The Black Belt
The black belt is a widely recognised symbol of rank or achievement that denotes proficiency in a given martial art.
Mastery of an art may occur later in the career of a practitioner, and depends on the individual style. Often there are eight to ten levels after the black belt is achieved, though the colour of the belt may stay the same.
It is also common for a variety of coloured belts to precede the black belt level. They say that over time, as a student practiced, accumulated sweat and grime would cause the belt to darken as the months and years of training went by, and so the darker belt symbolises time and effort spent in training, and therefore experience.
I find it difficult to believe that this is literally what happened. It is symbolic, romantic, and maybe a little disgusting, but if we are to consider that the black belt was originally a Japanese construct, and that most Japanese martial artists pride themselves on the care and respect they bestow upon their uniforms and equipment, I cannot readily believe that they simply would not wash a dirty belt.
In most martial arts, it can take three to five years to achieve a black belt rank. Any article you read about the black belt will be quick to point out that if you’re training for the belt, or for status, you are likely to miss the deeper purpose of the martial arts.
And then you see advertisments – “become a black belt in these easy steps” – but I don’t suppose you can have it both ways.
What’s meaningful for me, is this: martial arts are about your own development. Nobody can take that away from you, and the processes you go through are entirely your own. A black belt may symbolise proficiency in your art, but your skill, your self-knowledge and body awareness, your mental development, your sense of peace and discipline – these things cannot be quantified easily, nor can a conventional examination process really capture what you’ve gone through in your training, or document the obstacles you have encountered and struggled to overcome.
And because these processes are your own, and it’s your own development – it does not actually exist in relation to anyone else. That’s where status doesn’t really apply – this development is yours alone. Whether someone has a greater or lesser belt than you is irrelevant. So much cannot be tracked, itemised.
And the black belt is a relatively modern contrivance in the martial arts. As a tradition, it’s about a hundred years old, which is certainly very old, but in the context of arts that trace their lineage back over many centuries – it’s still a new tradition.
It began with the standardisation of Judo and was subsequently adopted by Karate, Aikido, and other styles. Initially, it was just a black belt which you wore when you had achieved proficiency – a level of insight, understanding and skill within your own style. There were no other coloured belts in the beginning.
More recently, various Korean and Chinese martial arts have adopted the use of coloured belts to indicate rank or skill, but still many have not. And particularly in the Chinese systems, there is little standardisation across the styles. Often a red sash is worn, and a gold sash may indicate mastery, or is at least worn by the instructor. But in modern Wushu competitions, the colour of the sash is chosen simply in coordination with the colour of the uniform, and it carries no particular meaning.
If you are unsure of the significance of the black belt in any particular martial art, it is best to investigate. It may only hold relevance in-house, or it may exist within a broader framework. Many traditions are lost when arts come over from one country to another; but the significance of the modern black belt lies primarily in quality assurance. This is the role it plays today, especially in Western countries. It represents effort, experience and expertise, but it is not actually about the practitioner or the ego; if you are being taught martial arts, you want to be assured that you are learning a genuine style, as taught by a qualified and experienced instructor. If someone has been awarded a black belt and certificate, they understand and are proficient in their martial art; one can have confidence that they know what they are doing, even though they are still a student on the path.
See also: Our Curriculum.
Mastery of an art may occur later in the career of a practitioner, and depends on the individual style. Often there are eight to ten levels after the black belt is achieved, though the colour of the belt may stay the same.
It is also common for a variety of coloured belts to precede the black belt level. They say that over time, as a student practiced, accumulated sweat and grime would cause the belt to darken as the months and years of training went by, and so the darker belt symbolises time and effort spent in training, and therefore experience.
I find it difficult to believe that this is literally what happened. It is symbolic, romantic, and maybe a little disgusting, but if we are to consider that the black belt was originally a Japanese construct, and that most Japanese martial artists pride themselves on the care and respect they bestow upon their uniforms and equipment, I cannot readily believe that they simply would not wash a dirty belt.
In most martial arts, it can take three to five years to achieve a black belt rank. Any article you read about the black belt will be quick to point out that if you’re training for the belt, or for status, you are likely to miss the deeper purpose of the martial arts.
And then you see advertisments – “become a black belt in these easy steps” – but I don’t suppose you can have it both ways.
What’s meaningful for me, is this: martial arts are about your own development. Nobody can take that away from you, and the processes you go through are entirely your own. A black belt may symbolise proficiency in your art, but your skill, your self-knowledge and body awareness, your mental development, your sense of peace and discipline – these things cannot be quantified easily, nor can a conventional examination process really capture what you’ve gone through in your training, or document the obstacles you have encountered and struggled to overcome.
And because these processes are your own, and it’s your own development – it does not actually exist in relation to anyone else. That’s where status doesn’t really apply – this development is yours alone. Whether someone has a greater or lesser belt than you is irrelevant. So much cannot be tracked, itemised.
And the black belt is a relatively modern contrivance in the martial arts. As a tradition, it’s about a hundred years old, which is certainly very old, but in the context of arts that trace their lineage back over many centuries – it’s still a new tradition.
It began with the standardisation of Judo and was subsequently adopted by Karate, Aikido, and other styles. Initially, it was just a black belt which you wore when you had achieved proficiency – a level of insight, understanding and skill within your own style. There were no other coloured belts in the beginning.
More recently, various Korean and Chinese martial arts have adopted the use of coloured belts to indicate rank or skill, but still many have not. And particularly in the Chinese systems, there is little standardisation across the styles. Often a red sash is worn, and a gold sash may indicate mastery, or is at least worn by the instructor. But in modern Wushu competitions, the colour of the sash is chosen simply in coordination with the colour of the uniform, and it carries no particular meaning.
If you are unsure of the significance of the black belt in any particular martial art, it is best to investigate. It may only hold relevance in-house, or it may exist within a broader framework. Many traditions are lost when arts come over from one country to another; but the significance of the modern black belt lies primarily in quality assurance. This is the role it plays today, especially in Western countries. It represents effort, experience and expertise, but it is not actually about the practitioner or the ego; if you are being taught martial arts, you want to be assured that you are learning a genuine style, as taught by a qualified and experienced instructor. If someone has been awarded a black belt and certificate, they understand and are proficient in their martial art; one can have confidence that they know what they are doing, even though they are still a student on the path.
See also: Our Curriculum.