You paid your membership fee, received your white belt & uniform and now you are ready to enter into a whole new world.
Usually a senior student will be assigned to you to teach you how to tie your belt, bowing in & off the mat, bowing to your fellow students when training and also bowing in & out of class in a kneeling position.
The first belt you receive will usually be a white belt so you’ll need to learn how to tie it.
Prior to the beginning of Judo as a sport there were really no belt rankings.
Way back when there were many different martial arts schools the advanced students did not need a colored belt to indicate to the others how proficient he was.
With the advent of Judo by Professor Kano the belt rankings became a standard indication of the students proficiency.
The reason for the belts I believe was the visual reinforcement of where the student stood in relation to the rest of the class.
Now just about every martial art has belt ranking even the the criteria is different for each type & different styles.
My opinion of the belt rankings is rather complicated.
The most obvious way to do it is to have a colored belt that indicates your rank & experience.
The mystique of a black belt still permeates the public consciousness as being the pinnacle of martial arts.
When there are belts in a dojo what does happen is a class separation even though it is unspoken and the focus sometimes can be on the belt itself and not the individual or the martial art.
Different schools, different sensei’s and the individual students will affect this perception of the belts real value in relation to the the experience level & dedication of the students.
The basic truth is a belt is just a belt regardless of the martial art with no mystical properties as is portrayed in the movies.
There are martial arts out there that have individuals with 15th degree black belts that have been practicing for maybe ten years.
Is something wrong with this picture? Possibly the holders of 15th degree black belts are so proficient that their abilities surpass all other black belts studying the same or related martial arts.
Doubtful at best! Especially when you realize that belt rankings are big business that can generate lots of money for a sensei and main organization that he or she are affiliated with.
What sounds better? I have a yellow belt or I have a black belt.
This belt selling can also be found in martial arts magazines and on the internet where a set of tapes or online teaching can be purchased and the student can earn his black belt at home! This probably has to be the hardest thing to do even if the course is totally on the level.
So how hard can it be for a complete novice to learn? Impossible? No! Very, very difficult? Absolutely! At this point in your reading you would be right to say; who is this guy to talk trash about belts, he probably doesn’t even have one which is why he is against them.
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