Why The Red Belt is the MOST Important Belt | ART OF ONE DOJO
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- The Red Belt is a wild card in the martial arts and holds many different meanings. Depending on the art practiced, it can mean expert, novice, be a forefront presence or completely omitted from a system. The red belt is unique and in this video we ask the question, why is the red belt the most important belt in the martial arts?
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#redbelt
#karatebelts
#bjjredbelt
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. 🙄
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. 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
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
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!!!
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.
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
As a judoka and jujitsuka, I've never had much faith in the significance of upper red belts. I usually see coral and red belts awarded for political contributions to a federation and often has little to do with mastery of a style. I've always heard the red belt started in Judo and was adopted by karate systems later as a master or founder rank.
I think it is silly and have no use for it.
I can't say that I disagree with you there.
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!
I practice ITF Taekwondo. So for us "Red signifies danger, cautioning the student to exercise control and warning opponents to stay away."
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
Man, I just want to make Black Belt in Kenpo as soon as I possibly can get back to taking classes again!
🧔🏻
🥋
🐅⛩️🥋🧘🏻♂☯️⛩️🐉
👊🏻💪🏻😎
At my school (I train in a kenpo blend) here are the ranks.
White
Yellow
Orange
Green (me!)
Purple
Blue
Red
Advanced red (red with black stripe)
Brown
Advanced brown (brown with black stripe)
Black. Just my school, a bit odd. Great school though. I’ve been training since November every single day for hours. Going for my black within hopefully 3 years.
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
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.
Some Okinawan in kung fu systems use red is the master
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.
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.
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 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 !
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!
Red belt I'm taekwondo is before black belt.Karate a red belt is 10th degree black belt.
You are definitely the best TH-cam 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
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.
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.
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
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 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.
I practice Kosho Ryu Kenpo, no red belts at all!
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.
I do Kenpo and we do two Brown belts 3rd, 2nd then 1st brown is really a Red/Black belt
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!
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.
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 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. th-cam.com/video/KGRGzyWBArY/w-d-xo.html (the black belt part starts at 2:28).
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
It was and still is my dream to become a black belt. just need the money for classes.
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...
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.
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!
When I did karate it went from:
White
Orange
Red
Yellow
Green
Purple
Purple (white stripe)
Brown
Brown (white stripe)
Brown (2 white stripes)
Black
Though when I look at other people they sometimes don’t include any of the white striped belts.
In one of my styles, Shorinji ToraKen ryu Kempo Karate...the red belt comes just before 1st dan Black. This system is a composite of Kenpo, Shitō-ryu karate, and Hapkido/Tae Kwon Do. There have been several splits in the system. When I was 6-8 yrs old, the myth was that you had to kill someone in a specified manner to earn the red belt. Amazing what little boys will come up with!
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?
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.
Traditional Shotokan (assuming we are talking about JKA here) doesn't actually have any red belt. Shotokan adopted(borrowed) the belt system through the judo, Kodokan(which was recognized by the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai pre-WWII). Kodokan themselves did not created the use of red belt till the early 40s. Although JKA syllabus started off with 10 kyu for the mudansha, there's only 4 colors belt (White, Green, Brown & Black) including belt for yudansha. Perhaps the other colors are created for org outside of Asia? Bright color belts are only common in Taekwondo in Asia as per my own experience. Although karate is influence/started off from Okinawa, the belt system didn't quite become universal until after WWII. I'm not familiar with Okinawan karate, if you are a practitioner please share the history with me. Osu
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.
This is what I appreciate with The Japanese / Okinawan / Korean and some American-based martial arts, the belt system. Other than skills, such give you a goal for you to train. You want to earn skills, discipline and you want to earn that belt. No disrespect to Chinese, Thai and other forms of martial arts but even if they have their effectiveness, it does not have that belt system and tend to present its rankings in a different way. Take Wing Chun for example, certainly they have level but such is expressed differently, one you reach a higher level you get a certificate. Don't get me wrong, I love Wing Chun and have high respect for that martial art. But in Karate and Taekwondo for example, you get a certificate as well plus the belt.
Really appreciate all your videos & thank you 🙏🏽
The video really should be renamed why it’s the most interesting & fascinating belt, not the most important. ¿ Maybe entitling as the most important belt got us to see it !?...and it worked on me ! : ) 👌🏽
In My Dojo ( I teach in Sydney Australia ) Red comes before Brown then Black.
