How does the martial art belt system work?

A look at the Belt System

With most types of martial arts, the color of the belt that you gain will signify your rank within your style of martial arts.  The belts that are used with martial arts signify your rank within a particular style, although they have no universal means or ranking within the martial arts world. Different dojos and training centers will sometimes have their color rankings in a different order. Withing your martial arts training center, your belt will tell others how much you know about your specific martial art.

The use of belt colors in martial arts is an old practice, dating back hundreds of years.  Belts and their use in martial arts all started by a man known as Jigoro Kano, who created the style known as Kodokan Judo.  Kano started out by using only white and black belts to show rank within his style of martial arts.  His reason for using belts, was to specify which students could compete in which activities.  For example, those with white belts were not bale to compete in the same activities as those with black belts, for obvious reasons, black belt being the highest belt attainable.

Shortly after Kano introduced his idea of using belts, other belt colors were introduced to the world of martial arts.  Over the years, it became a great way of telling how much experience a student had in his style - just by the look of his or her belt.  Other styles began to use this system as well over the years, including Karate, Taekwondo, and several others.

The only problem with using belts to signify ranking, is the fact that one school may have different requirements from another school.  Even though they both may teach the same style of martial arts, their ranking system and requirements to get a certain ranking may be totally different.  This can cause confusion in ranks, especially if a black belt from one school isn’t as versed in the style as a black belt from another school.  Even though most schools stick to the same criteria, there are schools that choose to incorporate their own unique style and system as well.

Although most martial arts styles use belts to signify rank, there are some martial arts out there such as Shootfighting that don’t use belts at all.  The styles that choose not to use belts don’t go by rankings either, as they are more or less for self defense purposes. Pitfighting is another style that doesn't use belts.  These two particular styles of martial art are often know by the term Mixed Martial Art, or MMA. These styles are very useful for learning to protect yourself although they do differ from traditional martial arts.

All other things aside, belts are an innovation to martial arts. They give students, adults and children alike, something to aim for, and a reason to keep practicing.  Most students that study martial arts aim to get thier black belt, which is the most prestige belt in martial arts, although some do lose interest along the way. A black belt can take years of practice to obtain, as the student will move through many lower ranked belts before being given the opportunity to try and earn their black belt.

A seven year old with a yellow belt in karate.