"Black belt is not something you get, it is something you become"
- Warrior Spirit
"A black belt is more than a belt that goes around your waist. Being a black belt is a state of mind and attitude"
- Rick English
I wanted to start this off with first my own background concerning belts. I possess a 3rd dan in Moo Duk Kwan, a 2nd dan in Chang Moo Kwan, Hapkido, and Tang Soo Do, a 1st dan in Chung Do Kwan and IKCF Kempo. I have various degrees of ranks between Kendo, Okinawa-te, Oh Do Kwan, Muay Thai and Krav Maga.
However; I have not registered with any officiating body of martial arts. So technically I am still a white belt after 21 years of practice and training. I am okay with that, and I will relate why below.
So first, what are black belts? The most prevalent symbolism of martial arts today other than Bruce Lee. But what is a black belt?
Wikipedia defines it as the following (A site I use because it seems to be more often than not pretty objective and a great encyclopedia)
"In martial arts, the black belt is a way to describe a graduate of a field where a practitioner's level is often marked by the color of the belt. The black belt is commonly the highest belt color used and denotes a degree of competence. It is often associated with a teaching grade though frequently not the highest grade or the "expert" of public perception."
The belt system was first implemented in the late 1900s, in Judo. Since then many martial art styles have adopted its practice, from traditional martial arts to more contemporary such as Krav Maga. However, the practice itself is not contemporary.
I have seen the belt ranking system utilized from badges to sashes to the belts themselves. I have seen four ways to tie them, some even having their own name or being designated for certain ranks. A 3rd dan for example is allowed in some schools to tie their belt in a certain way, creating a square knot instead of the normal diamond shape, and is known as the 'master tie'. I am not sure honestly how I feel about that, after all, it is just a belt.
Woah, I think I just wrote something sacrilegious to martial artists, where often today a belt means everything.
I am dubious of the belt system for multiple reasons; for one, it has created a system where martial arts revolves around money. It is my belief that martial arts should be taught for free, to anyone. Yet many schools, especially 'mcdojos' revolve around money; it'll be up to $500 dollars to start, then there's a cost for the school logoed uniform, and then fees to test. As if writing a check were what grants you the privilege to wear a belt, rather than actual ability. And hence why there are many who walk around wearing a belt of high rank and in my opinion, not deserving it.
I believe it takes around five years to achieve the rank of 1st dan, or shodan, or black belt. And it is not a pinnacle of one's journey, it's the start of it. Where all the training that came before prepared one mentally and physically for the endeavor. A black belt, to me, is the point when one goes camping where they have gathered all the supplies they will need, and have learned how to use them. The next phase is actually using them.
My favorite story about what the belt system represents is this; many years ago martial artists were a secluded group, often monks living in temples far away from cities. This is still the case in some areas. When entering the temple the novice was given a garb, usually white. Over time as they trained, as they bled, sweat and dirt would come together they would eventually turn their uniform black until it disintegrated. That is where the black belt symbolism originated; when one went to a temple, one could always tell who was experienced from how dirty their uniform was.
Things have changed today; we wash our uniforms to be as neat as soldiers. When we bleed on our gi, we replace them when they become stained. We live by the belt, rather than by our arts.
I received my first black belt when I was seven, and it is debatable whether or not I deserved it then. I do not think I did; but I do think I deserve it today, fifteen years later. When I was a 3rd dan at that school at thirteen, I switched martial art schools, and was flabbergasted to find their black belts were better than many black belts I had known. I immediately resolved to become a black belt there, and in two years did so.
You see that rule of thumb of five years isn't so much a rule, but so much the standard. Given that one practices two hours a week for five years is around 500 hours of practice. It is my opinion that just to see gradual growth in the arts one must practice twice a week, every week. I took on my new school training up to four hours a day, six days a week. Keeping that in mind, the time it takes one to achieve that level of adequacy is dependent on the time one puts in.
I came across a blog post a long time ago which makes a very good point about what I am trying to describe.
"Not long ago I was talking with a gentleman whose name escapes me. He was a 1st degree Black Belter from the 60s who had studied Karate in Japan, and had not “updated” his training since then. He was an older gentleman–I’d have to say he was easily in his 60s–and very fit. We talked about the martial arts and how they had changed over the years, and he mentioned that his children had studied the arts in the 80s and how disappointed that his children (1) reached the Black Belt level far sooner than he had without the skills to match, and (2) his boys did not have the level of indominability he possessed upon reaching his Black Belt. While he was lamenting this state of the martial arts, I wondered if he retained his fighting skills after all these years and sure enough–I overcame my shyness and asked for a match, and he obliged.
Now, I don’t want you to criticize me for challenging an old man to a match. First, it wasn’t a real match, as he and I only played hands for about 3 minutes and I certainly would not have fought him like a young man (unless I needed to). Secondly, this gentleman’s physique was not indicative of his age and I would bet the house that he could have held his own against any man I put before him. Bottom line, he was skilled as a fighter and I know his kids must be proud of him. I wish him many years to come and I know that God has blessed him with the gift of youth and wisdom in his older age. But on to the point of the article….
