. These belts are only worn at offical functions and events like promotions and tournaments. They go as follows:
5th dan - Black with red stripe
Kari 6th dan (my system is weird) - black with 2 red stripes
6th dan - red with 1 black stripe
7th dan - red with 2 black stripes
8th dan - red with 1 white stripe
9th dan - full red
I know that in some okinawan styles they use the renshi, kyoshi and hanshi belts in the same way. However those of the time I see those belts being worn all the time.
In many Taekwondo schools.
White - the color of innocence or the color of the beginner who has no previous knowledge of Taekwondo. A seedling.
Yellow - signifies the earth from which a plant sprouts and takes root as the Taekwondo foundation is being laid.
Green - signifies a plant's growth as Taekwondo skills begin to develop.
Blue - the color of the sky toward which a plant grows as the Taekwondo training progresses.
Red - color of danger. Cautioning the student to exercise control as they could be a danger to themselves or others without control.
Black- the opposite of white therefore signifying the maturity and proficiency of Taekwondo growth the student has obtained.
This is awesome, thank you for the explanation!
Yes except they took the colored system that other martial arts used and added these descriptions after the fact.
The ranking system most martial arts used was created by judo's Jigoro Kano and inspired by the existing Dan ranking system in the game Go.
The coloured belts system was invented by another judo master in 1930s Mikonosuke Kawaishi who was teaching in Paris. You'd have to read his biography to find out why he chose those colours and order. (I read a french book/article a lifetime ago which claims that he got idea from his students in England where he had a school before moving to France)
@@vlada yes, those explanations came after, as a McDojo marketing scheme.
Interesting! Where’s brown though?
@@VaibhavGajjala No brown in ITF Taekwondo
In American Tang Soo Do, just like its Korean counterpart red belt is used in lieu of brown belt. There are three levels of red belt: 3rd gup (1 stripe), 2nd gup (2 stripes) and 1st gup (3 stripes). Some ATSD schools have changed it so that for each level/degree its a different type of red belt. One is a regular red belt, followed by a red belt with a white solid stripe down the length of it and then one with a black stripe. Some schools have also added an extra rank, what's known as "cho dan bo" rank after 1st gup which is a half red/half black belt.
As for the Dan ranks, ATSD traditionally only uses regular black belts. No "masters" or "grandmasters" belts. Neither Chuck Norris, Pat Johnson or Bob Wall for example, wear special belts. With that being said, over the past few years some schools have added Korean Tang Soo Do style "masters" and "grandmasters" belts.
I love the symbolism for the black belt.
Back in the day, you start with a white belt, and as you trained, your white belt would get dirty and stained by sweat and dirt from training, eventually becomming blackened by years of intense training. Then, when you have achieved a fully blackend belt, it meant that you have already spent enough time on your basics, it showed you REALLY had put time into it, and hard training at that. your belt wont be blackened by standing around, but intende training, being taken to the grund by other students, etc. So a blackend belt REALLY meant a guy had trained.
The traditional white-brown-black also reflects this.
I love this symbolism
Furthermore, by the time you reach the master ranks, you'd probably switch you old and worned belt which started its life as just a cheap un dyed for new, shinny and expensive red belt as at this point you probably have status and really earn some cash from teaching.
The white belt turning black is actually a myth and not how the black belt came to be. It has great symbolism to it but the black belt was implemented by Judo founder Jigoro Kano and in the grand scheme of martial arts, hasn't been around that long. We did a video topic on this a while back. ruclips.net/video/KGRGzyWBArY/видео.html (the black belt part starts at 2:28).
Took a couple of days to think about this one, but I think what resonated with me the most was your commentary at the end that it doesn't matter what belt/sash is around your waist. It's abound the training and what you put into it
The reason the Korean Taekwondo systems replaced the brown belts with a red one was to insult the Japanese. The insult being that a red belt master in Karate was below a black belt in Taekwondo !
Howdy! I am a Karatedo practitioner in Shudokan! In the style I study, Redbelt is equivalent to 10th dan, the highest rank of Blackbelt. The last thing I noticed in Shudokan Karatedo, the rank of Ichi-kyu was the third rank of Brownbelt (which is actually 1st degree) (3rd degree, San-kyu, 2nd degree, Ni-kyu, and 1st degree, Brown Belt, Ichi-kyu) now Ichi-kyu is now represented by a Red belt with a Black stripe that goes parallel along the Belt!
In soryu Karate that comes from the root of Shudokan the Red belt is the 10th Dan. The brown belt is sankyu nikyu ikyu. I have been in Soryu karate since 1966. At my age now the belt is invisible to me. But I wear one on occasion for my students.
In my kenpo class red was between green and brown. Red was very difficult because of how much more you had to learn from the green belt. You had to learn almost all of the forms, and techniques that a black/brownbelt. A lot of people including myself would get stuck on the red belt for many years because of how much you had to learn to go from green to red.
