I remember asking my old Sifu why we wear red sash. I expected to hear something about tradition and deep symbolism. Sifu's answer was way better than I anticipated. "The sash is so your pants don't fall down. It's red because I like red"

I can’t wait until I get my BJJ red belt 😂

because my dad was in the military I ended up having to train at about four different taekwondo schools before I got my black belt. Though, I remember that the last master that I had, always said that the red belt stood for danger, because the practitioner has the skills of a black belt but has not yet learned the control of one.

In many Taekwondo schools. White - the color of innocence or the color of the beginner who has no previous knowledge of Taekwondo. A seedling. Yellow - signifies the earth from which a plant sprouts and takes root as the Taekwondo foundation is being laid. Green - signifies a plant's growth as Taekwondo skills begin to develop. Blue - the color of the sky toward which a plant grows as the Taekwondo training progresses. Red - color of danger. Cautioning the student to exercise control as they could be a danger to themselves or others without control. Black- the opposite of white therefore signifying the maturity and proficiency of Taekwondo growth the student has obtained.

When I studied Jui Jitsu not BJJ, but the Jui Jitsu style from Japan there was a red belt that over saw all the Dojos in the region. On occasion all the dojos would meet together and the head instructor/red belt would come in. I have argued with so many people over the red belt rank including black belts who said that red was not a “master” rank. This guy does an excellent job of explaining the red belt

Howdy! I am a Karatedo practitioner in Shudokan! In the style I study, Redbelt is equivalent to 10th dan, the highest rank of Blackbelt. The last thing I noticed in Shudokan Karatedo, the rank of Ichi-kyu was the third rank of Brownbelt (which is actually 1st degree) (3rd degree, San-kyu, 2nd degree, Ni-kyu, and 1st degree, Brown Belt, Ichi-kyu) now Ichi-kyu is now represented by a Red belt with a Black stripe that goes parallel along the Belt!

I. My system the belt holds up your pants

In TKD, the red belt is like a brown belt in Karate, it is the previous belt before black belt

When I startet Kyokushin Karate someone told me the belt means nothing it is all about yourself and he was right someone could train 5 years of Martial art then switch to a similiar art starting as a white belt. So always believe in yourself regards of the belts, and stay open mindet.

In American Tang Soo Do, just like its Korean counterpart red belt is used in lieu of brown belt. There are three levels of red belt: 3rd gup (1 stripe), 2nd gup (2 stripes) and 1st gup (3 stripes). Some ATSD schools have changed it so that for each level/degree its a different type of red belt. One is a regular red belt, followed by a red belt with a white solid stripe down the length of it and then one with a black stripe. Some schools have also added an extra rank, what's known as "cho dan bo" rank after 1st gup which is a half red/half black belt. As for the Dan ranks, ATSD traditionally only uses regular black belts. No "masters" or "grandmasters" belts. Neither Chuck Norris, Pat Johnson or Bob Wall for example, wear special belts. With that being said, over the past few years some schools have added Korean Tang Soo Do style "masters" and "grandmasters" belts.

I started in Shotokan and made it to Yellow Belt. In our dojo, the ranks went as follows: Beginner: White, Yellow, Orange and Green Intermediate: Green with Black Stripe, Blue, Purple and Red Advanced: Red with Black Stripe and Brown Black Belt 1-10 Dan

To add to the conversation, in my organization we use belts with red on them as ceremonial belts. These belts are only worn at offical functions and events like promotions and tournaments. They go as follows: 5th dan - Black with red stripe Kari 6th dan (my system is weird) - black with 2 red stripes 6th dan - red with 1 black stripe 7th dan - red with 2 black stripes 8th dan - red with 1 white stripe 9th dan - full red I know that in some okinawan styles they use the renshi, kyoshi and hanshi belts in the same way. However those of the time I see those belts being worn all the time.

