Original belt colors

[Kong Soo Do]

When TKD was first developed as its own martial art, was there a common agreement on number of belts below black belt as well as the color for each of those levels? Thank you.

 

[Cyriacus]

Mm.

TKD was originally developed for use Militaristically. I am not stating the following as Fact, but assumption, that I may crossreference it with any Findings and other Replies. Im curious now.

Militaristically, Belts would make minimal sense, besides White Belt, and Black Belt.
Therefore, im inclined to assume thats how it Originated. At its Root.

 

[RobinTKD]

From what I've read, though it is by no means the whole truth, I think the belt structure was white belt, brown belt, black belt, and that was it. I may be getting confused with various kwans though.

 

[andyjeffries]

TKD was originally developed for use Militaristically.

I would say this depends on when you believe Taekwondo was originally developed. For example, considering the Chung Do Kwan as the first major school in Korea (that taught the art we now know as Taekwondo) then it was originally taught to civilians and then some members from the CDK founded the military school (Oh Do Kwan) afterwards.

I would also argue that as it includes (and has included since the beginning) a lot of jumping and spinning kicks then a purely militaristic focus is unlikely (as they would be unlikely to be used on the battlefield).

I say that Taekwondo was primarily developed as a "self-improving martial way" rather than a military art, and as a modern martial way surely other arts and their systems would have been considered during it's development. Some Judo instructors were using coloured Kyu belts in the 1930s, so I can't imagine in 1955 that Taekwondo would be developed without consideration for this.

Just my opinion though...

 

[d1jinx]

could be folklore or maybe i remember it from another reading, but when TAEKWONDO became TKD (60-70's) with the goal of becoming an olympic sport, the belts were the color of the olympic rings. White, yellow, green, blue, red, black. with a Low/High for each color belt inbetween white and black. equalling 10 total for the 10 Gups.

now each individual school may/has adapted different colors in place of the low high (at least in the US), but the standard WTF recognized is the colors of the OLYMPIC Rings.

 

[Cyriacus]

I would say this depends on when you believe Taekwondo was originally developed. For example, considering the Chung Do Kwan as the first major school in Korea (that taught the art we now know as Taekwondo) then it was originally taught to civilians and then some members from the CDK founded the military school (Oh Do Kwan) afterwards.

I would also argue that as it includes (and has included since the beginning) a lot of jumping and spinning kicks then a purely militaristic focus is unlikely (as they would be unlikely to be used on the battlefield).

I say that Taekwondo was primarily developed as a "self-improving martial way" rather than a military art, and as a modern martial way surely other arts and their systems would have been considered during it's development. Some Judo instructors were using coloured Kyu belts in the 1930s, so I can't imagine in 1955 that Taekwondo would be developed without consideration for this.

Just my opinion though...

Dont mind me, its late.

TKD was not exactly founded by One Man.
Each Founder had Variables.
Several (Two or Three that I know of for sure) had a Military Theme.
It was, however, used Militaristically. That much is irrefutable.

In short, I neglected the presense of Multiple Founders, and generalised it to the One im currently familiar with

 

[SahBumNimRush]

could be folklore or maybe i remember it from another reading, but when TAEKWONDO became TKD (60-70's) with the goal of becoming an olympic sport, the belts were the color of the olympic rings. White, yellow, green, blue, red, black. with a Low/High for each color belt inbetween white and black. equalling 10 total for the 10 Gups.

now each individual school may/has adapted different colors in place of the low high (at least in the US), but the standard WTF recognized is the colors of the OLYMPIC Rings.

I don't have any information to add to this thread, however, I can say that our association does have 10 gups, very similar to what jinx talks about:

no uniform=10th gup
white= 9th
yellow=8th
yellow green tip=7th
green= 6th
green brown tip= 5th
brown= 4th
brown red tip= 3rd
red=2nd
blue= 1st

 

[Earl Weiss]

First of all, again, you would need to define what is or was TKD. In this article http://371078645507472465-a-1802744773732722657-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/ntkdacad/files/NamTaeHiTKDTimesJan.2000.pdf?attachauth=ANoY7cqO4Syizj-gQdpnCInBVj_XaRE0KYss5NjXdu5F_XMdl8paJAYgeu-StmG4BQjpd4DoTBTTsWc06XMikeYZe7b8b2avySJu-ZjeA9MhXp_rjNwEQ9Gcyskho1uVscUaFypfrveWRw8POmwARfXbHxklNR9s6kQEWkY_DehwsTGviYG-P2BOwz_KqX0axJEwhRtWwzpSDAAFSSpWxKJNsq8sdr_Lf0zTDR_1qBIU28rKG5Z6bBU%3D&attredirects=0 GM Nam said the CDK used white brown and black. At one point Glenn took issue with the article saying there was no brown, but red. I think it may have changed at some point in time.

General Choi (I think) had the first book on TKD (I think it was publishedin 1959 in Korean, have not seen it) republished in English in 1965 lists White, Blue, Brown and Black) By the 1973 edition it was white, yellow, green, blue, red, and Black.

