A black belt means nothing. It is not a sign of mastery. It is not a certification of one's ability to defend his or herself. It is not a license for anything. It does not mean someone is "dangerous". It does not mean that person can "kick your ass". It does not mean a person is of a greater skill level or understanding than a person with a belt that is of a different color - even of the same style or school.
One of my teachers once said to me, "You know what the belt is for? Holding your pants up."
There is one thing never to forget about black belts: You can buy a black belt at a store. This is your ticket to understanding the system if you are ever in doubt.
There is no central black belt certifying or licensing agency that governs all black belts - anywhere in the world. It does not exist. Never has. Anywhere. Ever.
What it does mean
So I wrote this to be emotion-provoking. It can mean something.To have meaning it must have context. Black belts can mean something in context. This means within a style, system, school, instructor, etc. The more specific you get, generally the more meaningful it becomes.
Between styles and systems, and even schools under one system, belts are almost meaningless. Some styles do not have belts. Some styles do not have belts that are black. Some styles don't even have ranks. Belt colors and ranks vary style to style, system to system, school to school. It could take anywhere from 1 day to many, many years to get a black belt depending on your art (if the art even has belts).
Some places sell black belts and/or teaching certifications (example: "Get your black belt in just 6 months for $50/mo"). There is no government agency (in the US) or third party certifying organization that regulates who can instruct martial arts or self defense.
Even among respectable organizations (not McDojos) that possess belt ranking systems, methods vary widely as to how those are awarded. Some belts are given for competitive fighting, some are given based solely on time, some are given based on ability within that art.
There is no rhyme or reason to giving belts between different organizations (styles, systems, schools). You must have context for it to mean anything.
Still, remember - it is not necessarily a sign of anything.
But it still doesn't mean what you think it means
Whatever the case, none if it is directly real-world relatable. As far as I know, there are no belts given out for people who defend themselves in real life assaults, on battlefields or for how many people they've beat up. Even if they were given for these reasons it is no indication of one's ability to do it again.I'm not saying that belts should be given out based on these reasons - they shouldn't. Just remember that it doesn't mean those things.
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7 comments:
Hi Jesse,
Agree entirely. I have seen too many people who are able to buy themselves martial arts titles. There are also some western governing bodies who hand out 7th Duan Wei (Chinese version of the 'Dan') titles to people who would be hard pushed to get a 3rd in China. I expect the same may be true with martial arts from other countries. Money talks, and for the right price, you can probably buy your way anywhere. However, people who are in the know, generally can spot those who are deserve their qualifications.
Well said! Although, I must say that this has become an age old issue that has followed martial arts for as long as I can personally remember (I am 45 years old and have started in the martial arts since I was a teenager at 15). Same old story of the (perceived?) importance of martial arts. I've heard it before and sometimes this notion is tiresome, however much I agree with it.
I would like add my two cents to this, here on your blog. With your kind permission my feeling about the black belt is that in the context of the martial arts, it means absolutely nothing.
Sure, martial arts is where the concept of black belt has meaning and denotes importance for those who practice within a specific system. Ranking helps to keep order and shows the chain of command or hierarchy of that group. However, the ranking is irrelevant outside of the system and relative to other groups. How would one compare black belts from karate to those in gung-fu? Or TKD black belts to BJJ? Even still, karate school 1 and karate school, both of which have different approaches to the same system. If you look it at it this way, belt ranking seems to be all relative.
Bottom line is it seems to me that black belt stature is most important not just for schools but for the leaders of those schools. I'm sure some of us here who practice martial arts have heard of someone who refused to test in spite of school's leadership request. Why is that? Seems to me that in those instances, ranking is valued more by the teachers than the students themselves who may or may not be correct in refusing to test for ranking.
Finally, I think that in order for one to become involved in the true and authentic spirit of the martial arts, it is the individual's desire for perfection and self-actualization (becoming whatever it is that they think they want to be) that transcends ranking, prestige and the black belt. I'd like to think that I have this desire because in all the year's I've been training, I have never cared for the pursuit of rank for ranking's sake and have always striven for my own level of perfection no matter how naive or romantic this idea may be. I'd like to think that I work on it every day and that, until I my final day on earth, will continue simply to see how far I can get to my personal ideal.
Thanks for letting me post. Keep this blog going, man. It's a good thing.
I agree completely about context being the real defining charateristic. But, if someone is out there "spreading the word" about their Dan ranking...this is one of the best indicators that they did not earn it. So, it means nothing at all. And, even if they DID earn it through skill and hard work...I think it was Rorion Gracie who said it best: "A black belt only covers 10% of your [rear end], covering the rest is up to you." There is another post about this also if anyone cares to take a look:
Should MY Black Belt Mean Anything to You?
Very interesting post Jesse! I love it when oher martial artists challenge our perception of the common structures that help or hinder our pursuit of martial artistry.
This is just my perspective, but for me, I see the pursuit to 1st Dan as a way for me to track my progress and help with goal setting... because I'm a bit idiosyncratic like that!
For me, my aim is to achieve my 1st Dan in order to see that as an achievable goal to broaden my knowledge and expertise. By the time I (hopefully!) reach 1st Dan, I hope that I have grown considerably as a martial artist... but that being said, the kuro obi is by no means the end of the journey! For me, martial arts is something I want to be a lifelong practice, and represents the first step towards a much longer goal.
... Arg, I'm getting all convoluted again! Will have to write a full post on this, as I'm jumping all over the place, and there's so much more I want to discuss, as I really liked some of the points you've brought up, and they mirror a lot of the humble instruction I've received from my instructors over the years.
So yes, I'll close my post here and will write a proper entry on my blog in response :)
Just a correction to an earlier comment I made so no confusion...
It was Royce Gracie (not Rorion) and the quote (when asked in an interview about his belt) was:
"Black belt? Yes I have a black belt but that belt only covers 2 inches of my butt. The rest I got to cover on my own."
Royce Gracie
Would not want to be the one spreading misinformation...and I hate being misquoted too.
I got my black belt in Aikido almost 10 years ago. Over time it has become more meaningless to me. I am more interested in effective self defense and self improvement. The search has more meaning then the ranks picked up along the way.
You certainly have a point: getting your black belt does not mean you're invincible or a bad-ass fighter. However in a decent dojo you do not get your black belt for nothing: usually alot of practice, sweat, commitment and sparring is required before you'll get to wear one. To me a black belt signifies a certain level of skill (basically advanced student) but it's certainly not my prime goal in the MA. It can motivate certain people, at least untill they see the true meaning and value of the MA.
Belts are just a means of systemising curricula, ideally split up and organised along rational principles (difficulty, likelihood of being attacked in a certain way, level of danger involved). For the teacher it's also easier to split up the class, teaching different techniques to different levels. Teaching difficult throws to people who don't know how to fall properly is dangerous and plain stupid.
While it's true there isn't a central agency that determines the value and requirements for a black belt in a certain style there are legitimate organisations that conduct tests based on uniform criteria and in the presence of an impartial jury (not your teacher alone). While there will still be a difference between individuals at least it lays down minimum requirements to be met and ensures a certain quality and knowledge among the black belts.
My advice would be to seek out a decent instructor who's affiliated to a legitimate organisation. These people have a reputation to defend and they won't just hand out rank to people who are undeserving. I know my teacher will thoroughly test me on everything I've learned (both in demonstration and free sparring) and even if he would take his job seriously there'd still be the test for the organisation we're part of. In general it's frowned upon to teach without official certification and from what I've heard the shodan test for the federation is anything but easy or a mere formality.
Zara
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