Sensei Dan you are definitely the personification of a martial arts scholar, in my opinion. You present things in such a professional, concise, methodical, historical, chronological and academic manner. Indeed the red belt is ambiguous, in terms of its meaning, relevance and level of prestige, across the global, martial arts landscape. As you said in martial arts systems such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu it is awarded to grandmasters 9th dan black belt and above, yet in some Karate styles it is awarded to those of a 5th or 6th degree black belt, ranking pedigree! You are absolutely spot on Sosai Oyama Masutatsu, altered the colour of the red belt to orange, out of respect for some of his fellow martial arts masters and friends, in other Japanese Karate styles and Judo, where they themselves wore these red belts as the ultimate representation of mastery in their arts. Nevertheless as you mentioned some of our Kyokushin Karate schools or organisations, have retained the original red belt. I have been part of dojos and organisations, that utilise either the red or orange coloured belt. Nevertheless as you said in the end belts colours are at the end of the day, symbolic representations of a person's progression in a system of combat, they do not reflect the actual individual's capabilities as a martial artist. Oddly enough the first inaugural, as well as the second Kyokushinkaikan Karate World Champion from Japan, Nakamura Makoto, who is now head of his own independent Kyokushin Karate organisation, wears both a black Kyokushin Karate Karate typical black belt, however controversially having awarded himself an 11th dan, one higher than our Kyokushin Karate founder Sosai Oyama Masutatsu, who was 10th dan black belt himself, but in addition to this he also wears a red belt simultaneously, underneath his black belt. Then there is the late Dutch Kyokushin Karate master, as well as Judo grandmaster Kaicho Johannes Cornelius Bluming, who upon forming his own Kyokushin Karate and Judo, amalgamated association wore a solid and complete 10th dan red belt with gold embroidery for his dan bar ranks, as well as his personal name and that of his organisation in Japanese characters. Aside from these two gentlemen in Kyokushinkaikan Karate, we do not use the red belt, as a colour of masters or grandmasters rank levels, rather as you mentioned Sensei Dan, the first coloured belt awarded after the white novice rank belt in some of our schools. In Enshinkaikan Karate under its founder Kancho Ninomiya Yoko, originally from Japan and residing most of his life in Denver, Colorado, USA, their black belt ranks are all the way as the designated colour, all the way up to the top grandmaster rank level. Nevertheless in Enshin Karate they use the red dan bars like in American Kenpo Karate and some other martial arts systems, to clearly show the various dan levels of progression of an individual's black belt ranks progression. In some other cases in some other arts, I have come across some styles of Karate using a black belt with a borderline in red, with the vast majority of the black, coloured belt textile, in the middle of the actual belt itself. My observation is that throughout history, the red colour has been associated with passion, power, leadership and nobility. The Roman centurions wore red garments including their cloaks, as part of their military uniforms, kings, queens and other members of the nobility in the West again with the case of Roman Emperors or the British royals for example wore red capes, mantles, robes and even as part of their crowns ornaments. So I am not surprised that red has been adopted into the martial arts, belts colours, ranking system to either represent the foundations of the art, or its ultimate pinnacle of mastery. In the end as you said what is important, is our dedication, hard work and what the actual colour of the belt, actually represents and means to us. I hope all is well with you Sensei Dan, as well as your loved ones, may God Almighty bless and keep you all safe as always. Greetings from Melbourne, Australia 🇲🇽🇦🇺🥋🙏Osu!

Being a "Karate Kid" enthusiast, you may remember in part 2 that Sato wore a red belt with a black gi top & white gi pants when he was practicing chopping hitting a beam of wood and Miyagi visited him. As a kid, that mystified me ("Why isn't he wearing a black belt? Isn't he a karate master?").

