The Great Black Belt Rank Debacle!

From Al Case at Matrix Martial Arts…

Who was the first black belt?

Interesting question.

And, if someone was the first black belt,

who gave it to him?

It had to be a non-black belt,

so…does that make it invalid?

Does that make every belt since then invalid?

While you’re thinking about that,

let me do a brief history of the black belt.

My introductions to the belt system

was in Chinese Kenpo Karate.

We had eight belts.

white, 

orange,

purple,

blue,

green,

three stages of brown,

and I never could figure out

how many levels of black belt there were.

Most people would get to 2nd or 3rd,

then,

over the years,

school owners,

without ever letting you see them work out,

became sixth and seventh.

Until there were eight.

Then ten.

Oh, and twelfth degree came along.

And I always wondered,

if a guy is a twelfth degree…

who promoted him?

I went to the Kang Duk Won

and there were eight belts.

This was my introduction to stripes,

but it was the same basic eight degrees

as I found in Kenpo.

The ranks were

white,

white with a green stripe

green,

green with a white stripe,

green with a brown stripe,

brown,

brown with a white stripe,

brown with a black stripe,

eight degrees of black.

My instructor was a 6th degree black belt,

but he was ‘official’ because

he had a certificate written half in oriental

with a ‘chop’ on it.

A chop was a stamp of hieroglyphics.

But,

while I was at the KDW,

I was told that originally there were two ranks.

White belt and black belt.

This was supposedly a hundred years before,

but it was probably only 30 or 40 years.

This aligns with certain Japanese systems.

You studied as a beginner

and graduated with a teaching diploma.

That was the only rank fact.

Then I read,

People were given white belts

and they worked until they became black with grime.

And these were the first black belts.

Which just goes to show

you can’t believe all you read.

Anybody who’s seen an old black belt

knows they fray and shred and

become white,

Eventually,

the teachers decided to separate the two ranks into four,

so they created 

White,

green,

brown,

black.

Maybe aligning with the four seasons.

I don’t know why or when they started

adding stripes to the belts,

but it might have because of Kenpo,

trying to keep up with 

the rainbow of belts Kenpo had become.

Kenpo hired a sales person from

the Arthur Murray dance studio

to design contracts for them.

These are sometimes called ‘car contracts.’

They last for four years to black belt.

Kenpo then rearranged,

expanded, made variations on,

all the techniques

to have forty techniques per belt

plus two forms.

Thus, 

a black belt which had taken

about a year to gain in the beginning,

became a four year thing.

And everybody bought it.

Before people get out the loose

and claim sacrilege,

let me say that there are good and bad things

about the whole car contract set up.

First, it did keep students,

and it did expand the art.

But the real problem was that

learned 500 techniques,

as was common in some kenpo systems,

does not make a teacher.

In fact,

people went through four years,

promoted themselves a few times,

created their own systems,

and…the quality of Karate,

and the martial arts,

sank faster than the Titanic.

The last school I was at they had over 24 ranks to black belt,

and children attained rank by fighting in tournaments.

No skill required.

Now,

this little thumbnail sketch I have given you

leaves out a lot of things.

There are a lot of oddities and anomalies

in the belt systems

which pervade the various arts

of modern times.

But the gist of it seems to be fairly accurate.

But the real point here is this:

forget the belts…what makes a teacher?

Knowledge.

Repeating techniques endlessly,

monkey see monkey do,

does not create knowledge,

except in the most artificial sense.

What does make knowledge

is a profound study of the basics

and a thorough understanding of physics.

But even if a fellow does have that,

it doesn’t make him a teacher.

What makes a teacher is when you go beyond physics,

when you start to appreciate not just the physics of the game,

but of the mind playing the game,

of the ethics and compassion that arise

from a profound study of the martial arts.

Because a black belt is not just a rank,

it is a statement of maturity,

of responsibility,

it is to become a man.

Not in the physical or societal sense,

but in the kindness and understanding sense.

Okay,

ya gots it or ya don’t.

But now you understand why I write such things as

The Book of Five Arts

So you can understand basics better,

so you can see how the arts relate,

so you can get over tribal attitudes

and understand that no art is better.

The individual arts are just fingers on a hand,

and you have to pick up that hand and make it work

to be a real human being.

It’s the middle of summer

Go swimming,

play baseball,

read good books,

and…

WORK OUT!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.

Those ratings help my sales.

Don’t forget to check out the interview

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(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.

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My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

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so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:

A Karate Training and Workout Book

 (Two Volumes)

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Source: https://alcase.wordpress.com/2024/07/22/the-great-black-belt-rank-debacle/