Belts & Rank

How many belts are there?  What are the colors leading up to black belt?

Since the introduction of the belt system, which was first used in Judo, prospective students have held a fascination with the various colors that martial arts practitioners wear around their waists.

As flashy as a colored belt might be, it's the rank that the belt represents which is most important.  In Traditional Shotokan Karate, there are twenty ranks...  Ten lower ranks and ten upper ranks.

Each lower rank is called a Kyu.  10th Kyu is the lowest, and 1st Kyu is the highest.  Each upper rank is called a Dan.  The ordering is reversed, and 1st Dan is the lowest, and 10th Dan is the highest.  The Kyu ranks are represented with colored belts, beginning at white and ending at brown, and the Dan ranks are all represented with a black belt.

The guidelines for what color represents each Kyu may vary from one dojo to another.  Standard Shotokan practice always puts White at the beginning, brown just before black, and black representing all the Dan ranks, but all the Kyu ranks between white and brown can be different.

Some Shotokan Dojos use only a white belt, a  green belt, a brown belt, and a black belt.  White represents 10-7th Kyu, Green represents 6-4th Kyu, Brown represents 3-1st Kyu, and Black represents all ten Dan levels.  Other Shotokan Dojos prefer to uses as many colors as possible to represent each Kyu rank.  It's personal preference and often decided by the instructor.

I like to see as many colors as possible, because it can be confusing when so many students share the same color, but are in actuality, different ranks.  At Perro Shotokan Karate, our belt colors are as follows:

10th Kyu - White Belt
9th Kyu - Yellow Belt
8th Kyu - Orange Belt
7th Kyu - Red Belt
6th Kyu - Green Belt
5th Kyu - Blue Belt
4th Kyu - Purple Belt
3rd-1st Kyu - Brown Belt

1st - 10th Dan - Black Belt

Padding the Truth

Punching & Blocking Instruction

Many martial arts studios encourage trainees to wear protective gear when sparring. It seems to make sense, surround your chest, hands and feet with padding, and then a punch or kick won’t hurt so much. But a better way to prevent injury is to learn how to control your techniques and learn distance and accuracy while training. In my training sessions, pads are never worn. It’s not a new concept. Traditional martial arts styles rarely use pads, and there are two important reasons why this is the case.

First, pads compromise the effectiveness of the techniques being taught. If a person trains with pads, they become unaccustomed to what it feels like to be in good form when blocking punches and kicks. Pads make it difficult to hold a tight fist, plant the foot correctly and execute good technique. 

Second, when martial arts techniques are preformed correctly, pads don’t work. Solid technique will not be deflected by the flimsy body shields and gloves designed for martial arts practice. To illustrate, let’s use a professional boxer as an example. Think about how powerful a professional boxer’s punch can be. The way they punch is similar to how most martial artists punch. Boxers wear gloves that are far bigger and more heavily padded than martial arts gloves, and boxers still knock-out their opponents and inflict serious damage.

I know students who trained in martial arts using protective gear, and they still suffered significant injuries that range from broken noses to cracked ribs. I have never seen these kinds of injuries in any dojo where protective padding is not used. The illusion of safety offered by using pads minimizes the need to learn how to measure distance, and more importantly, makes refining actual techniques nearly impossible.

Since most people turn to martial arts schools to learn effective self-defense, it’s important to teach in a way that prepares people for real life situations. A good martial artist can knock out an opponent with one hit, whether or not they are wearing padding. Inferior martial arts instruction will promote the use of protective padding, and encourage wild attacks in an attempt to make any kind of contact. This methodology also makes inflicting an injury on a training partner a measure of success when, in fact, injuring your training partner is the exact opposite of the desired goal in karate.

In karate, it is not acceptable to harm anyone you are sparing with while training. The importance of learning to judge the distance between you and your training partner, and the focus required for every move, makes the use of pads superfluous. Knowing that your sparring partner will push you to the edge, so you can develop a swift defensive response and not be injured in the exchange, elevates sparing to a collaborative art. In karate, acquiring solid self-defense proficiency is the goal, and students need to understand the complexities and obligations of the powers they are learning to harness.

Learning Core Karate In 30 Days

Belt colors indicate rank fron KYU levels to DAN

Many of you may be familiar with the book All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum, and it is interesting to note on a similar level, that you can learn all Core Karate Techniques in just one month. Nearly everything you’ll be practicing from white belt to black belt can be taught to you in just thirty days.

This probably sounds simplistic, and maybe even unbelievable.  All Core Karate in thirty days? How can that be possible? There must be some kind of catch? There isn’t. To prove it, our dojo encourages beginners to try out month of training for free. After a month you’ll know if you have the willpower to stick through it, and then it’s up to you to make the core techniques you’ve learned effective.

Like any physical activity, there are only so many specific moves. It’s not so much how many moves we know, but more about how we can apply them, modify them and use them effectively in the spur of the moment. That’s the part that takes years to master.

To illustrate why this is the case, I’m going to use the game of basketball as an example. In basketball, there are a limited number of rules, and it doesn’t take long to learn how to play the game. That doesn’t mean a beginner will be as good as an NBA Champion in a month’s time. With sports, we accept that it takes years to perfect the technique. So why should we expect anything different when it comes to martial arts? 

Most likely, common misconceptions about karate are in part due to how martial arts are showcased in entertainment. Movies generally feature inexperienced students learning complex technique quickly, and the results are almost magical. Video games offer players the chance to learn complex button patterns, and if they memorize them all, they’re instantly expert players.

People who study karate are: driven, focused, and smart. Often, they are well educated, work in high-level professions and have exciting stories to share before and after class. They also have a natural tendency towards discipline and determination and are motivated to take the necessary time to develop amazing power and speed. After a few years of study, they earn it.

The Power Rangers Turn Twenty

Somewhere between 1993 and 2013, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers grew up, and now they’re celebrating their twentieth anniversary.

I was in fourth grade when the Power Rangers were popular, and in case you don’t remember, back in the early 90’s, the Rangers were the coolest thing on the planet.  The show was must watch television, and it was supplemented with a wide array of:  toys, video games, costumes, books, and even promotional tie-in foods!  I remember quite clearly being really excited about a red-cherry Power Rangers Power Pop!

The Rangers had all the hallmarks of a massive fad, and us kids couldn’t get enough of them.  Everyone who was anyone was crazy about the Power Rangers, and getting our hands on the various toys and collectables could literally determine one’s own popularity.  We all had our favorite Rangers, too!  Mine were Jason, the Red Ranger, and Tommy, the Green Ranger, played by Austin St. John, and Jason David Frank, respectively.

Today, Jason David Frank still practices martial arts.  He runs his own dojo, and his dedication to the show, and to martial arts, has made him an absolute fan favorite!

But like any good fad, the Power Ranger’s popularity dropped just as fast as it rose.  Three of the actors left the show, including one of my favorites, Austin St. John, and the Green Ranger became the White Ranger.  He just wasn’t as cool like that.  There was a terrible feature film, and that was pretty much it for the Power Rangers fad.

The show would continue, replacing the cast every season or so, and updating the costumes just as regularly.  It hasn’t been close to as popular as it was back in the 90’s, but it endured.

Now that he Power Rangers are turning twenty, they’re getting some serious hype again, and Jason David Frank is returning to reprise his role as the original Green Ranger in a very special episode set to air in early 2014.

It’s been a long time since the Power Rangers were cool, and since Jason and Tommy were tearing up the screen, busting aliens, and saving the world, but if you remember the original show, this might be the year to tune in one last time.  Every once in a while, taking a trip to the past can be exhilarating!  It’s Morphin Time!