 

[masterchase]

My instructor had a brown belt as the highest gup rank in 1964 at Osan Air force base.
I've seen the belt. It's definitely brown. I do not know the other colors. This was a CDK dojang.
The colors he used for us was white, yellow, green, blue and red.
A single piece of electrical tape the color of the next belt was added to the right side for the odd number gups.

 

[oftheherd1]

In 1965, Jhoon Goo Rhee in the USA used:

10-9 gup = white
8-7 gup = green
6-5 gup = blue
4-1 gup = brown
Black for all Dan

In 1985 my Hapkido school in Korea:

9 gup = white (there was only one test from white to yellow, for the rest, there was a test for each gup)
8-7 gup = yellow
6-5 gup = blue
4-1 gup = red
Black all Dan

 

[RobinTKD]

GM Nam said the CDK used white brown and black. At one point Glenn took issue with the article saying there was no brown, but red. I think it may have changed at some point in time.

I think this is the same as what i read, but not only for the Chung do Kwan, but also for the Moo Duk Kwan.

Edit: Also I'm sure i've seen it in reference to the Oh Do Kwan, arguably the first 'Official' TaeKwon-Do school.

 

[msmitht]

White, yellow, green, red and black. The original belt system, created by jigoro kano to prevent mismatches/injuries in judo, was white, blue, brown and black. For children they used yellow, orange and green. In mdk tkkd the colors were white, yellow, green,blue, red and dark blue(midnight blue).

 

[clfsean]

White, yellow, green, red and black. The original belt system, created by jigoro kano to prevent mismatches/injuries in judo, was white, blue, brown and black. For children they used yellow, orange and green. In mdk tkkd the colors were white, yellow, green,blue, red and dark blue(midnight blue).

Wow... white/yellow/green/red/black ... haven't seen those in a while. Most places are a rainbow compared to that system, how I came up.

 

[frank raud]

White, yellow, green, red and black. The original belt system, created by jigoro kano to prevent mismatches/injuries in judo, was white, blue, brown and black. For children they used yellow, orange and green. In mdk tkkd the colors were white, yellow, green,blue, red and dark blue(midnight blue).

Do you have a source for the original belts colours in judo being white, blue, brown and black? Always thought it was white,brown and black. The other colours were introduced by the Budokwai, not just for children.

 

[msmitht]

I forgot blue was told about judo colors by old sensei when I was young. Ill check wiki...

 

[Kong Soo Do]

Do you have a source for the original belts colours in judo being white, blue, brown and black? Always thought it was white,brown and black. The other colours were introduced by the Budokwai, not just for children.

White, brown and black were also my understanding for original Judo belt colors.

 

[tkd1964]

From what I've read, though it is by no means the whole truth, I think the belt structure was white belt, brown belt, black belt, and that was it. I may be getting confused with various kwans though.

GM Nam Tae Hi said the colors were White Brown and Black with eight gup levels. After, Gen. Choi introduced blue belt and eventually came up with the belt system White, yellow, Green, Blue, Red, And Black. 10 Gup levels and 9 Dan levels. now this is ITF. The KTA may hav had a different setup.

 

[puunui]

GM Nam said the CDK used white brown and black. At one point Glenn took issue with the article saying there was no brown, but red. I think it may have changed at some point in time.

I don't know if I "took issue" so much as I repeated what GM LEE Won Kuk and GM PARK Hae Man said about the original belt colors of the Chung Do Kwan. They both said that the original belt colors used at the Chung Do Kwan was white, red and black, which were the same belt colors used by the Shotokan pre WWII. White and Red were used because Japan was highly nationalistic at the time and Funakoshi Sensei wanted to show that Karate was or could be an art that was acceptable to the Japanese people. Also, when you add the blue from the name Chung Do Kwan (bluewaves gym) to the white red and black, you get the colors of the Korean flag. During the 1950's, when Taekwondo people were enamored by Karate and wanted as much as possible to copy Karate and/or be a part of the Karate movement, the brown belt was briefly adopted, as were the Karate like long wide stances. This is I believe what GM Nam is talking about, perhaps the original belt colors of the Oh Do Kwan, which very well could have been white brown and black. The Oh Do Kwan was a 50's creation, during Taekwondo's intermediate school fascination with Japanese Karate. This was before Taekwondo's maturation and development into something distinct and apart from Karate.

 

[tkd1964]

. This is I believe what GM Nam is talking about, perhaps the original belt colors of the Oh Do Kwan, which very well could have been white brown and black. The Oh Do Kwan was a 50's creation, during Taekwondo's intermediate school fascination with Japanese Karate. This was before Taekwondo's maturation and development into something distinct and apart from Karate.

Yes, Oh Do Kwan was a 50's creation but so was Taekwon-Do at which time Gen. Choi was moving away from Karate. This is evident in the 1965 book. TKD technigues were performed with both arms whether blocking, punching, or striking. With Karate,in some cases, one hand would perform a technique while the other stays stationary. The stances were no longer long wide stances and knee spring was implimented. Now this only pertains to Taekwon-do under Gen. Choi.

 

[dancingalone]

With Karate,in some cases, one hand would perform a technique while the other stays stationary.

Examples? Even Japanese karate generally has the push-pull reactionary force concept implicit within each kihon technique.