He struck me with something he said: (and I’m paraphrasing) I had not taken on another teacher because I already felt safe with the skills I was given and I never met another teacher who could match my own. What a blessing. I have an issue with people who insist that “the Black Belt is only the beginning”. I believe it is the end. It is only the beginning when your teacher bestowed the belt on you before you had become an expert and the last time I looked, the black belt was supposed to mean you were an expert. And the second thing here is that he was blessed to have a teacher he felt was the among the best, and he never met another man whose skill matched his teacher’s. This is something I would hope every martial arts student had. Yet I know that it is not, and that is because we tend to give rank to people who really don’t deserve it."
http://filipinofightingsecretslive.com/2011/05/09/the-60-year-old-guy-with-the-3rd-degree/
Now the reason I disagree with one point in the last paragraph is that even an expert can keep growing in the arts. I believe we can always become better, no matter the length of time behind us in our martial experience. But I do agree that the belt itself should represent a point of authority. It depends on your martial philosophy. Some believe the belt to be the end all be all, and some believe it to be just the start. Both are right. I just happen to note that there are multitudes of ranks, in some systems nine more such as 9th or 10th dan, above black belt. So perhaps it is only the end if your system teaches the black belt to be the final step. Again, it depends on your style's traditions, and the martial philosophy you engage with.
Looking back though, a black belt honestly means both much and nothing to me now thanks to my experience. Many say they don't tangle with black belts because of the rank itself, but one can easily buy a black belt off really anywhere and wear it and create that self-respect which goes along with the title. Even a skilled martial artist can be shot to death, caught off- guard or overwhelmed. When that happens, your belt means nothing, no matter its rank or your experience.
But there's a difference between having the black belt, which was where I was when I was seven, and earning it, which I would only later when fifteen.
One of my favorite lessons in my time teaching was in front of about fifty students who were children, was take off my black belt, let it drop to the ground (usually something very bad in the martial arts to even let the belt touch the surface) and proceeded to 'wow' them by doing so and so technique.
You see, it really isn't the belt that makes us a black belt. It is our attitude. To many I am not a black belt because I am unregistered, and that is fine, I know my quality as an artist because when I practice with people of different styles, they tell me where I am in their eyes. And those I train or interact with concerning martial arts are the only opinions which really matter in my martial practice. When another master who teachers sees my value and tells me I am an expert, or I am skilled, that is where I can rest my opinion on myself. I can't worry about what others think when I have never even met them. Heck, I barely concern myself with the opinions of others about myself save to know when I am erring to be honest.
And yet despite saying all the above, I still wear a belt when I practice as often as I do not. For one, when traveling or going to other schools, it allows one to be accepted as a practitioner. I have scores of the belts now, with a small fraction being those I have myself bought out of frivolity. I have belts which are embroidered, I have belts with stripes and colors, but my favorite is a plain old black belt. And the belt I respect most out of all of them, is both my ancient white belt from when I was four, and the one I own now that I am twenty-five.
After all, is not something a martial artist is humble? There is little more humbly satisfying than wearing a white belt when you have trained for decades. We are never too old or experienced to start over again. Some see the white belt when a black belt as a mark of shame, I merely see it as a reminder that we are always starting over in a sense- beginning anew.
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Out of the black belts I have seen, those of my favorite system assign colored strips in the middle. It symbolizes one is an instructor, or a head instructor. Usually it is given around 2nd dan, but exceptions are often made.
3rd dan receive a black belt with a blue stripe. In the arts black represents perfection, but the blue denotes skill and that is one is still learning. It is known as the 'midnight blue' and 'blue-moon' belt. It is the perfect student of one having mastered their techniques, as one should by their third ranking as a black belt in the same system, and that they are still a student.
But honestly, the highest rank one can receive, and honestly can only give themselves, is a belt they have earned, treated with respect, but over the years has deteriorated to almost nothing. The most I have seen this was a belt which was essentially just a string and a single tab at the end. It was well over fifty years old.
How one earns their black belt is not only dependent on their school, but also on whether or not they feel they deserve the belt. I do not think any other martial artist has the right to tell another they do not deserve their rank unless they are specifically acting and living outside what they should with that rank. And even that is pretty subjective.
Even if I know someone has bought their belt, I still pay deference to it, even if the holder should in my opinion not be wearing it. There have been many times in the past when I had finally earned my second black belt at another school where had I met myself when younger, I would have told my younger self to remove it.
And there is both arrogance in that, and humility to a degree. Because to feel that I had actually earned the belt I had worn for many years was a huge motivator to pushing ahead and training anew.
For me, when I teach my own system... there are no belts. I do not see the need. I may gift a belt for certain things that have been done or achieved, but it is only a token. One organization I am striving to work for, such as kids kicking cancer, has an operating principle that any child who dies of their terminal illness will receive a black belt before they do. I am quite alright with that, as it jives with my principles of what a black belt should be used for.
But if one does wear a black belt; it should be with the confidence that without a doubt they deserve the rank they hold. That is something I could not have at one school, so sought to achieve it elsewhere. And that is a personal battle for each of us who practice.
By all means I am not saying a black belt is worthless, but I am saying it is just a thing. It is an ideal that once reached after a mountain of climbing, one finds that it has merely shifted and moved to a higher mountain to top. We are always climbing, and our road only ends when we either give up practicing and walking it, or die. I know in my heart that it will be the latter for me. It is a mark less of rank and more of maturity and skill. Without those two qualities a black belt is just a belt.
"Black belt is a white belt that never quit."
-Unknown
"I'm not a master, I'm a student-master, meaning that I have the knowledge of a master and the expertise of a master, but I'm still learning, so I'm a student-master. I don't believe in the word master, I consider the master as such when they close the casket."
-Bruce Lee
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