You are definitely the best RUclips martial artists out there you have such Direct way of expressing yourself and this video explains what I explained to my students. The belt you wear it in your waist and not in your forehead so it really doesn't matter what belt you have what matters is who you are and what achieve and if you have a good purpose for it. Oss
In Isshin-ryu and Jiu-jitsu, the red belt is the master rank. Neither teacher plays around with it. They both kept it traditional.
My Taekwondo class was interesting. They used 3 ranks of red before Bo-Dan, aka Bo-Black. And the Red-3 belt was actually optional. My instructors decided to let students choose either Red-3 or Brown when they reached 1st Gup. I personally went with Brown because after a year of red, another 6 months at 1st Gup, and then another 6 months at Bo-Dan which is a half black half red belt, I really needed a break in there so I wasn’t seeing just red for 2 years.
As for custom belts that we give meaning to, I did this. When I was way younger, I was enrolled in 5 different martial arts all at once because I was stupid. And I had a different rank in each one. I really enjoyed working out in the dogi because I loved the sound it makes when you move and the snap when you strike. So since I had so many different ranks, I sought out one belt I could wear to represent everything and I settled on a Camo belt. Camouflage is a mix of several different colors and I thought that was the perfect representation of how many different styles I was in with different ranks.
I understand today that the Camo belt is pretty much the telltale sign of a McDojo, but you know what? I don’t care. I love my Camo belt. I still wear it today. It’s the most worn out belt I have. I wear more than my Black Belt. Out of all the arts I was in back then, I only stuck with Isshin-ryu and Taekwondo, and I recently joined a Jiu-jitsu class, but I still like my Camo belt and feel like its mix of colors represents the different arts I do.
I like this! Despite how many people view the camo belt, you gave it a valuable representation and it means something to you, which is great. You put the meaning in the belt...not the other way around.
The arrangement of tkd belts here in the Philippines is different from how the tkd belts are arranged there in the US. Belt arrangement of wt tkd here is white,yellow,blue,red,brown and black. It's nice to know that belt arrangements are different from the US and other countries.
In Okinawa the "Gold" (Not dark yellow) is a tenth Dan. TKD uses red before black to insult the Japanese belt ranking system,. (This goes back to the 60-early 70's. Back in the 60's I went from white to green to brown and then after being a brown for about ten years I received a third dan.
When I startet Kyokushin Karate someone told me the belt means nothing it is all about yourself and he was right someone could train 5 years of Martial art then switch to a similiar art starting as a white belt.
So always believe in yourself regards of the belts, and stay open mindet.
You 're right. Belts don't matter because the system itself is extremely flawed and stiff. Against a fluid and fast opponent, such as a traditional wing chun master, he wouldn't stand a chance in hell!
I did exactly that. I had years of training, then spent 5 years as a senior student/assistant instructor, then got hurt and after my rehab I started going to a traditional ITF style taekwondo school. The 1st Dan black belts were unhappy when they thought they were going to show me how tough they were..
@@mightymeatmonsta one special ed practitioner picking on an other similar art form seems uncalled for. 😏
@Sergio Díaz NilaI like what you said. I agree, I'm a Karate student. As we develop our skills in kata, bunkai is a great skill. We at higher ranks of colored belts we sometimes do for warm ups by doing a kata and then after working on some of the Bunkai with our partner, then we take a section of the kata that we like and work on it, and develop our own bunkai with our partner. The logic behind doing this is to help us learn to not be all stiff learn to be more fluid. It helps develop a way of understanding how to apply the moves in a fight. In a fight on the street. Every move we make must be made by instinct and follow through with no hesitation once an attack happens. We must react accordingly, not trying to think of what move we should use. If I were attacked and tried to think what moves to use, I would be done for.
Bro. I haven't trained seriously in months and I can't even bring myself to wear my brown belt. I feel like I would be disrespecting it if I wore it now. Time to put on my white belt again!!!
I. My system the belt holds up your pants
In mine it helps hold your gi top closed, our bottoms come with draw strings. Lol
Like Mr. Miyagi said
In mine it holds the sword in place... xD
In my school, when we were part of the Genbukan, the belts were white, green, brown, then black. One spent the most of amount time on the green belt, taking at 6 stripes, or kyu levels before receiving brown. As a female, Tanemura Sensei said we were special and we could choose to have a red belt as an equivalent to green. So, I earned and choose the red belt and kept that until 3rd kyu.
Very informative video Mr. Dan and quite accurate. I truly believe what you said when you ended the video about the idea of any kind of belt. Imo “it’s not what’s around your waist that says what type of a person or martial arts practitioner you are, but rather what you do when you step on the mat and how you conduct yourself in front of your peers and others.”
I practice ITF Taekwondo. So for us "Red signifies danger, cautioning the student to exercise control and warning opponents to stay away."