In Isshin-ryu and Jiu-jitsu, the red belt is the master rank. Neither teacher plays around with it. They both kept it traditional. My Taekwondo class was interesting. They used 3 ranks of red before Bo-Dan, aka Bo-Black. And the Red-3 belt was actually optional. My instructors decided to let students choose either Red-3 or Brown when they reached 1st Gup. I personally went with Brown because after a year of red, another 6 months at 1st Gup, and then another 6 months at Bo-Dan which is a half black half red belt, I really needed a break in there so I wasn’t seeing just red for 2 years. As for custom belts that we give meaning to, I did this. When I was way younger, I was enrolled in 5 different martial arts all at once because I was stupid. And I had a different rank in each one. I really enjoyed working out in the dogi because I loved the sound it makes when you move and the snap when you strike. So since I had so many different ranks, I sought out one belt I could wear to represent everything and I settled on a Camo belt. Camouflage is a mix of several different colors and I thought that was the perfect representation of how many different styles I was in with different ranks. I understand today that the Camo belt is pretty much the telltale sign of a McDojo, but you know what? I don’t care. I love my Camo belt. I still wear it today. It’s the most worn out belt I have. I wear more than my Black Belt. Out of all the arts I was in back then, I only stuck with Isshin-ryu and Taekwondo, and I recently joined a Jiu-jitsu class, but I still like my Camo belt and feel like its mix of colors represents the different arts I do.

I practice ITF Taekwondo. So for us "Red signifies danger, cautioning the student to exercise control and warning opponents to stay away."

My red belt story I spent a few years training at a Kempo school. I got up to green belt, next would have been brown then black ( no red). Than my family moved to a small town 50 miles away, i couldn't afford the commute. I started training at a small TKD school that was trying to become a " More street effective system." After a month or so, the head instructor approached me and said. " In our school green belt is a lower rank. I think it's confusing the students. I'd like you to wear this black belt in class."... I thought about it for a minute, and said. " I don't feal comfortable taking a belt I didn't test for." Next class he presented a RED belt, and said. " I don't know how to test you, but I'd like you to wear this belt in class because it better represents your skill level." This time it was in front of the students, I couldn't say no... That's how I got my honorary Red belt.

Fun Fact: Red, in Shintoism, is the color of the gods. This is why red is used by many systems as master. In other countries, however, its possible to see different color belts according to the meaning of certain color. For example, there are various karate and jujutsu systems in England and the UK that do not designate red as master, but rather royal purple.

My Sensei is a 9th dan, I half jokingly asked why he doesn't wear red belt, he laughed and said back in the day in japan red belts were used to denote women black belts(for some sexist reason women could not be presented a "black" belt at the time) also in Japanese karate a red belt is not typically used as a rank but is widely used for competition purposes to denote your side and correspond with the color flag. In shobu ippon there is a white and a red. In wkf competition there is a blue and a red. Red or "aka" will have to wear a red belt with red gloves.

I love the symbolism for the black belt. Back in the day, you start with a white belt, and as you trained, your white belt would get dirty and stained by sweat and dirt from training, eventually becomming blackened by years of intense training. Then, when you have achieved a fully blackend belt, it meant that you have already spent enough time on your basics, it showed you REALLY had put time into it, and hard training at that. your belt wont be blackened by standing around, but intende training, being taken to the grund by other students, etc. So a blackend belt REALLY meant a guy had trained. The traditional white-brown-black also reflects this. I love this symbolism Furthermore, by the time you reach the master ranks, you'd probably switch you old and worned belt which started its life as just a cheap un dyed for new, shinny and expensive red belt as at this point you probably have status and really earn some cash from teaching.

I never seen red belts in Goju. It was white, white with green stripes, green, green with brown stripes, brown, brown with black stripes and black

You are definitely the best KZfaq martial artists out there you have such Direct way of expressing yourself and this video explains what I explained to my students. The belt you wear it in your waist and not in your forehead so it really doesn't matter what belt you have what matters is who you are and what achieve and if you have a good purpose for it. Oss

The arrangement of tkd belts here in the Philippines is different from how the tkd belts are arranged there in the US. Belt arrangement of wt tkd here is white,yellow,blue,red,brown and black. It's nice to know that belt arrangements are different from the US and other countries.

