Karate Belts
The Karate Kid Cobra Kai Child Costume-Large
The ranking of the Karate students by the color of their Karate belts is a very recent practice even though Karate has a history of centuries. The ranking by belt color was first seen in Japan for Judo. Judo was developed in Japan at the end of the 19th century by Kano Jigoro. He adopted the then existing practice in Japan of awarding colored belts to those who excel in arts. But he too had only two colors, white and black. In the early 19th century with the introduction of Judogi more colors were adopted by its promoters. It was only much later the Karate belts came into being.
The origin
Karate belts came into existence only in the 1920s when Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan Karate decided to introduce the ranking system in Karate. While introducing the Karate belts sensei Funakoshi told his wards not to wash the belts at any time. His theory was that the Karate belts wound change to appropriate color with sweet and blood of the practitioner. Funakoshi opined that the hard work and efforts put in by the students can be measured by the color of their Karate belts. The harder you work, the more are the stains on your belt. That is why Karate belts are never washed. But to change the color, the Karate belts are dyed.
The ranking
The usual ranking of the students is from Kyu 7 to Kyu 1 from bottom to top. Kyu means rank. Rank Kyu 7 is for a beginner and Kyu 1 is at the top. The colors awarded to their Karate belts are white, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown and brown advanced respectively from Kyu 7 to Kyu 1. For the Okinawa Goju Ryu version of this martial art, there are 21 rankings. The first 11 from the bottom are 11th Kyu to 1st Kyu. Here also the 1st Kyu is at the top. Their Karate belts have colors white, white with a yellow stripe, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, purple with a white stripe, brown, brown with a white or black stripe and brown with two black or white stripes.
When the student goes beyond brown belt with two black or white stripes another set of ranking and Karate belts are awarded. The ranking is 1st Dan to 10th Dan, bottom to top. The color of their Karate belts is black for all. The ranks are known as Dan once the student reaches the black belt level and the rankings are described as Black Belt 1st Dan to Black Belt 10th Dan. Black Belt 10th Dan is the highest rank in the Okinawa Goju Ryu system. Other systems have their own methods of coloring their Karate belts. The system is not universal as generally believed.
You cannot judge the competence of a Karate practitioner merely by the color of his/her belt. Under some systems it takes up to 10 years to reach the top while in others you can get a black belt in three years. So you have to understand the system before assessing their ability.
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Tags: 1920s, Brown And Brown, Colored Belts, Judo, Karate Belts, Karate History, Karate Kid Cobra Kai, Karate Students, Kyu, Martial Art, Okinawa Goju Ryu, Rank Rank, Shotokan Karate, Stains, Two Colors, Wards, White Stripe, White Stripes, Yellow Orange, Yellow Stripe
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