Another outstanding video on the martial arts thanks, team. Regards Harry
I always enjoy your videos. In my system we use the red belt for student instructors who aren't black belts yet. To become a student teacher you have to go through special training on how to teach (like being able to mirror your stances, techniques, etc. to make it easier for students to just mirror you back so they can get the technique right, we have something called 'sensei left' and 'sensei right' which is basically right and left respectively) Once you go through the training you can help teach, usually the younger students with the bigger classes (and not for free, you get paid to help teach). I think the red is to prevent anyone from talking back to the instructor by saying something like 'well you're only a green belt, what would you know?' That's my guess as to why we use a red belt. Some say it makes it easier to identify the helpers, but I've had little kids come into the dojo who need help with something (outside of a class) and they'll ask me simply because I'm an adult, so I think the real reason for the red belt it to prevent talking back.
I will agree with this, and I wish I would have remembered this when filming the episode. My first instructor had exactly this, an assistant who taught classes and was a green belt, but he was really good but parents didn't want to see a green belt teaching classes so he got to wear a red belt with the gold letters "ASSISTANT" on it. I never questioned it until one day I saw him take his own class. Thank you for bringing this up!
@@ArtofOneDojo oh my gosh I bet it IS 100% because of the parents. I can't believe I didn't see that. I assumed it was the kids, but I couldn't imagine my dojo letting anyone talk back in a nasty manner to anyone regardless of rank (versus just being silly). (For example even to be a junior Blackbelt you need maturity and a sense of humility and grace or you can't get promoted no matter how good your skill is) but I could absolutely see the parents throwing a fit! It's why parents will insist their orange belt get taught by the master of the dojo (a 6th degree black belt) when really a blue belt and up would still give the kid a million helpful things to work on. Parents man...
Oh wow, that is really interesting. In the dojo I had trained in, which was Isshinryu, all those purple and above had to help teach, and even the green belts were expected to go over drills with lower ranked students, if called upon to do so by the sensei. And on top of all that, it was without pay. I don't even think that the lower ranked sensei was paid to teach, under the head sensei. So I think that kenpo seems to be all the more so considerate in that respect.
So a bit of history of the red belt and the belt ranking system in general. It originated in Judo (Originally known as Kano Jujutsu), much like the custom of practicing in a gi, in which Jigoro Kano would use the black belt to represent students and the black belt to represent instructors. Later on intermediate belt colors were added as a way to retain students. Currently in Judo it's white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, brown then black. When the kodokan was established they added a striped red and white belt for their sixth instructors, and the red belt for their ninth dans and higher. To date the Kodokan has never promoted anyone above tenth dan, and few living individuals altogether.
Now Bjj is a descendamt art of Judo through Mitsuyo Maeda (Known in Brazil as Conte Combe) who taught the first of the Gracies and Osvoldo Fadda (creating a lineage of BJJ that isn't part of the "Gracie System"). A lot of the belt system was directly incorporated into BJJ, however the Gracies do a lot to distance themselves from the Kodokan although many of them have Judo black belts. The gracies maintain a red belt for ninth degree or higher, but only a gracies have one in BJJ, due to the age requirements.
The belt system was adopted by other martial arts due to geographic proximity. Really, Judo was one of Japan's first contribution to the Olympics and helped to inform the world's idea of a "Black Belt". Kano would actually send his instructors abroad to teach Judo in other countries to help grow the sport. All in all though, the practice of a belt ranking system is a relatively new practice that came about in the 20th century with the growth and proliferation of sports organizations. It's a convenient way to match competitors by rank and experience rather than throwing all competitors into a giant pool.
My red belt story
I spent a few years training at a Kempo school. I got up to green belt, next would have been brown then black ( no red). Than my family moved to a small town 50 miles away, i couldn't afford the commute.
I started training at a small TKD school that was trying to become a " More street effective system." After a month or so, the head instructor approached me and said. " In our school green belt is a lower rank. I think it's confusing the students. I'd like you to wear this black belt in class."...
I thought about it for a minute, and said. " I don't feal comfortable taking a belt I didn't test for." Next class he presented a RED belt, and said. " I don't know how to test you, but I'd like you to wear this belt in class because it better represents your skill level."
This time it was in front of the students, I couldn't say no... That's how I got my honorary Red belt.
That's awesome! He wouldn't have given it to you if he didn't think you earned it or performed to that level!
In my school of Taekwondo we see the red belt as a warning for the opponent to stay away and also a warning for the student to exercise control.
The closing is awesome!
very interesting and informative. Also good to avoid misunderstandings. The most important though to me are white (the beginner) and black, which are older than the colour system which originated with Kano. I like the BJJ approach where you know that a black belt has 9-12 years of practice. Giving black belts to teenagers or after just 3 years is just ludicrous.
In the dojo where I teach we define Red Belt as the transition from beginner student to advanced student. *White, Yellow, Green, Red, Brown, 2nd Brown, Black. The yellow & green tests are pretty easy. The Red Belt test is a miniature Black Belt Test, usually taking 8 hours, but up to 9 hours.
Love the messaging at the end.... spot on
Being a "Karate Kid" enthusiast, you may remember in part 2 that Sato wore a red belt with a black gi top & white gi pants when he was practicing chopping hitting a beam of wood and Miyagi visited him. As a kid, that mystified me ("Why isn't he wearing a black belt? Isn't he a karate master?").