The local Karate DoJo here in England, uses the following belt colours / levels: 9th kyu - Red Belt 8th Kyu - Orange Belt 7th Kyu - Yellow Belt 6th Kyu - Green Belt 5th Kyu - Purple Belt 4th Kyu - Purple and white stripe 3rd Kyu - Brown Belt 2nd Kyu - Brown & white stripe 1st Kyu - Brown & double white

In the dojo where I teach we define Red Belt as the transition from beginner student to advanced student. *White, Yellow, Green, Red, Brown, 2nd Brown, Black. The yellow & green tests are pretty easy. The Red Belt test is a miniature Black Belt Test, usually taking 8 hours, but up to 9 hours.

My belt is only red when it's awash with the blood of my enemies. 🥋😡☠

...adding in, respectfully, a clarification for Bujinkan; white @ 10th kyu, green until 5th kyu, brown thereafter until Shodan, regardless of gender...and we have a saying, "don't trip over your belt, or anyone else's." Great channel, many thanks, keep up the good work!

My Martial Arts instructor Chief Grandmaster Rudy Jones in his Ninjitsu system it takes a while to get to your Black Belt, after you received your Brown Belt, it takes four Black Stripes to get to your black belt 🥋. But in his system there is no full red belt only red stripes on the black belt to indicate your Dan

In my school, when we were part of the Genbukan, the belts were white, green, brown, then black. One spent the most of amount time on the green belt, taking at 6 stripes, or kyu levels before receiving brown. As a female, Tanemura Sensei said we were special and we could choose to have a red belt as an equivalent to green. So, I earned and choose the red belt and kept that until 3rd kyu.

In my school of Taekwondo we see the red belt as a warning for the opponent to stay away and also a warning for the student to exercise control.

So a bit of history of the red belt and the belt ranking system in general. It originated in Judo (Originally known as Kano Jujutsu), much like the custom of practicing in a gi, in which Jigoro Kano would use the black belt to represent students and the black belt to represent instructors. Later on intermediate belt colors were added as a way to retain students. Currently in Judo it's white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, brown then black. When the kodokan was established they added a striped red and white belt for their sixth instructors, and the red belt for their ninth dans and higher. To date the Kodokan has never promoted anyone above tenth dan, and few living individuals altogether. Now Bjj is a descendamt art of Judo through Mitsuyo Maeda (Known in Brazil as Conte Combe) who taught the first of the Gracies and Osvoldo Fadda (creating a lineage of BJJ that isn't part of the "Gracie System"). A lot of the belt system was directly incorporated into BJJ, however the Gracies do a lot to distance themselves from the Kodokan although many of them have Judo black belts. The gracies maintain a red belt for ninth degree or higher, but only a gracies have one in BJJ, due to the age requirements. The belt system was adopted by other martial arts due to geographic proximity. Really, Judo was one of Japan's first contribution to the Olympics and helped to inform the world's idea of a "Black Belt". Kano would actually send his instructors abroad to teach Judo in other countries to help grow the sport. All in all though, the practice of a belt ranking system is a relatively new practice that came about in the 20th century with the growth and proliferation of sports organizations. It's a convenient way to match competitors by rank and experience rather than throwing all competitors into a giant pool.

Love the messaging at the end.... spot on

At the company that I teach at we use Red belt with a black stripe going across the middle of the belt for students that have been certified by our Z-Ultimate University system to teach Karate but have not yet reached the rank of Black in their town individual training. I was a red belt when I became an instructor(actual rank, Green w/ brown stripe) until I got my Shodan in Novmeber of 2021

In Okinawa the "Gold" (Not dark yellow) is a tenth Dan. TKD uses red before black to insult the Japanese belt ranking system,. (This goes back to the 60-early 70's. Back in the 60's I went from white to green to brown and then after being a brown for about ten years I received a third dan.

