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Karate Belt

Karate belts are ceremonial in nature, rather than functional. The belts are awarded for levels of accomplishment by karate instructors. Lower belts are awarded for technical achievements while the highest ranks are reserved for those who have dedicated a lifetime to the discipline. There is no set in stone color scheme for belts, but the traditional color scheme was first used by practitioners of Japanese Judo.

The Judo levels of achievement were separated into two categories. The lower category consists of the kyū ranks. Here is the listing of ranks with the associated karate belt color. The 1 rank is considered the top kyū rank. The colors move from white towards black. When successive ranks hold the same color belt, a black stripe is added to the belt to denote the added rank.

10th kyū White belt

9th kyū Purple belt

8th kyū Yellow belt

7th kyū Orange belt

6th kyū Blue belt

5th kyū Green belt

4th kyū Green belt

3rd kyū Green belt

2nd kyū Brown belt

1st kyū Brown belt

While the white, yellow, green, and brown ordering is fairly standardized, the position of purple, orange, and blue belts is not set. Sometimes the blue belt is put between green and brown, or purple after blue, or orange after white. The position of any of the belts can change if a school feels like a different order, but the primary four colors mentioned above are normally present.

After achieving the 1st kyū rank, a student moves on to the Dan ranks, or black karate belts. In modern karate there are also 10 ranks, or degrees of Dan. Some disciplines award a red or white belt to practitioners who achieve the rank of 6th Dan. The white belt is indicative of the circular nature of progress, a master has come so far that he is again a student; only now his teacher is life, rather than another human. The holding of a white or red Dan belt is a high honor indicating the bearer is a master of his field.

It is extremely rare to see a 10th degree Dan, and in many cases this rank is awarded posthumously. The 9th and 10th ranks of Dan are usually reserved for masters of the art who have made meaningful contributions to their field and embodied the teachings of the particular martial art in their lives.

Surprisingly, the awarding of belts is a recent development in the history of martial arts. Many more fundamental schools, especially in the Asian continent do not award belts, or stick with a white belt for all of the kyū ranks and a black belt for all Dan ranks. These schools feel that awarding different colored karate belts places too much emphasis on individual achievement.

The emphasis on individual achievement may not seem out of place to western sensibilities, but that is because individuality is an intrinsically western value. Eastern philosophy teaches humility and learning to seek one’s place in the ordered whole; whether that whole is society, or the universe. This holistic approach to life and values is fundamentally different from the western individualistic one.

 

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