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BELT COLORS & RECOGNITION OF RANKS
My view and opinion on this subject may cause a rash or irritation to some martial arts teachers or school owners, who use every color in the rainbow and then most of the colors found in a Crayola box, to rate and rank their junior students. There was a time in my early years of the martial arts between the 1950’s and 1970’s, where belt colors used for recognition of ranks, were limited to: White, Yellow, Blue, Green, Brown, Black. I still use this belt color chart in my teaching today, after more than fifty-years in the martial arts. In the early years of Kodokan Judo, there was only white belt to black belt. From your first judo class, until you were eligible to wear the coveted black belt, you just remained a white belt, who withstood harsh training conditions that would be viewed in today’s martial arts as brutal! In an effort to reward the surviving novice students for
their suffering endured, their learned skills, and for paying their dues as the
uke’s for the seniors and teachers, the decision was made to elevate the more
senior white belts to a brown belt level. As commercialized martial arts rolled on into the 1950’s,
most teachers and school owners found it necessary to recognize and promote
their junior paying students at a faster pace, in order to hold their attention
and interest. As commercialized martial arts rolled on into the 1960’s, 70’s, 80’s, the colors of the belts started to double, as more promotions and rank recognitions were initiated into their class curriculum. It became a simple matter of numbers and profits, as promotional fees were charged for each belt color as recognition of rank. There was a time in the 1950’s and 60’s, that I could attend a seminar or contest, and by looking across the contest area, it was simple to identify each persons achieved level, because back then, there were strict rank requirements and time in grade, before a student elevated to a higher level. There were no shortcuts, and there were no ranks achieved by the contents of a student’s wallet! Walking into a contest area today, I sometimes get dizzy trying to adjust my eyes to all the different color belts. I see; white, yellow-tipped, red, yellow, green, blue, purple, orange, pink, turquoise, multi-stripped, black and grizzly-gray! I am totally against anyone, other than a Supreme Grandmaster, or Soke, wearing a red-belt! Anything over and above the use of; white, yellow, blue, green, brown (1-2-3) and black, is used for nothing more than generating extra income from the students, or as a means to hold onto bored students who would otherwise have dropped-out long ago! There are martial arts teachers, who promote so often (for a fee), that the belt removed from the student is still stiff! If the only way a teacher can retain his students is by presenting him a new color belt every couple of weeks, I suggest you take a good look at your training curriculum, and find a way to make your classes both a learning experience and at the same time, FUN!
Professor John E. Chambers
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