Man, I just want to make Black Belt in Kenpo as soon as I possibly can get back to taking classes again! 🧔🏻 🥋 🐅⛩️🥋🧘🏻‍♂☯️⛩️🐉 👊🏻💪🏻😎

The school I grew up in, the Grand Master started out with four belt colors: you started wearing no belt, then went to yellow, than blue, then red, then black. Yellow was after about six months to a year, blue a year to two after that, red two to five years after that, then black was five to ten years after that. He had no degrees. Once you had a black belt, you were a master. When he started joining competitions, people complained that his blue belts had been practicing as long as some other people's black belts. So he looked around at other schools and adopted a new scheme that was kind of an amalgamation of other systems. That was about six months before I joined, and my instructor was still adjusting to the new system. One of the advantages of the old system was that there were only two forms for the yellow belt, so you spent most of your first three or four months learning stances and basic step movements. Than you learned the first two forms in the last two months. When it transitioned, out was unclear to the satellite schools (like mine) which if any forms were needed for yellow belt, and when I took my first test in front of the grandmaster it was, to put it mildly, chaos. Some people testing for yellow belt with me only knew basic movements and some who had been there less time than me knew five forms but did them very poorly. My school were in the middle: we had learned the forms in the last week and did them *very* poorly (wrong moves, moves out of order, lots of pauses) but our stances and movements were awesome because we had been doing pretty much only those for months. I learned over the years as the grandmaster adjusted things that what the rank means is not important, what's important is that everyone knows what it means.

In the Kenpo dojo where I grew up...the Red Belt was a Jr. Instructor belt. It was awarded to certain individuals who were invited to a class (and passed a written and oral examination) that taught the basics of teaching. This was (un)usually awarded after Purple, but in my case (and that of my Sensei) it was awarded near the end of Orange. It was for Instructors who were below the rank of Brown, and was worn on a daily basis. You wore your actual rank in your belt tests. As such I wore my Purple, Blue, and Green belts twice; when receiving them and when leaving them. As a Red Belt I taught all ranks of Junior students, and any rank of Adult that I had personally attained (but typically one rank below)...and often intro lessons and exercise classes. It absolutely accelerated my learning curve tremendously.

The multiple colours of belts for junior grades came in when Karate became monetised and commercialised, The majority of people don’t have the self discipline to continue training without a public symbol of their achievements to show for it. As you say in the early days a Shotokan student would train from 9th Kyu to 4th kyu as a white belt which could be a period of 2 years or more, before spending another year or so as a brown belt from 3rd to 1st kyu before going for black. In today’s world we are fickle and need our little badges of honour. But in reality the colour of the belt means nothing.. it’s the person who wears it that matters.

Took a couple of days to think about this one, but I think what resonated with me the most was your commentary at the end that it doesn't matter what belt/sash is around your waist. It's abound the training and what you put into it

The closing is awesome!

I did shotokan when I was a kid and got up to 2nd brown belt before other priorities took over and I had to stop. My school when White, Yellow, orange, green, purple x2, brown x3. from what I've gathered, some schools add blue belt instead of a second purple, and red instead of a third brown. It's probably just to keep kids engaged so they're excited to get a new belt

In the system I was taught, red signified a learning instructor between 1st degree black belt and 2nd degree black belt. They're black belts, but they're learning to teach, and run classes.

In the Kempo system I studied in the 90s, Red belt was a teaching belt, All Jr Instructors who were not black belt would earn a red belt, the testing for it was more rigorous, and also focused a lot on philosophy. You could not even test for a red belt until you reached blue belt, and you had to be sponsored by a black belt instructor. You wore you red belt only when you were teaching other students (always students lower rank than you), otherwise you wore your regular rank color belt for your lessons.