But where did he recieve said red belt?!?!? Miyagis father was his teacher and miyagi didnt believe in belts🤔🤔🤔
Ive pondered this for years!
I think it is implied that Sato commercialized Miyagi Do or the teachings into his own school. He was a businessman from a wealthy family. He had a school downtown to teach the American servicemen and had posters everywhere at the airport. I think it is implied that he's a local martial arts celebrity and wearing a master belt is part of that image. He's all about the show. Look at the billboard...it's red white and blue while he's advertising teaching American soldiers and even lists himself as "Master Sato".
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@@ArtofOneDojo Thanks for the pic. Wow, you ARE a Karate Kid fan!
@@ArtofOneDojo very very true. Just as i suspected... self appointed red belt
Art of One Dojo suddenly thinking - have you made any videos about favorite or classic martial arts movies? Or generally martial arts in pop culture?
...adding in, respectfully, a clarification for Bujinkan; white @ 10th kyu, green until 5th kyu, brown thereafter until Shodan, regardless of gender...and we have a saying, "don't trip over your belt, or anyone else's." Great channel, many thanks, keep up the good work!
That's interesting, I haven't seen brown associated much with Bujinkan. "Traditionally", green is male and red is female but a lot of schools will keep both green or like you mentioned, utilize other colors.
At my sons previous Goju-Ryu Karate Club his first colour belt was red. Their system works - Red, Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Brown, Brown with Black Stripe and Black. The system at the Shotokan Club is - Yellow, Orange, Green, Blue, Purple, Red, Brown and Black.
Awesome video! :)
In the system I was taught, red signified a learning instructor between 1st degree black belt and 2nd degree black belt. They're black belts, but they're learning to teach, and run classes.
My Martial Arts instructor Chief Grandmaster Rudy Jones in his Ninjitsu system it takes a while to get to your Black Belt, after you received your Brown Belt, it takes four Black Stripes to get to your black belt 🥋.
But in his system there is no full red belt only red stripes on the black belt to indicate your Dan
Fun Fact: Red, in Shintoism, is the color of the gods. This is why red is used by many systems as master. In other countries, however, its possible to see different color belts according to the meaning of certain color. For example, there are various karate and jujutsu systems in England and the UK that do not designate red as master, but rather royal purple.
Interesting tidbit. If I were in the UK however, this would have caused me confusion, as in Isshinryu, among other schools of karate, purple comes right before brown.
Love those shout outs to Tang Soo Do. In our TSD federation red symbolizes summer, ripening, and the Yang portion of the Korean Um-Yang. This comes before the calm, maturity, and harvest of midnight blue.
In our Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo association, which is based on Tang Soo Do, red is the last of the color belts before black belt. Plain red belt is 3rd highest color rank (3rd gup), then you add a stripe for 2nd gup, then another stripe for 1st gup. Next step after that is 1st dan black belt. In our system, red belt signifies the ability to draw blood. Red belt or 3rd gup is the first rank where we are allowed to strike the face in sparring. We are also expected to occasionally teach full classes in preparation to become an instructor. As you get into the upper color belts, you begin to see how everyone becomes their own martial artists, as two students of same rank can show very different levels of expertise and each will have their own specialty, whether it be sparring, forms, breaking, self-defense, etc...
I am currently a solid red belt in what I believe is kenpo. In our dojo we have solid and high belts of each color (white, yellow, green, blue, red, brown) plus candidate belt before black belt. After watching this video again, I can appreciate how red can feel like a beginner expert or an expert beginner.
No not Kenpo does not have red it goes ⚪️🟡🟠🟣🔵🟢🟤🟤🟤⚫️
I’m in kenpo so just saying . Sorry if I sounded mean
In my early days of Karate, the first style of Karate I trained in was Shito-Ryu. The school had pretty much every color you can think of. The belt after white was red and then you move on to orange.
The school I grew up in, the Grand Master started out with four belt colors: you started wearing no belt, then went to yellow, than blue, then red, then black. Yellow was after about six months to a year, blue a year to two after that, red two to five years after that, then black was five to ten years after that. He had no degrees. Once you had a black belt, you were a master.
When he started joining competitions, people complained that his blue belts had been practicing as long as some other people's black belts. So he looked around at other schools and adopted a new scheme that was kind of an amalgamation of other systems. That was about six months before I joined, and my instructor was still adjusting to the new system. One of the advantages of the old system was that there were only two forms for the yellow belt, so you spent most of your first three or four months learning stances and basic step movements. Than you learned the first two forms in the last two months. When it transitioned, out was unclear to the satellite schools (like mine) which if any forms were needed for yellow belt, and when I took my first test in front of the grandmaster it was, to put it mildly, chaos. Some people testing for yellow belt with me only knew basic movements and some who had been there less time than me knew five forms but did them very poorly. My school were in the middle: we had learned the forms in the last week and did them *very* poorly (wrong moves, moves out of order, lots of pauses) but our stances and movements were awesome because we had been doing pretty much only those for months.
