Anyone can get a Black Belt? Is this True?

[masherdong]

ROTFLMAO= Rolling on the floor, laughing my *** off

 

[bushi jon]

Am I showing my age?

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

Yes You are

 

[bushi jon]

I am 39 today and I have been in the martial arts for 30 years as of today(20) if you add up the period I stopped teaching. It was on my 9th birthday I took my firast lesson in South St Louis Mo.

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

25 years of age here, Martial Arts for 19 years, teaching for 12 years

 

[kingkong89]

that is an interesting though, most schools give the next belt by time and not knowledge, for instance some people could be a black belt after a year, now my school system you learn befor you earn, katas words and tech. befor you get your next belt.

 

[MSTCNC]

OLD THREAD ADVISORY!

Sorry if this has already been stated elsewhere in this thread from 2005… but, I wanted to weigh in here... and don't have time to read through the last 4-pages...

I've been training off & on in the MA since I was 14. Sometimes more off... sometimes more on... and I've been exposed to several different styles... under different circumstances...

Here's my take on Black belt...

Black’s the new white!

Now, before I have a thousand MA heading for DE to kick my butt... allow me to explain as my first teacher, Shihan Paul Arel, once explained it to me...

When we first start our training as white belts... we're void of the knowledge, techniques, and skills needed to "succeed" in the arts. As time goes by (too fast for my taste in some "dojo")... we advance through the colored ranks... each time (hopefully) learning more, refining what we already knew... and getting a better understanding of the foundation of our chosen art...

And here (in my opinion) is where people tend to get tripped up... they make it to 1st Dan and figure that they're now a Black Belt... and that there’s nothing else to learn... and that they can just practice here and there... and still be "good to go"!

[HOCKEY BUZZER!] W-R-O-N-G!

Unfortunately, I’ve seen more than a few “good” MA go down in flames this way… and it’s sad (at least to me)…

Shihan Paul told me long ago (can it really be 25-years?) that, just as life is a cycle, so is your MA training… you’re continually starting, growing, and renewing…

Your belt itself best represents this. It starts out snow-white, slowly darkening until it’s brown in color… then black. But, here’s the funny thing… as the black belt continues to wear… what happens? It starts to show threads of white… renewing the cycle once again…

So, think of white though black as the first cycle in your MA career… and not the final, end all destination some see it as. After all, doesn’t the journey itself teach us much more than simply arriving?

With respect,

Andy
Student of Life (and therefore of the MA)

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TYLER!

 

[mjd]

Think what you may, but Mcdojo's run ramped out there, many schools are just money making machines and don't give a hoot if you have any skills or not, they only concern themselves with the next test for $$$, and selling gear.

My linage of instructors have always promoted making it to black belt has only prepared you to properly start learning MA. It's the start of a new cycle. At first degree black belt you know nothing.

 

[Grasshopper22]

I personally believe that too many people have earned their black belt before they have the necessary skills however the black belt does not mean what it used to, the black belt used to be the highest ranking belt that one could only wear once they became a sensei. Nowadays however, the black belt simply means that you have mastered all of the basic skills and are ready to begin more advanced training.

 

[Chris Parker]

I personally believe that too many people have earned their black belt before they have the necessary skills however the black belt does not mean what it used to, the black belt used to be the highest ranking belt that one could only wear once they became a sensei. Nowadays however, the black belt simply means that you have mastered all of the basic skills and are ready to begin more advanced training.

Uh.... nope. The whole idea of "black belt" was first introduced by Kano Jigoro, who developed the Kyu/Dan grading system from the game "Go". And the main reason it was developed in the first place was that Judo was getting very popular in Universities and schools around Japan, and Kano didn't know all the students personally when he visited to teach... so he needed an immediately identifiable way to tell roughly how much experience and skill a person had, so he could pick who to have as his demonstration dummy. And there were always multiple levels of black belt, right from the very beginning (when he first awarded them, he was awarding 1st, 2nd, 3rd... up to 6th Dan, from memory). Remember that "Dan" means "level", so as a 1st Dan, you are at the first level.

And again, check the dates before resurrecting threads. Thanks.

 

[ks - learning to fly]

...based on the online access of a black belt w/ certificate, then I guess anyone could "get" a black belt....Could just anyone EARN a Black Belt?? Probably not.

 

[donald1]

about the comment earlier it really dosnt matter how high a kick is because there are targets all over the body from the tip of the head to the tips of the toes. as for anyone get black belt, yes it just takes time because Ive been in it nearly 3 years im a purple belt brown stripe all what left is the brown belt, two black stripes, then a black belt ill be getting mine around july next not next year but the January after that so yes anybody can get one.

 

[donald1]

that may be true but how did the idea of black belts get to all karate styles

 

[Cyriacus]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/PLAIN-BE...&var&hash=item19d6afb2cd&_uhb=1#ht_3010wt_250

I know Judo now!

 

[punisher73]

Uh.... nope. The whole idea of "black belt" was first introduced by Kano Jigoro, who developed the Kyu/Dan grading system from the game "Go". And the main reason it was developed in the first place was that Judo was getting very popular in Universities and schools around Japan, and Kano didn't know all the students personally when he visited to teach... so he needed an immediately identifiable way to tell roughly how much experience and skill a person had, so he could pick who to have as his demonstration dummy. And there were always multiple levels of black belt, right from the very beginning (when he first awarded them, he was awarding 1st, 2nd, 3rd... up to 6th Dan, from memory). Remember that "Dan" means "level", so as a 1st Dan, you are at the first level.

And again, check the dates before resurrecting threads. Thanks.

To his credit the person did state he knew it was an old thread but still wanted to weigh in.

But, I agree with how Kano introduced the ranks. And ever since then each style/organization/school has used the "blackbelt" to mean different things. So outside of your own school, a blackbelt really means nothing since there are no standards in place as to what it means.

 

[celtic_crippler]

Yes. The answer is yes. Anyone can go to the Century Martial Arts web page and purchase a black belt.

Can anyone BE a black belt? No.

 

[Blindside]

that may be true but how did the idea of black belts get to all karate styles

Gichin Funakoshi adopted the belt system that Jigoro Kano was using for Judo and instituted it into Shotokan. About 15 years later, the Butoku-kai (effectively a Japanese government sub-agency aimed at regulating/promoting martial arts in Japan), pushed for it to be adopted into the other Japanese karate styles that were proliferating at the time. From Japan it spread backward into Okinawa.

 

[Chris Parker]

To his credit the person did state he knew it was an old thread but still wanted to weigh in.

But, I agree with how Kano introduced the ranks. And ever since then each style/organization/school has used the "blackbelt" to mean different things. So outside of your own school, a blackbelt really means nothing since there are no standards in place as to what it means.

Just for context, no, Grasshopper didn't state anything about knowing it was an old thread.... my post was directly after his, and contained his entire comment. His post was 6 years after the last one, as well. But my point to him (at that time) was that he had been resurrecting a large number of older threads without checking the dates, including questioning posts and members who hadn't been active in years, so it was just a friendly hint to check the posting dates before responding to people who won't read his comments. But that was then, not now, which was, again, nearly a year ago, so there's little reason harping on it now.

 

[seasoned]

So far this old thread has produced 10 new posts. The way I see it the old threads are there for three reasons, nostalgia/reference/resurrection.