I always enjoy your videos. In my system we use the red belt for student instructors who aren't black belts yet. To become a student teacher you have to go through special training on how to teach (like being able to mirror your stances, techniques, etc. to make it easier for students to just mirror you back so they can get the technique right, we have something called 'sensei left' and 'sensei right' which is basically right and left respectively) Once you go through the training you can help teach, usually the younger students with the bigger classes (and not for free, you get paid to help teach). I think the red is to prevent anyone from talking back to the instructor by saying something like 'well you're only a green belt, what would you know?' That's my guess as to why we use a red belt. Some say it makes it easier to identify the helpers, but I've had little kids come into the dojo who need help with something (outside of a class) and they'll ask me simply because I'm an adult, so I think the real reason for the red belt it to prevent talking back.

Another outstanding video on the martial arts thanks, team. Regards Harry

very interesting and informative. Also good to avoid misunderstandings. The most important though to me are white (the beginner) and black, which are older than the colour system which originated with Kano. I like the BJJ approach where you know that a black belt has 9-12 years of practice. Giving black belts to teenagers or after just 3 years is just ludicrous.

Love those shout outs to Tang Soo Do. In our TSD federation red symbolizes summer, ripening, and the Yang portion of the Korean Um-Yang. This comes before the calm, maturity, and harvest of midnight blue.

I'm from shotokan karate, when I used the red belt as a color I was 4th kyu.it was the color before brown. I still use the same red belt for WKF competition.

Very informative video Mr. Dan and quite accurate. I truly believe what you said when you ended the video about the idea of any kind of belt. Imo “it’s not what’s around your waist that says what type of a person or martial arts practitioner you are, but rather what you do when you step on the mat and how you conduct yourself in front of your peers and others.”

I am doing shotokan karate in Germany. We use the red belt exclusively in kumite to distinguish the partitioners. We have shiro, Japanese for white, without an additional belt, and aka, a short red belt you wear on top of your regular obi. The WKF (World Karate Federation) uses red (aka) and blue (ao) for the same reasons. Thank you for broadening my perspectives on the red belt! =)

In Wado-ry karate we have white belt 9kyu and 8 kyu is White belt whit Red stripes or fully red belt. In Japanese jujusto is white belt 6 kyu and yellow belt 5 kyu.

It's funny that you put this video out as I was looking at this the other day. In my judo club there is no red belt in the adult syllabus but there is in the junior's and it's low ranking. When I was looking for a club to join I saw one local club that had red after white, while another one had it instead of brown! ... Also, as far as I'm aware in BJJ they don't even give out red belts anymore :(

I am currently a solid red belt in what I believe is kenpo. In our dojo we have solid and high belts of each color (white, yellow, green, blue, red, brown) plus candidate belt before black belt. After watching this video again, I can appreciate how red can feel like a beginner expert or an expert beginner.

In our Moo Duk Kwan Taekwondo association, which is based on Tang Soo Do, red is the last of the color belts before black belt. Plain red belt is 3rd highest color rank (3rd gup), then you add a stripe for 2nd gup, then another stripe for 1st gup. Next step after that is 1st dan black belt. In our system, red belt signifies the ability to draw blood. Red belt or 3rd gup is the first rank where we are allowed to strike the face in sparring. We are also expected to occasionally teach full classes in preparation to become an instructor. As you get into the upper color belts, you begin to see how everyone becomes their own martial artists, as two students of same rank can show very different levels of expertise and each will have their own specialty, whether it be sparring, forms, breaking, self-defense, etc...

In my early days of Karate, the first style of Karate I trained in was Shito-Ryu. The school had pretty much every color you can think of. The belt after white was red and then you move on to orange.

Red was predominantly an instructors color for us, until it was integrated as the 10th belt preceding the 11th and 12th you receive prior to your 1st Black (I Tuan). However, I think your statement is enticing and valid when examining the curiosity behind the usage of the red belt.

Man that's great information thanks

My GMs belt is thick and red with gold running through the middle. But it's really his ceremonial belt. He wears his black belt with gold stripes because he was also the Shihan.