I learned over the years as the grandmaster adjusted things that what the rank means is not important, what's important is that everyone knows what it means.
What style?
Northern Shaolin Long Fist and Praying Mantis. He grew up in styles with no belt rankings so he was doing his best to make sense of it based on what he saw around him.
In the Kempo system I studied in the 90s, Red belt was a teaching belt, All Jr Instructors who were not black belt would earn a red belt, the testing for it was more rigorous, and also focused a lot on philosophy. You could not even test for a red belt until you reached blue belt, and you had to be sponsored by a black belt instructor. You wore you red belt only when you were teaching other students (always students lower rank than you), otherwise you wore your regular rank color belt for your lessons.
I forgot to mention that, good point about the teaching belt! We had an instructor MANY years ago who was a green belt but REALLY good, but our head instructor didn't think parents would like their kids taught by a green belt so he got to wear a red belt with the words "ASSISTANT" embroidered on it. Looked advanced and no one questioned it.
Nicely done Dan! Very interesting and informative. In some arts of Ju Jutsu like Miyama Ryu, and San Yama Bushi Ryu, there is no red belt. Their highest ranks attainable are "Kaiden", belts which have red on the top half and white on the bottom half. Also their title is modified from being referred to as "Shihan"....all other, lower black belt ranks are referred to as "Sensei". The Headmaster's belts, which were unattainable (Red for life on the upper half, and black for death on the lower half), were uniquely referred to as "Shinan". This was reserved for the founders of the art. Another interesting note is when a martial artist dies (especially a high ranked one), they are buried wearing a white silk sash for a belt, signifying the completion of the circle of life.
William W some one trained
With grandmaster A . Perrier
I do Sanuces Ous
Red was predominantly an instructors color for us, until it was integrated as the 10th belt preceding the 11th and 12th you receive prior to your 1st Black (I Tuan). However, I think your statement is enticing and valid when examining the curiosity behind the usage of the red belt.
I am doing shotokan karate in Germany. We use the red belt exclusively in kumite to distinguish the partitioners. We have shiro, Japanese for white, without an additional belt, and aka, a short red belt you wear on top of your regular obi. The WKF (World Karate Federation) uses red (aka) and blue (ao) for the same reasons. Thank you for broadening my perspectives on the red belt! =)
I never seen red belts in Goju. It was white, white with green stripes, green, green with brown stripes, brown, brown with black stripes and black
Ive been learning tkd for a while and as a kid i just accepted that red belt was before black and i thought it was a normal thing in any other art with a belt system
I looked up belt rankings like a couple years ago and i was surprised to see that the red belt is actually associated with the 10th dan (the level of "true mastery" or the highest level) in some martial arts
Man that's great information thanks
The belts are inconsistent because they are an import from judo and are not native to traditional karate. In Isshinryu there were was variety in the 90s, but the one I best appreciated philosophically only had white, green after you learned the first four kata, brown after you got the next two, and then black for all 8. Kobudo was then taught to black belts. But there were no belts in the early day of Isshinryu. If you look at the photos from the 1950s. They most often didn't wear shirts and the pants were the length of modern capris.
when I did tkd, red was second to black, when I did
Shorin ryu, red was an exceptional level of mastery beyond black...
got my bujinkan green belt...
I just got my red belt in kyokushin! I'm so happy and excited for this journey!
CONGRATS!!!
I do Kenpo and we do two Brown belts 3rd, 2nd then 1st brown is really a Red/Black belt
Thank you, very interesting. This subject is long overdue for some explanation. I appreciate this video. In our school a great deal autonomy is given to each black belt, each lineage holder, so they can structure the individual requirements for grading up to black belt. At which point proficiency with the whole of the curriculum is the goal. This leaves students with ample material for their health and basic self-defense needs, while providing them a strong foundation with which to pursue future progress in the finer points of these arts.
It has taken me forty-five years to come to these conclusions, in my own school I offer students belts white, green, brown, and black. Not testing any student before two years of regular training. My motto is ''Ten years to black belt. A lifetime to mastery.'' After receiving black belt, prospective students work on specialized technique, skills, or qualities, which become their unique talent. And for this the particular Chinese character is sewn in red thread in their blackbelt. The plan here is to give rise to the development of more individual assets, and less bureaucracy. Black Belts should see themselves as no more than sincere students. The Black Belt testifies that the student has developed themselves, physically, morally, and spiritually. At least it should be an assurance that the person holding the title has an elevated sense of justice, is merciful, humble and wise. In my school the brown belt is a sign that the student can fight, and is capable of defending themselves. And the black belt a sign they know when not to do so.
Peace, its good karma.
