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All true...one aspect of this story I have heard before that seems to get missed a lot is that, yes, you wear the same belt until it turns black from all the abuse. As you continue to train, the belt takes more abuse, more wear and tear and starts to fray and then....it turns white again.
Not that it means anything...
We are trained in wushu; we must protect the Temple!
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Kaga and sillumkid-
the story of the belts aging and filling with sweat dirt and blood is true of the Japanese martial arts.
that is indeed how it worked with Karate.
In Chinese martial systems that use sashes, teh colours have more of a cosmological/elemental reason to them.
Most kung fu schools that use sashes have only 5 sashes, these align with the 5 elements and teh 5 associated colours of the elements in contect to traditional chinese medicine.
This is what my Si Fu has taught me about this relatively new feature of Chinese Martial arts.
Otherwise, they are for lower back support due to the strenuous activities and workouts of the chinese martial artist. They are also very helpful on gaining focus of the centre.and of course they hold your pants up if you don't have a drawstring :D
peace
Kung Lek
Martial Arts Links
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The only thing belts are good for are to keep your pants up :)
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If so...
...then why not use color coded suspenders?
They'd be sooo cool!
:D
"Pain is only natures way of telling you're in terrible agony"
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Where I currently train, the black belts are very skilled and are good teachers. Getting certified as a black belt requires years of training, home study, teaching, and development of character.
The tests are difficult and require a lot of memorization and clarity in technique. Personally, tests tend to scare the crap out of me and turn my brain into a blank slate. I find myself spending a lot of time working throught the exam techniques on my own, adding to my overall practice (healthy motivation). Also, I spend time after class working with the more advanced students, and pick up the tricks that have helped them learn. By placing this exam in front of myself, I force myself to learn to be cool under pressure and to absorb the techniques to a point that I can execute them a bit fear blind.
From spending many years training beltless, I find that belt testing can be a healthy and worthwhile goal if the tests are appropriately difficult and your need to test comes from a desire to excel and perfect rather than to dominate.
Belts not not just hold your pants up in the dojo. They tell your fellow students that you have a knowledge base they can draw from, and remind you of who you are.
[This message was edited by Lyle on 10-24-01 at 07:31 AM.]
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A practical comparison
Sashes are better for tying people up, also for attaching to various weapons(such as making rope darts. slingshots, etc) and scaling. Also good for trainig such as blindfold, using restraining cirles to inhibit movement to practice technique and to tie two opponents together in a match.
Belts are stronger and heavier.Belts make better defensive weapons as they can catch and entangle various other weapons as they are somewht stronger.
They both have many uses. I prefer sashes. If you take your sash off, your uniform still stays on. If i am wearing the belt and gi, i am forever wrapping myself back up again. Silk is quite strong. Sashes are somewhat lighter and more versatile. However a sash is not so good for keeping a katana in place for the draw.
Gene That's good. $4.74 for a black belt. How much is 2nd Dan?
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stumble
You want 2nd Dan w/stripes?
http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsma...ex-11-90s.html
To be honest, I totally respect belts when they respect themselves. I had kyu in Judo and Kendo (not dan, never stayed with it that long) but both of those belt systems were well organized and honorable. As for kungfu, when the school or system honors it internally that's great. But I sell belts (obviously) so I also know the marketing end, probably better than most would want to know.
Like anything inanimate, it has meaning if you imbue it with meaning. Inanimates can symbolize anything - just study fetishism (not the sexual kind, the anthropological kind.) And far be it for me to comment too harshly on something as inocuous as a belt.
Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com
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just study fetishism
Hmmm...... oh the anthropological kind, nevermind.
I was actually thinking of some kind of color ranking. The tests would still retain the same diffuculty level but instead of saying level 3 it might be yellow belt. If I did I would use those cool corded belts that wing lam sells, I think colored sashes look tacky and I don't like karate belts. So maybe I would say yellow cord.... Anyway I think since belts are so commonly known in the USA it is easier than explaining how we don't use belt all the time and trying to explain why :rolleyes:
New classes New online Catalog
www.shaolindynasty.cjb.net
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Downgrade and Belt Customs
Gene: Those are colored belts with stripes, i.e. kyus. I don't think the black with white stipe is a dan grade.
Are you trying to demote me?
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I want my 2nd dan inscribed with my chinese name, which coincidentally is "Shi". So fate has already pre-ordained me to be a monk.
I don't know how i'm going to live with that "no killing" rule.
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Now in Aikido, many sensei's give the rank, but allow the kyus to always wear white belts in respect of a certain philosophical attitude.
It really sharpens people up in practice. You don't have the color of the belt to help you, you have to repond to the technique and not seeing the belt color.
I never heard of dan grades wearing the white. Some bb's do when they forget their black belt, but as a custom, i'm not sure.
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SF
Well, that's the problem with belts. They are not universal. Beleive me, I sell them. Everyone has their own system. Some are definately traditional - other are just made up. Some use the stripes like the next step after dan. I even remember one account that used the white belt as the highest - something to do with the death association. Whatever. Anyways if your really want that belt Stumblefist, just order it. We do embroidery.
In kendo, where they wear hakama like aikido, there are kyu and dan but the are just numbers - no colors. No place to wear a belt with a hakama really, excpet maybe an obi and no one sees that usually. So it's just rank, and it works quite well in the kendo circles because it's still fairly contained. As martial arts spread, well, as we know there's no way that one governing board can oversee all all the systems, so in a universal sense it makes no sense. But personally, and within a specific school, it can be very meaningful.
Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com
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Your hakama ties onto your belt, does it not?
"She ain't got no muscles in her teeth."
- Cat
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Not in kendo
A hakama has four straps that secure it, two for the front and two for the back. They wrap around the waist to secure it. It is not tied to a belt.
Gene Ching
Asst. Publisher
Kungfu Qigong Magazine & www.KUNGFUmagazine.com
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Not for me!
Belts have always been in use in the shaolin temple and in shaolin training. But for different reasons than we have them for now-a-days. Now-a-days a blackbelt means nothing except you've paid enough money and ran through a few forms. Belts are useless except to keep up your pants. when your training you don't need a belt or a certificate to tell you when and how much you have improved. That was the main reason I turned away from the karate and tae kwon do schools when I was a little and apprenticed under a great master.... god rest his sole.
-buddha's name be praised-
Lei
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<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Now-a-days a blackbelt means nothing except you've paid enough money and ran through a few forms. [/quote]
maybe in other schools Lei, but not where I went and not in plenty of other schools.
They measure achievment, let younger students know who can and is qualified to help them and sets a curriculum standard in many schools.
Many schools that do not use belts do use titles.
IE: Si Dai, Si Hing, Si Fu, Si Gung, etcetera.
peace
Kung Lek
Martial Arts Links
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