Importance of gradings/sashes

[Su Lin]

Had some good news this week, I', going in for my next grading soon.This one feels like more of an achievement after coming back from back problems which were affecting my training for over a month, then I was off completely for 2 months .I have been back for about 2 months now and trying to catch up with everyone!
I became a bit obsessed with grades, and the fact that my bf has jumped one ahead of me now,as he raded while I was off. However, just recently I have come to realise that the grading system and sashes are really quite irrelevant. Is it just a western thing that we like to be rewarded and to show other people where we stand/a hierarchy in schools?
Personally before I started kf I always did activities that had rewards with different leves and exams, rewards etc.
What are other peoples feelings towards gradings/sashes etc?
Im glad that I have finally realised that they arent important, as it has let me focus more on what I am actually doing.Its good to have something to work towards, but its kind of changing me as a person too, which is a good thing!

[The Xia]

A belt or a sash is only good for holding your pants up. My contention with belts/sashes is that most people care more about them then their actual skill. That, and the system is easily corruptible (good schools can turn into belt factories).

[shiyonghua]

Well, sashes were used to keep people's pants up cause that's what they used instead of belts.

Color sashes for rank is a new invention in CMA

[us0kch]

My understanding of TCM is that there are no belts to distinguish between rank or skill, you are basically part of a family or brotherhood/sisterhood of a group. Whoever starts before you is considered senior above you, regardless of how slow they learn and absorb the material and how fast you do. Most Traditional Chinese Sifu's will teach you something new when they feel you've accomplished and mastered the basic skills, whether it be horse stance, punching, kicking, etc.

Patience, dedication, commitment and hard work are all a virtue of Kung Fu, while the belts and grading/ranking system, as everyone said, is used to hold your pants up.

[Green Cloud]

Actualy the Sash is very important, it works just like a weight belt that body builders used.

Since we do a lot of low stances in Kung Fu it is important to wear a sash so you don't bust a gut.

hernias are very comon and the sash helps prevent that. As far as colors are concerned that's ok to as long as that is not your main focus. Even in the military you have rank.

As long as rank is earned there's nothing wrong with it.

[KC Elbows]

Once you have been burnt on belt sashes, there's no returning back. I.E. if you lessen their meaning, you will destroy their use.,

[us0kch]

Actualy the Sash is very important, it works just like a weight belt that body builders used.

Since we do a lot of low stances in Kung Fu it is important to wear a sash so you don't bust a gut.

hernias are very comon and the sash helps prevent that. As far as colors are concerned that's ok to as long as that is not your main focus. Even in the military you have rank.

As long as rank is earned there's nothing wrong with it.

Mr/Sifu Green Cloud,


That's interesting take, since I've never heard of getting a hernia by doing low stance work in Kung Fu? Not saying its wrong, but I've always believed low stance work was putting most of the stress on your legs to build and strengthen them up? In a sense, I guess you are tightening up the abs and while doing so, keeping your back straight, but I just don't see how it could bust a gut?? Coming from a Chinese background, I was always told the belt was used to hold your pants up and as my mom puts it, to keep the poor starving chinese people from being hungry by "closing up the empty space."

I know, mom's old wives tales

[lunghushan]

Actualy the Sash is very important, it works just like a weight belt that body builders used.

Since we do a lot of low stances in Kung Fu it is important to wear a sash so you don't bust a gut.

hernias are very comon and the sash helps prevent that. As far as colors are concerned that's ok to as long as that is not your main focus. Even in the military you have rank.

As long as rank is earned there's nothing wrong with it.

??? KF sashes are very flimsy. I never heard the thing about hernias before. ???

Anyway, like somebody said, hierarchy has always been very important in KF. Older brother, uncle, sifu, stuff like that.

[The Xia]

The thing is that belt systems often appeal to egos. I mean let's be honest, when someone gets a sash is he any better then he was the day before? However, that person often feels that way. The color worn around the waist becomes the paramount concern. But when push comes to shove, how do they know that a lower rank won't wipe the floor with them in a fight. Perhaps the higher rank does more of the system but maybe what the lower rank does know, he does better. It becomes harmful to progress when belts are what's important. Many people fall into that trap because of ego.

[Helena Handbask]

I was taught that sashes are used like weight belts for support.

[lunghushan]

I was taught that sashes are used like weight belts for support.

No, this weight belt thing is nonsense (at least I never heard of it). If anything, there is a Chinese tradition that you should cover your stomach and keep it warm. So you can find Chinese out in the cold sometimes with a bare chest but the belly covered.

[omarthefish]

No, this weight belt thing is nonsense (at least I never heard of it). If anything, there is a Chinese tradition that you should cover your stomach and keep it warm. So you can find Chinese out in the cold sometimes with a bare chest but the belly covered.

2 things.

1. Been to China have you? Because that last sentence is complete BS. Sashes don't cover your belly anyways.

2. Worn an actual traditional Chinese sash too? 2 Kinds of them.

- decorational. These are the satin thingees worn around the waist along with the silk pajamas.

- funtional. The cotton sash that is about 4-5 inches wide and wraps around your waist several times effectively doing exactly what is claimed. It keeps your waist wrapped almost as tightly as hand wraps do to your hands and not only keeps the pants up but yes, offers a certain degree of protection against injury at the waist.

[The Willow Sword]

it is an american system of ranking with in the martial arts. any martial arts. started by the japanese to accomodate the american sense of "rank advancement". in the beginning it was only 4 belts ,white yellow brown black. There was no real ranking in CMA, just the acknowledgement of Student and master. or disciple and master.

in a way the belt ranking system is useful for the instructor, that way he/she can keep track of the students progress(and if you have alot of students you need something to keep track of where they are in their training). if you are a teacher that has but a few students then you really do not need any thing to remind you of where a student is in his/her progress.

i have always felt that the ranking system in martial arts took away and distracted you from your actual progress as a martial artist. you get so wrapped up in "when am i going to test for the next level?" it becomes an obsession rather than just a simple marker of where you are in the teaching you have been recieving.

i dont give any real creedance to my 2nd degree black belt, i have always thought of myself as a student, and at one time an assistant instructor.
TWS

[Green Cloud]

Thank you Omar, that's what I'm talking about. Oh yea it also holds in the fat sifu's gut.

[Helena Handbask]

No, this weight belt thing is nonsense (at least I never heard of it).

So I assume you know everything about everything. And to call what I have been taught "nonsense" just shows how ignorant of a person you are, your instructor must be something special.