Laoshr#60
Ching Yi Kung Fu Association
At the company that I teach at we use Red belt with a black stripe going across the middle of the belt for students that have been certified by our Z-Ultimate University system to teach Karate but have not yet reached the rank of Black in their town individual training. I was a red belt when I became an instructor(actual rank, Green w/ brown stripe) until I got my Shodan in Novmeber of 2021
In the Kenpo dojo where I grew up...the Red Belt was a Jr. Instructor belt. It was awarded to certain individuals who were invited to a class (and passed a written and oral examination) that taught the basics of teaching. This was (un)usually awarded after Purple, but in my case (and that of my Sensei) it was awarded near the end of Orange. It was for Instructors who were below the rank of Brown, and was worn on a daily basis. You wore your actual rank in your belt tests. As such I wore my Purple, Blue, and Green belts twice; when receiving them and when leaving them. As a Red Belt I taught all ranks of Junior students, and any rank of Adult that I had personally attained (but typically one rank below)...and often intro lessons and exercise classes.
It absolutely accelerated my learning curve tremendously.
My Sensei is a 9th dan, I half jokingly asked why he doesn't wear red belt, he laughed and said back in the day in japan red belts were used to denote women black belts(for some sexist reason women could not be presented a "black" belt at the time) also in Japanese karate a red belt is not typically used as a rank but is widely used for competition purposes to denote your side and correspond with the color flag. In shobu ippon there is a white and a red. In wkf competition there is a blue and a red. Red or "aka" will have to wear a red belt with red gloves.
Really cool video! I am really curious about the red and white alternating stripe belt. Will you be doing a video on it or know what it's about? I cant find anything.
The Red and White alternating stripe belt is called a Coral belt, and is usually for higher ranking seniors. Typically above 5th Dan but below Red belt, if they have a red belt. Not all arts use this. BJJ, JuJustu, Judo, and some Karate systems have this belt.
I'm from shotokan karate, when I used the red belt as a color I was 4th kyu.it was the color before brown. I still use the same red belt for WKF competition.
I've studied two Korean arts and both have interesting uses of red. My main style is Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do. It's related to Tang Soo Do and the red belt is not only the rank before black, but is also used as a master color. When one reaches 4th dan, which is the master ran, they get a black (or midnight blue) belt with a single red stripe through it. At 8th dan, one reaches grand master, and the belt now as two red stripes through it. I always thought it was strange that red is both above and below black.
My other style is Hapkido. When my instructor first opened his school, red was originally the third belt (white (no rank), yellow, then red), but this caused a lot of confusion with other Korean styles where red is just before black, so he changed it to orange.
@George Amaru: Fellow student of Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo here! Really enjoy all of the forms(poomsae) in the style and all of the kicking techniques that Taekwondo is known for.
When i tudied Choe Lay Fut Kung Fu the red sash was the belt you wore at the very beginning. When I studied Korean Hwa Rang Do the red belt was the next belt after the brown, then was a black and red striped belt then black. I had often wondered about it as it seems to be the only color that doesn't have a universally accepted meaning...everyone knows a white belt means beginner and black means expert at least it most systems and other colored belts denote some level of intermediate learning. But the red is more...enigmatic. If nothing else I suppose the red belt is a good lesson in not assuming someone's skill level based on a colored belt because of the differences in ranking systems throughout the marital arts. Admittedly the same could be said for other colored belts for the same reason but this on in particular is so malleable in its placement that I think it warrants the particular attention that it has been given.
In the system I've trained in white is unranked and then red was only used for those who would be at the brown belt level but were under 16. Essentially a "junior" brown belt. Our black belt also had a white stripe for those rare individuals who earned it before 16.
The curriculum was the same and the only need to distinguish between "junior" and regualr was about emotional intelligence and physical strength. If you turned 16 between ranks your next belt would be a regular brown belt or a regualr black belt. For junior black belts you might be given and invited to wear a solid black belt after turning 16 before earning 2nd Dan, but mught also just have to wait until you earned 2nd Dan.
It's funny that you put this video out as I was looking at this the other day. In my judo club there is no red belt in the adult syllabus but there is in the junior's and it's low ranking. When I was looking for a club to join I saw one local club that had red after white, while another one had it instead of brown! ... Also, as far as I'm aware in BJJ they don't even give out red belts anymore :(
I study Gracie JiuJitsu and Judo, which you've already touched on. In both cases, Red is a master color. Coral belt and white/red belts are very high up. Then Red belt is the highest in both systems. I've also started training IKCA Kenpo Karate, where our belts go orange, green, blue, purple, brown, and Black. No red at all until you get much higher up.
My belt is only red when it's awash with the blood of my enemies. 🥋😡☠
Other than that it's white
And is that the one you are wearing as tie on neck as i can see in your dp 😒
Grrrr😡😡😡
@@saumikroy r/woooooosh
I got up to green belt in my Shaolin class as 9 year old, but it waas the third grade up in that class, so I guess it was just a beginner belt really, cool vid x
When someone is choosing to enter a tournament that has point sparing the belt ranking typically go like you said for the most part.
Beginner
White, yellow, orange
Intermediate
Purple, blue, green
Advanced
Brown, black, red
So if a system has a red belt at the beginning of there system how would they work that out at the tournament? Would they just have to explain that red belts are a beginner in their system or would they have to do more than that?
If it is a mixed tournament I don't think it would be organized by belt rank, but rather classified as "beginner" or "advanced" or something like that. You could technically put on any belt you wanted for a tournament, they don't check for certification usually.
