Fighting to earn Black belt? How it is different today???

[Gentle Fist]

When I tested for my black belt in Judo I had to go against five different opponents each in a three minute round of full randori with no rest in between rounds. The first three were brown belts followed by two black belts. This of course followed the standard testing which was close to two hours long. I will say that it was an absolute bear to get through that portion of the test, but it was worth the memory...

 

[Kong Soo Do]

My instructors first art was Goju Ryu. He learned it while stationed in Okinawa in the mid-60's. His BB test comprised fighting three BB's. Not spar, fight. He lost some teeth and he broke the arm of one of the BB's he fought. I'm not saying this is good or bad, just what happened in that Dojo in that era.

 

[msmitht]

Kyokushin blackbelts have to do a Thirty man Kumite for their grading. Its impressive to watch to say the least.

It was ten that I had to fight. 2 cracked ribs, 2 broken toes and enough bruises to put me in bed for 2days. 20 for 2nd, 30 for 3rd....oyama sensei did 100

 

[jda]

My black belt test was typical for our dojang. All the techniques learned up to that point, all the forms (taeguk 1-8 and koryo), balance drills, board/concrete breaking, and self defenses. A minimum of 50 different scenarios, some scripted, some not. Your uke was told to resist and you have to break free no matter what-short of breaking something. You keep going until the testers are satisfied that you can defend yourself on the street and in the ring. Very grueling and painful! The final thing is to disarm the head instructor in a (rubber) knife fight. You keep going until you succeed. If you 'die' you have to start over. After four to five hours of testing this part of the test is the hardest but definitely the most satisfying. I still keep the broken knife and his ripped dobok as trophies!