Belt rankings in Aikido

Wow.... just goes to show ya, doesn't it?

In our dojo, the kyu colors are
6th white
5th blue
4th green
3rd something...
2nd something else...
1st brown and may wear hakama

then for 1st dan onward, black with hakama.

When my husband was practicing in bujinkan, they had 7 or 8 kyu ranks, and the lowest was white, all the rest green up until your black-belt test. First dan onward wore black.

I plan to print off the humor listing of belt ranks, just to remind myself that it's not about ego and hierarchy. Thanks for that!

Heather

All Kyu grades wear white belts, Dan grades black belts. Hakama can be awarded to a student if they do a very good nikkyu or ikkyu grading, Apparently as far as Im aware it is possible to be a dan grade in our organisation and not be allowed to wear hakama. I intensely dislike coloured belts (people get too wrapped up in them as indicators of ability and status), but whatever floats your boat.

I remember hearing or reading that originally, waaaay back when...belts were always white. The idea of the black belt was because the student had put in so much time that the belt was so dirty it looked black.

Not sure if there is any truth to that...

Hakama at 3rd kyu. Other than that, no distinction between kyu grades. Which I thought was really cool when I started. I think this is to make all students understand that they can learn from everbody else, including students with a lower rank.

Children's classes use colour stripes on the belts to make it easier to separate them for syllabus training.

Scott Berstler wrote: I remember hearing or reading that originally, waaaay back when...belts were always white. The idea of the black belt was because the student had put in so much time that the belt was so dirty it looked black. Not sure if there is any truth to that...

I have heard the same. Originally there are 2 belts, white and black. I think the karate-minded people are trying to import coluored belts into aikido.

Scott, Burak,

This is an urban legend. People do wash their belts and the white/color/black belt as well as the kyu/dan ranking comes from Kano.

Sigurd:

I love your pictures of Norge on the site. Since my grandfather came from the Trondheim area (Frosta), I love the pics. I hope some day to visit. Love to see some of Trondheim if you ever get that way.

[quote=Sean Orchard]According to Jigoro Kano's book "Kodokan Judo", the system implemented by Kano was actually:
beginner- 4th Kyu white belt
3rd kyu - 1st kyu brown belt
Shodan black belt
/QUOTE]


interesting,

ours is actually
beginner - 3rd kyu white belt
2nd - 1st brown belt + hakama
Shodan up black belt


but then places with kids classes have colored belts starting at 10th kyu.

some parts of Ki Society like the Hawaii Ki Federation have adopted color belts for adults. so for kyu ranks it's somewhat regional because the Ki Soc. Hombu doesn't really care.

and yes I wash my black belt.

Here's what our style uses.

No Kyu = White Belt
6th Kyu = Yellow Belt
5th Kyu = Orange Belt
4th Kyu = Blue Belt
3rd Kyu = Green Belt
2nd Kyu = Red Belt
1st Kyu = Brown Belt
Dan = Black Belt

From what I remember, these are the reasons behind the different colors as they relate to old school training methods. Since you only ever got one belt, the belt color kind of changed over time (not to mention getting a little stinky ).

White Belt = new guy, little to no practice
Yellow Belt = a little practice, some sweat
Orange Belt = more sweat, some dirt
Blue Belt = lots of sweat, dirt, grass
Green Belt = lots of grass, outdoor practice, etc.
Red Belt = Blood!
Brown Belt = Dried Blood!
Black Belt = Lots of practice, dirt, blood, grass, life, etc.

-- Jim