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Karate Belts: What Is This Odd Tradition For?

By Francis W. Ojeda

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 06Mar2012
Word count: 1367
Viewed: 23 time(s)

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As martial arts students fight their way through the different skill levels of the particular fighting style they chose to practice, they are rewarded with new Karate belts that are used to show their rank. A lot of people are curious about how this interesting ranking system really works, how it all began, and what must be done to move from one level to the next. In this article, we are going to look at those very things and maybe shine some light on this fascinating subject.

This broadly used system was first started many years in the past by Gichin Funakoshi, who was the founder of Karate, as a functional variation of the Kyu-Dan ranking system that was used in Judo at the time. Kyu-Dan refers to the two pieces of the ranking system, where Dan represents the range of steps from novice to advanced and Kyu represents the range of steps from advanced to master. Though it varies quite a bit from one institution to the next, there are normally twenty steps all total, with ten Dans and ten Kyus to earn.

A very significant thing about the belts that are used in this ranking system is that they come in a variety of colors and often have stripes put on them at the ends. The colors and stripes are what set each rank apart from the next, where students start out at the lightest colors and get to wear the darker colors as they progress. There are typically three ranks between every color, and those ranks are represented by the stripes on the belt.

Though you will now notice that many schools use colors ranging from green and red all the way to black, there used to be fewer colors used in this ranking system, because there used to be fewer ranks. Instead of moving up to a new rank in just a few weeks, like martial arts students are doing these days, the traditional system would have fighters remaining in one position for years on end, until their master feels they have learned everything there is to know about that skill level.

When the time comes for the diligent students to achieve their next ranks and karate belts, they will have to take on a special test that consists of physical and mental tests of skill and understanding. These tests are usually in the form of a special combat performance that must be acceptable or oral questions about the discipline they are achieving, but instructors also use their own better judgment to decide who is ready and who is not.

If you are looking for the best martial arts gear then you can check on Karate Belts or you can also check Karate Weapons.

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