| The Color Belt Ranking System | |
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The old Okinawan Karateka, it is told, all wore white belts. Their peasant clothing was simply cotton pants and jacket, tied with a white cloth obi (belt). As they progressed in their instruction they would continue to wear this simple uniform. It became the custom for them to wash their Gi's, but never the obi. So, in the beginning, the belts were white After the students had rolled and wrestled on the grass (being poor men, they practiced outside in the fields) for a while the belts would become stained with chlorophyl, turning them green. And yet after a while more, with the grass now worn away beneath them, the Karateka would practice on bare earth, often plain mud. Belts became brown. It was not until the student had reached a high degree of proficiency in the art of Karate, when serious training was done with nothing held back, that the grass and mud-stained brown belts would be darkened with blood, turning them black. |
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The ranking system in USA GOJU tells, by a glance at the obi (belt), the general level of competence a student has achieved in the art. The beginning levels are called "Kyu" levels (kyu being a Japanese word for "boy"). These progress from high numbers to low numbers, 10th kyu to 1st kyu. Once the practitioner reaches black belt level the training levels are called "Dan" (a Japanese word for "man"). These rankings progress from low numbers to high numbers, 1st Dan to 10th Dan.
The Kyu levels are: |
* The rank stripes are traditionally of the color of the next
higher belt, ie: white
obi with green stripes, green obi with purple stripes, brown obi with
black stripes. It is
not uncommon, though, for a Sensei to use the more readily available
black tape for all
rank stripes.
Color belt ranking varies widely from Master to Master and from style to style. Some use different colors (e.g.: yellow, gold, orange or blue) rather than rank stripes to differentiate between Kyu levels. The general rule is, "the darker the color, the higher the rank."
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The upper levels of the style, Kyoshi (6th, 7th, and 8th Dan) and
Shihan (9th and 10th
Dan), do not require exact differentiation in obi markings. They will
invariably know each
other and each other's level, and further distinction is not necessary.
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Beginner. Plain black Gi with plain white
obi. 
Beginner. Black Gi and white obi with a
single rank stripe* near the end. 
Beginner. Black Gi and white obi with two
rank stripes near the end. 
Intermediate. Black Gi and green obi (with
possibly one rank stripe). 
Intermediate. Black Gi and green obi with two
rank stripes near the end. 
Intermediate. Black Gi and purple** obi. 
Advanced. Black Gi and brown obi (possibly
with a single rank stripe). 
Advanced. Black Gi and brown obi with two
rank stripes. 
Advanced. Black Gi and brown obi with three
rank stripes. 
Black obi (sometimes worn with a
single red rank stripe). 
Black obi with two red rank stripes. 
Black obi with three red rank
stripes. 
Obi is half white, half red, the
colors running lengthwise*. The white edge is worn above the red.
Obi is half red, half white. Same as
4th Dan except that the red edge is worn above the white. 
Black obi with red center stripe
running lengthwise. 
Master of the style. Red obi.