My students are taught that Red signifies / symbolises ‘passion & power that they must continue to develop but it’s also a Red stop 🛑 ✋ sign reminding & warning them that despite being at an advanced ish stage there is still much to learn.
All the belts in my system of Karate have a feature characteristic symbol attached to them in order to try develop the improvement of the character.
I tell my beginners...’if you are a great White belt, you will be a great Black belt’.
Evaristo Blazquez
( my students address me as Hanshi )
8th Dan Tang Soo Do Karate
5th Dan Taekwondo ( Kukkiwon )
3rd Dan Kyokushin Kai Karate
Osu
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.
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
its was in judo that the belt system started by sensei kano . the colors yellow orange green blue brown was introduce by sensei Kawaishi
in judo when you are 6th dan you can wear the coral belt . after the 8th dan youwear the red belt . only 3 living in judo .bjj copied the judo
belt system of course like all techniques as well .it was the judoka Maeda who learned judo the the gracies . but that its history .
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.
I was surprised at this because in my dojo shin go Ryu we have first white then red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown, and finish on black so this was very surprising (karate btw)
My schools system in W Y P O B G R Blk
No idea when they got rid of brown but it’s no longer used.
Edit; after reviewing comments, apparently they follow the ATSD standard, having once been ATSD. Thanks barrettokarate
In my school, red belt was after your first black belt, as you were a learning instructor. I used to call it the Army's Corporal rank. You're an NCO, but not really. You're a black belt, but not really. LOL
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
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
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.
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 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.
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😁
My 6th dan Sensei essentially uses a black belt that has turned white from use and washing. Personally I don't believe in focusing on the colour of the belt. Just look at your own damn progress through technique and skill. That's all that matters.
JKA Karate, plain white belt, plain yellow belt, plain orange, plain green, plain brown, and plain black.
Though the older high ranking black belts have belts that are so used, they have started turning back to white.
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 :(
The IOGKF (Major Goju-Ryu organization). We do not use Red for ranks. Only in sparring tournmants.
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.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, wherever I go around most people always thinks Yellow was the worst of all time. regardless of Karate, Taekwondo and all? is it really not good enough to stay on Yellow Rank😮😮
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.
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.
Man that's great information thanks
It looks best holding up your black pants! It shows a little excess SUGAR in the blood, if you know what I mean!
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.
had a red belt cus I liked it. wore even after receiving black, it reminds me of the heavy conditioning
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 the style of karate I practice we don’t have red in our system. It goes white orange yellow blue green purple 3 degrees of brown and 10 degrees of black
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.
In my style it goes white yellow green beginner/blue purple intermediate/ red brown black brown 3 stripes advanced / black belts takes bout 4 yrs to go thru but lifetime to understand it properly
When I was White belt,I cried everytime I go to teakwondo class because I thought I was useless and now I am Red
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 🙏😞
in our shinkyokushinkai karate training the system is
white
red
blue
yellow
green
brown
black
In my system the color red is used as an intermediate to advanced pre-black belt rank.😀😀😀
I was in for 10 years and I'm a red and black belt
I been put in 2 different martial arts and
I'm in home and I practice by myself
My belt is different White belts Green belt Purple belt Brown belt Black belt. Red black and white belt
White Belt is the most important belt; without it, no other belt can be earned!!
It's been over forty years, I'm still a white belt.
Robert Mitcham so true. In our dojo it symbolizes courage
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.
Our red belt goes red then advance red so a red belt with a black stripe both of those are at the end of color belts before black and those a refresh belts showing you learned all your basics before taking black belt test
In my Shaolin Kempo school we use the red belt for instructors who aren't black belts.
I went to a school once and red was a master level color but only for those under 16 if I remember correctly but it might had been 18
my school has its own belt ranking system, and the advanced ranks contain of 2 brown and 3 red before black
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.
My dojo requires to fight a brown to get your red and how skilled youll get a stripe 😊
When I stopped taekwondo I was a red belt but I think it should be for grandmaster
When I get my red belt in Taekwondo, I’m gonna start boxing and kickboxing
I'm my Shorin Ryu Kara-te system, red iss higher than black.
mine was white yellow orange green 2nd green blue purple 2nd purple red 2nd red brown 2nd brown black
I’m green belt but I’m in taekwondo so I’m not that high rank so I’m at the purple belt level
Great video but I'd like to make a small correction about the bujinkan. From my knowledge in Japan they use green for all kyu ranks regardless of gender. Now I know you went and tried a school and they may have that particular system but I dont believe that is universal within the greater bujinkan system.
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