What dose your MA use for Black Belt Ranks.

UKS

Yellow Belt
Joined
Jun 7, 2011
Messages
24
Reaction score
0
Location
SLC UT
What dose your Martial Arts school use for Black belt ranks?

Do you have stripes or different color belts for dan ranking or just plane Black?
 

Aiki Lee

Master of Arts
Joined
Jul 18, 2006
Messages
1,561
Reaction score
69
Location
DeKalb, IL
In Banzenkan aiki ninjutsu, shodan is a solid black belt with the person's name written on one side and kanji for the organization on the opposite end. Each additional dan rank has a white stripe at the end. At 3rd dan, a person is given a "warrior name" and that replaces their given name on their belt. 10th dan in our organization was a white belt as I recall.
 

Steve

Mostly Harmless
Joined
Jul 9, 2008
Messages
21,920
Reaction score
7,475
Location
Covington, WA
In BJJ, black belts usually have a red band with white stripes to denote the degrees.
 

kitkatninja

Blue Belt
Joined
May 7, 2012
Messages
236
Reaction score
50
Location
UK
It depends on the organisation, a couple of Shotokan associations that I studied with just had the black belt (no stripes) and a couple had stripes. My current TSD association, just has the blue belt - no stripes. TBH, more often than not it was/is a solid colour (black/blue).
 

Noah_Legel

Blue Belt
Joined
Jun 13, 2007
Messages
229
Reaction score
29
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Shodan through yondan wear solid black belts (sometimes with their name and our style/org embroidered on them, but not always), godan wear either solid black belts or half-white/half-red belts for Renshi (up to them whether they wear the plain belt or Renshi belt), rokudan up through hachidan wear either solid black belts or red/white panel belts (up to them which one), and kudan and judan wear either solid black or solid red belts (again, up to them which one).
 

SuperFLY

Green Belt
Joined
Aug 9, 2011
Messages
162
Reaction score
3
Location
Ascot, UK
At TISKA (Karate) we have your name on one end, organisation on the other. the colour of the thread changes depending on dan grade.. silver, gold, red i think. not sure whats after that.
 

Gentle Fist

Master Black Belt
Joined
May 2, 2004
Messages
1,145
Reaction score
15
Location
U.S.A.
In USJA Judo, we either wear just a plain black belt or have our name and club embroidered on the ends of the belt. I haven't seen anyone that uses stripes to signify rank. We also have alternative instructor belts that are used for testings and formal events. They are as follows:

4th/5th Dan - Instructor : Black and Red Panel Belt

6th/7th/8th Dan - Expert : White and Red Panel Belt

9th/10th Dan - Master : Red Belt
 

clfsean

Senior Master
MT Mentor
MTS Alumni
Joined
Jun 15, 2004
Messages
3,687
Reaction score
400
Location
Metropolitan Tokyo
Traditionally nothing. But since we tend to object oriented for goal achieving, most schools use a sash of some kind.
 

pgsmith

Master of Arts
Joined
Jun 1, 2005
Messages
1,589
Reaction score
483
Location
Texas
What dose your Martial Arts school use for Black belt ranks?

Do you have stripes or different color belts for dan ranking or just plane Black?

We are a traditional Japanese school (koryu), so the only use for a belt is in holding our swords. Color doesn't matter, and the only way to tell a higher rank from a lower is in how they move.
 

Omar B

Senior Master
Joined
Nov 6, 2007
Messages
3,687
Reaction score
87
Location
Queens, NY. Fort Lauderdale, FL
Seido Karate uses solid black with gold embroidered stripes for rank as well as the org. logo on the end of the right end of the belt with my name embroidered in Japanese and English opposite the logo. I wear a plain black nike belt mostly though.
 

sfs982000

Master Black Belt
Joined
Oct 14, 2009
Messages
1,090
Reaction score
40
Location
Woodbury, MN
Our school it's either a solid black belt or an embroidered belt with gold stripes to designate rank.
 

lklawson

Grandmaster
Joined
Feb 3, 2005
Messages
5,036
Reaction score
1,680
Location
Huber Heights, OH
What dose your Martial Arts school use for Black belt ranks?

Do you have stripes or different color belts for dan ranking or just plane Black?
Well, I teach Western Martial Arts and continue to study Judo. In Judo, it's like "Gentle Fist" said.

I Western Martial Arts we brand our forearms with hot irons.

Just kidding. Most of the time we don't really have visible ranks. A lot of the HEMA organizations will wear different colored jackets. A Black fencing jacket is the symbol of a Maestro from Classical/Olympic fencing so they have that and those HEMA orgs that do visible signs will often do the same. Red is popular for "below expert" jackets, but white and green are common too. I've heard that some HEMA groups have bars that they sew on to their sleeves.

Savate has different colored gloves.

A lot of WMA organizations that award rank will just give a certificate and nobody actually "wears their rank." When I got my Expert Knife rating in bowie knife I just got a certificate, though it meant a whole lot to me. I got a tatt to commemorate it though, does that count as a visible rank?

When I awarded rank to my guys in my club, I gave them a certificate and a lapel pin. I like lapel pins. :)

But now that I think about it, branding the forearms sounds WAY tougher than a pansy little lapel pin.

Honestly, I kinda question why anyone really needs visible markers past some level of "expert" or "instructor?" I can make the case for visible markers for below-expert. It's a training, safety, and goals type thing. But all a beginner needs to know when he walks on your mat is "who's the instructor." By the time he's good enough to differentiate between a good practitioner, a really good practitioner, an expert, and someone with "just die you slug" mad-skilz, he's been in long enough to recognize who's who, not take anyone for granted, and be able to assess skill for himself.

...now, about those brands...

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
 

Xue Sheng

All weight is underside
Joined
Jan 8, 2006
Messages
34,275
Reaction score
9,389
Location
North American Tectonic Plate
Let me think What dose my MA use for Black Belt Ranks.... :hmm:

Let’s see, I am involved in 3 schools and 3 different styles so.....

Taijiquan...well....they don't have any belt ranks

Xingyiquan....:hmm:...aaaaa..... nope...no belt ranks

Ahhhh but Wing Chun has...well.... no belt ranks

So I guess they use nothing for Black belt ranks since there are no belt ranks at all

Traditional Chinese Martial Arts, if the sifu is sticking to tradition, has no belt ranks
 

rlobrecht

Brown Belt
Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Messages
473
Reaction score
2
Location
Houston, TX
Upon testing for black belts, we receive a plain black belt. After about 6 months of continued training, we receive an embroidered belt. (yes it's kind of McDojang-y).

The embroiders belts all look about the same. School name in English and Korean on one side, our name in English and Korean on the other side. Embroidered bars are on both ends of the belt. Traditionally everything has been gold thread, although recently the school has started using different colors if thread.
 

chinto

Senior Master
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
2,026
Reaction score
38
in both styles of Okinawan Karate, it is just a plain black belt up to 7th dan normally, then it is a red and white "candy cane" belt. ( red and white alternating sections of the belt... the only change after that is at Hanshi rank, and then it is all Red, and rank of JU Dan.)
 

Balrog

Master of Arts
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
1,764
Reaction score
482
Location
Houston, TX
Taekwondo. Solid black belt with 1 to 4 gold bars, then for 5th Degree on up, we have 1-5 gold stars.
Name in gold letters if desired.
 

Latest Discussions

Top