Red Belt Question

[dancingalone]

Can someone explain where the custom of using a red belt for the almost-dan gup ranks in taekwondo came from? TIA.

 

[granfire]

The ITA logic used to be a red belt is almost as skilled as a BB just not as controled yet, so red = danger.

But since they have not had too many original thoughts...no idea who came originally up with it, and why.

 

[dancingalone]

I heard the same symbolism in Jhoon Rhee TKD, so the ITA (and Mr. Rhee for that matter) got it from someone else. Maybe General Choi?

Regardless, I am curious if there is more to it than that. In judo, the martial sport which started the idea of belt rankings, the red belt is reserved 9th and 10th dans. It's very rare indeed.

 

[DMcHenry]

I think the Korean's were just dissing the Japanese....

 

[Stac3y]

I heard the same symbolism in Jhoon Rhee TKD, so the ITA (and Mr. Rhee for that matter) got it from someone else. Maybe General Choi?

Regardless, I am curious if there is more to it than that. In judo, the martial sport which started the idea of belt rankings, the red belt is reserved 9th and 10th dans. It's very rare indeed.

There's a not too bad movie called Red Belt that plays on that rarity. As for the danger, my kids are both red belts (we use red as the pre-junior black belt rank; only adults can be brown belts or regular black belts). They'll love to hear that symbolism.

 

[Earl Weiss]

The Chung Do Kwan used White Blue, Brown and Black. When General Choi created the system for TKD he decided on White, Yellow, Green, Blue, Red, and Black with an attribution as to the relevance of each color.

 

[dbell]

My TSD Instructors (from Ca, GM Ho Sik Pak and from Korea, GM Kim) both said that the red belt came in at that level to be different than Japanese systems, and to down play the Japanese system. I think they may have been joking, but who knows. Both have a since of humor that is beyond me at times...

As a side note my Japanese Instructor said the gold stitching on Korean belts is to show the money spent in the US for the belts... (And he didn't mean the physical belt, but the testing, etc.)