Tournaments are WORTHLESS because they do not depict the REAL STREETS and the REAL DANGEROUS of said streets! You can't win a fight on the streets doing point karate!! Sorry, it just doesn't work that way! The same goes for ALL boxing derivatives including MMA, boxing, muay thai, jiu jitsu, kickboxing, JKD and all other boxing derivatives! They are SPORTS-ORIENTED which is a nice way of saying FAKE FIGHTING, not REAL STREET FIGHTING, where, weapons and multiple opponents could be involved!
In Wado-ry karate we have white belt 9kyu and 8 kyu is White belt whit Red stripes or fully red belt.
In Japanese jujusto is white belt 6 kyu and yellow belt 5 kyu.
At the TKD school I went to I dont remember which one is before brown but it's either purple or red, probably red. We had red then red with black center stripe 👍
10:03 ouch RIP 🙏😞
My GMs belt is thick and red with gold running through the middle. But it's really his ceremonial belt. He wears his black belt with gold stripes because he was also the Shihan.
I did shotokan when I was a kid and got up to 2nd brown belt before other priorities took over and I had to stop. My school when White, Yellow, orange, green, purple x2, brown x3. from what I've gathered, some schools add blue belt instead of a second purple, and red instead of a third brown. It's probably just to keep kids engaged so they're excited to get a new belt
in our shinkyokushinkai karate training the system is
white
red
blue
yellow
green
brown
black
In my system the red belt is the highest belt. However no one gets awarded a red belt not even myself. We use black Belts with a red master core from Katarro belts.
The longer you’re in your belt the more it shreds. Your level of Mastery depends upon the amount of work to put in which is reflected by the wear and tear on your belt.
In traditional Kang Dukwon TKD we go brown, red, red/black then black. The reasoning behind it is we are creatures that seem to need affirmation of progress. In the past it was 3 degrees of brown, denoted by black stripes. Holding at brown belt for so long seems to have a negative effect on some people and causes "brown belt blues". I'm currently a brown belt in Kang Dukwon, working towards red. I also want to add, our red/black is a red belt with a black stripe through the middle. Junior black belts (poom) wear the red/black bi-color belts. That's typical of the Kukkiwon rank system. Years ago I was in TKD that utilized red belt then 3 degrees of brown before black...
Keep up the good work, Dan.
In soo bahk do, red is right before midnight blue... But once you become 4th dan tmyou get a belt that is midnight blue with the center color red all through the belt... and those who get from that belt up need to pass s kilitsry bootcamp type of testbfor each belt
I had a friend that was maybe still is the head instructor at lomita park soo bahk do. He used to invite us to watch the testings. Man those things were intense!
*Good to know!*
It was and still is my dream to become a black belt. just need the money for classes.
Man, I just want to make Black Belt in Kenpo as soon as I possibly can get back to taking classes again!
🧔🏻
🥋
🐅⛩️🥋🧘🏻♂☯️⛩️🐉
👊🏻💪🏻😎
The local Karate DoJo here in England, uses the following belt colours / levels:
9th kyu - Red Belt
8th Kyu - Orange Belt
7th Kyu - Yellow Belt
6th Kyu - Green Belt
5th Kyu - Purple Belt
4th Kyu - Purple and white stripe
3rd Kyu - Brown Belt
2nd Kyu - Brown & white stripe
1st Kyu - Brown & double white
The multiple colours of belts for junior grades came in when Karate became monetised and commercialised,
The majority of people don’t have the self discipline to continue training without a public symbol of their achievements to show for it.
As you say in the early days a Shotokan student would train from 9th Kyu to 4th kyu as a white belt which could be a period of 2 years or more, before spending another year or so as a brown belt from 3rd to 1st kyu before going for black.
In today’s world we are fickle and need our little badges of honour. But in reality the colour of the belt means nothing.. it’s the person who wears it that matters.
@Art of one Dojo...
I'm sure we've met at a seminar. Maybe Grandmaster Larry Tatum, or at an East coast Kenpo Association event; Grandmaster Steve Arsenault? , Hulk Planus?.
I live in Ontario Canada, and my main art is Shorin Ryu, but I have over a decade of Tracy and EPAKK under my belt, and for several years travelled extensively throughout the United going to various seminars and training events.
I have never met Mr. Tatum or Mr. Arsenault. I was at a Huk Planas Seminar once back in 1998. I have never attended a Kenpo seminar outside of Florida. Were you ever at one of Master Sean Kelley's Kenpo Camps?
@@ArtofOneDojo no I've never met Sensei Kelly. 😢
I like that most bjj tends to be consistency with belts actually fitting skillset
Not anymore most bjj schools are becoming Mcdojos nowadays
Very good explanation, Dan! At my next promotion to 5th Dan, (my style is Tracy's / Kang Duk Won) I have the option of a red and white belt, at this point, I don't think I will do that. I like the black belt best, though I rarely wear a belt much as I like to mix submission grappling with striking so I usually go no-gi. Maybe one to hang on the wall :-)
In Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan red belt is the rank under midnight blue. It has gold stripes and blue stripes, gold stripes mean half so you get red, red gold, red blue, red blue gold, red 2 blues etc.
