skribs
Grandmaster
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2013
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I was looking into different arts and schools and their belt orders. Trying to see how universal any given belt placement is. For example, white is pretty much always first, black is pretty much always last (and even if it's not, only a very select few are going to get to their post-black ranks). It seems pretty universal that yellow will come after white (and gray in BJJ), that brown and red are among the more advanced belts (understated in BJJ), that green comes before blue, and that blue is in the upper half of the ranks (which is still true in BJJ if you add in the kid's ranks).
However, there's one belt that just seems all over the place: purple.
Two of the three TKD schools I've attended have had purple belt as intermediate ranks, either the 3rd or 4th belt you get (including white). In Japanese arts, it seems very common for purple to be right before Brown. As a TKD guy, I look at someone who is a purple belt and think, "They're probably just starting to learn the second-most-basic techniques." Then I go to BJJ class and see a purple belt and think, "I hope they can teach me something because they're really good."
The unofficial standard in Kukkiwon TKD schools doesn't even have a purple belt.
Most belts, I think you could look at someone wearing one and ballpark how much experience they have in the art, where they are in the curriculum, how much rights and responsibilities they have. Purple is an enigma.
However, there's one belt that just seems all over the place: purple.
Two of the three TKD schools I've attended have had purple belt as intermediate ranks, either the 3rd or 4th belt you get (including white). In Japanese arts, it seems very common for purple to be right before Brown. As a TKD guy, I look at someone who is a purple belt and think, "They're probably just starting to learn the second-most-basic techniques." Then I go to BJJ class and see a purple belt and think, "I hope they can teach me something because they're really good."
The unofficial standard in Kukkiwon TKD schools doesn't even have a purple belt.
Most belts, I think you could look at someone wearing one and ballpark how much experience they have in the art, where they are in the curriculum, how much rights and responsibilities they have. Purple is an enigma.