Question about karate belts

[Manny]

In my TKD organization we use embroided black belts, in one side is the name of the person in the other side the name of the organization. When I asked sambonim why no strips to denote the dan number he told me they not use the stripes because this denotes nothing but a number and we don't need this.

I rember when I was yoiunger and dreamed about a black belt with many strips, today I am more old fashion person and prefer a plain black belt without any lettering or embroided or strip or bar, for me nothing beats the neat black color.

Manny

 

[MCG]

Where I train, we can wear strips for each Dan level. I usually wear my plain belt, it means more to me. I save the stripped belt for testings. The red and white belts are worn by the Renshi. Usually for testings, not for everyday training. Renshi is an instructor rank. They test for Renshi 6 years after they test for 6 Dan. They have to wait 6 years after Renshi to test for 7 Dan. People usually test for Shihan when they test for 5 Dan.

 

[scottie]

It's no problem for me! Fortunately, I feel secure. My sensei is an 8th dan with 40+ years of training. His dan ranks were signed by Sensei Mitchum and / or Harrill, and they in turn received their dan ranks from Master Shimabuku. If their ranks are inflated, they were inflated by the founder of Isshin-Ryu, and I guess he could do whatever he wanted with his own style, eh?


So no offense taken. My rank is real, at least to my own satisfaction. Seeing my Sensei and knowing what kind of man he is, I believe his is real too. No ego-stroking or belt-inflation in my dojo that I'm aware of.

I was about to post something along the lines of what Dancingalone said...

I think it is very sad that egos (as well as other things) have led to a lot of self promoting in the early days of Isshinryu and even today. I must be careful not to offend every lineage. but with all that being said I love Isshinryu it is great. The Passion of Martial Arts for me. That is why I have tried to Aline with the UIKA. They are the real deal to me, and Mitchum is the senior American, that is my belief and I am proud of my team now.

Bill you have a great Sensei!!! Anyone who is awarded rank from Mitchum has earned it. My sensei is a very knowledgeable student of Grand Master Mitchum and was also a student of Harrill and he has turned down many promotions. He knows more than some (most) 10th Dans running around and the cool thing is that he is so humble. So even with that rep. I know there are people who want to do it right and that is where i want to be.

 

[OldKarateGuy]

just to add to general discussion...when I started in judo in late 60's, there were only four colors of belt: white, green, brown and black. Each colored belt rank had several degrees, but there were no distinguishing marks to signify, say, green 1st or green 2nd. Higher dan ranks - maybe 5th and over? Don't recall now - could wear a red and white belt, but I seem to remember that most of the senior belts considered actually wearing a belt other than black was showing off and very un-Japanese. Modesty dictated that even a high ranking dan wear a black belt under most circumstances.

JKA shotokan has something similar, in that both dan and colored belt holders have no visible indication of degree. Dan belts are very often embroidered, in Kanji, organization on one side and either the student's name, or the instructor's name on the other. There are no dan numbers, rank stripes, etc. So that guy in the shiny new black belt may be a very high rank wearing a recent gift from his students, for instance. If any shotokan dan practitioner wears anything but a black belt, I am unaware of it.

I now train in a Korean school, where all belts have stripes (usually common white tape) to indicate degree of colored or dan rank. Dan belts are embroidered in English with student's name and dan number, and the organization in Hangul on the other side. Some dan students have the rank stripes embroidered in gold on the ends of the belt. Starting at 4th dan, studio owners can be promoted to a red and black striped belt. Higher degrees get some variation in the mix of red and black.

Just a different mindset I guess. The shotokan schools (in the U S) tend to very plain white uniforms with a minimum of adornment - maybe a chest patch. The Korean schools tend to a plethora of rank and specialty patches, usually in English, plus flags, organization patches, school insignia and the like.

just an aside, we have seen some shotokan schools from Central and South America that wear uniforms bearing the name and logo of corporate sponsors on the back, much like a Little League uniform.

Personally, i like the unadorned look, plus a simple belt with no numbers, rank stripes, or other indicia of rank or seniority, etc. But I think the karate works or not, no matter what the uniform.