Our dojo has red belt as part of the beginner levels however because the school is a mix ( hybrid system) red is present in the black belt rank too same as American Kempo.
For my school (songham taekwondo) our order is white, orange, yellow, camouflage, green, purple, blue, brown, red, recommended black (half red half black) then black and black has 9 degrees with stripes until fifth then stars until ninth with 5 stars. ( I could be wrong but I believe that there is technically 10th degree for the eternal grand master who was the founder of the art but not entirely sure about that.) I’m currently recommended black so hopefully I can get black later this year.
If you’re curious the belt colors represent a tree growing (orange-black I mean. white is still pure without knowledge) orange is the sun is rising. yellow is the seed seeing the sunlight. camo-brown is the tree slowing growing more each belt. Red is the sun setting. recommended black (or red/black) is the sun rising again and black is the tree at maturity planting seeds for the future.
Thank you Mr Dan again a great job good video you know this is going to sound funny and I'm hoping it puts a smile on your face but honestly confused the crap out of me because with my background Japanese martial arts Okinawan martial arts Korean martial arts your traditional Filipino combat Arts have no belts and then you have your Indonesian pentchak silat... do Rankin and belts systems are completely different in every one of these Arts some of them don't even have a red belt and some of them do and it literally depends on the system and I have noticed in even Korean hapkido there are systems of hot hapikido that has the red belt and there are other systems that does not so trust me I've always end up scratching my head figured that one out the same thing with somebody traditional Japanese Arts where do red belt is toward the beginning or middle stages and then the other Arts that does not even have a red belt for a master thank you so much I really enjoy your videos
had a red belt cus I liked it. wore even after receiving black, it reminds me of the heavy conditioning
In Kyokushin that I train in, the red belt is used for 9th kyu after orange
A lot of organizations don't even have red. We have red as a teacher's rank (Renshi/Kiyoshi/Hanshi), but the Kyu ranks are white, green and brown.
In our system red comes just before black. And when I earned my 5th degree I got a black belt with red fringe and a solid red bar at each end. At my current rank of 6th degree I just continue to wear the same belt. Frankly, the belt ranking systems are interesting in that there is such a wide variety. At my age I’m just glad to still be training every day. 😊
I use gold belt as the highest instructor rank (chief instructor) in my school in place of red belt. And I use red belt right after orange belt for students in my school.
That you for the shout out to my first art, tang soo do
Belt colors only matter within your own school. One black belt is not equal to another black belt in a different school. Personally, in my opinion, a belt is just a piece of clothing; it's what you know and how you can effectively apply it that interests me.
Yes. Yes. I’ve been preaching this for decades. Thank you!
The last couple years in my program ive actually implemented a gray belt. Its basically a yellow belt for adults. I figured no adult wants to wear a yellow belt with a bunch on 6 year olds runnin around in em. So yellow and orange are strictly kids ranks. They are replaced by gray belt and gray belt with a black stripe. Adults seem to dig it it puts a clear division between kids and adults. And this way no child ever out ranks an adult. Similar to bjj.
I like that. Not many schools use a grey belt.
@@ArtofOneDojo i wanted there to be a clear cut separation like in bjj. I didnt wanna use red for reasons in this video. And camo mmmmm no lol. As far as belts go ur about out of colors, then i started seeing the gray belt pop up in my suppliers inventory. It works it actually looks really nice next to the other colors
@@sliderx1897 And *cough* *cough* Leopard/Camo/White Dot *cough* *cough*. You're welcome :D
@@ArtofOneDojo thats reserved for the super duper advanced ninja program😁
Why is the red belt the most important belt? Because one of America's greatest playwrights, David Mamet, didn't make a movie called "Orangebelt"
Also a funny story: One of my fellow teachers is a Shotokan Karate Instructor who represented Thailand at the JKA Championships back in the 90's. Back then, like in old school Judo, both competitors wore either a white or red belt. He showed us some old videos he had transferred from VHS camcorder of his competitions (in the one we saw he was wearing the red belt) and one of the other teaches asked "why are you beating up on some poor white belt?" His English wasn't fluent so I helped explain that they were both black belts. and that in competition back then one person had to wear red and the other white so the judges could tell them apart in scoring. I guess they must have changed from red and white to red and blue to get away from the implied nationalism of red and white being the Japanese flag.
Also my style's system: white (un-ranked) yellow (5th kyu) green (4th kyu and usually a hakama if you're a lady) blue (3rd kyu) brown (2nd kyu) brown (1st kyu Hopefully if one day you forget to bring your belt to class, you can find your old one in the back somewhere and if you are lucky nobody will notice) and then black (Shodan and men finally get their hakama as the women laugh as you trip over yourself trying to learn to wear it.)
my school has its own belt ranking system, and the advanced ranks contain of 2 brown and 3 red before black