In one of my styles, Shorinji ToraKen ryu Kempo Karate...the red belt comes just before 1st dan Black. This system is a composite of Kenpo, Shitō-ryu karate, and Hapkido/Tae Kwon Do. There have been several splits in the system. When I was 6-8 yrs old, the myth was that you had to kill someone in a specified manner to earn the red belt. Amazing what little boys will come up with!

In soo bahk do, red is right before midnight blue... But once you become 4th dan tmyou get a belt that is midnight blue with the center color red all through the belt... and those who get from that belt up need to pass s kilitsry bootcamp type of testbfor each belt

I do Kenpo and we do two Brown belts 3rd, 2nd then 1st brown is really a Red/Black belt

When i tudied Choe Lay Fut Kung Fu the red sash was the belt you wore at the very beginning. When I studied Korean Hwa Rang Do the red belt was the next belt after the brown, then was a black and red striped belt then black. I had often wondered about it as it seems to be the only color that doesn't have a universally accepted meaning...everyone knows a white belt means beginner and black means expert at least it most systems and other colored belts denote some level of intermediate learning. But the red is more...enigmatic. If nothing else I suppose the red belt is a good lesson in not assuming someone's skill level based on a colored belt because of the differences in ranking systems throughout the marital arts. Admittedly the same could be said for other colored belts for the same reason but this on in particular is so malleable in its placement that I think it warrants the particular attention that it has been given.

In traditional Kang Dukwon TKD we go brown, red, red/black then black. The reasoning behind it is we are creatures that seem to need affirmation of progress. In the past it was 3 degrees of brown, denoted by black stripes. Holding at brown belt for so long seems to have a negative effect on some people and causes "brown belt blues". I'm currently a brown belt in Kang Dukwon, working towards red. I also want to add, our red/black is a red belt with a black stripe through the middle. Junior black belts (poom) wear the red/black bi-color belts. That's typical of the Kukkiwon rank system. Years ago I was in TKD that utilized red belt then 3 degrees of brown before black... Keep up the good work, Dan.

I just got my red belt in kyokushin! I'm so happy and excited for this journey!

Awesome video! :)

Ive been learning tkd for a while and as a kid i just accepted that red belt was before black and i thought it was a normal thing in any other art with a belt system I looked up belt rankings like a couple years ago and i was surprised to see that the red belt is actually associated with the 10th dan (the level of "true mastery" or the highest level) in some martial arts

A lot of organizations don't even have red. We have red as a teacher's rank (Renshi/Kiyoshi/Hanshi), but the Kyu ranks are white, green and brown.

The last couple years in my program ive actually implemented a gray belt. Its basically a yellow belt for adults. I figured no adult wants to wear a yellow belt with a bunch on 6 year olds runnin around in em. So yellow and orange are strictly kids ranks. They are replaced by gray belt and gray belt with a black stripe. Adults seem to dig it it puts a clear division between kids and adults. And this way no child ever out ranks an adult. Similar to bjj.

As a judoka and jujitsuka, I've never had much faith in the significance of upper red belts. I usually see coral and red belts awarded for political contributions to a federation and often has little to do with mastery of a style. I've always heard the red belt started in Judo and was adopted by karate systems later as a master or founder rank. I think it is silly and have no use for it.

I use gold belt as the highest instructor rank (chief instructor) in my school in place of red belt. And I use red belt right after orange belt for students in my school.

In Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan red belt is the rank under midnight blue. It has gold stripes and blue stripes, gold stripes mean half so you get red, red gold, red blue, red blue gold, red 2 blues etc.

Really cool video! I am really curious about the red and white alternating stripe belt. Will you be doing a video on it or know what it's about? I cant find anything.

At my school (I train in a kenpo blend) here are the ranks. White Yellow Orange Green (me!) Purple Blue Red Advanced red (red with black stripe) Brown Advanced brown (brown with black stripe) Black. Just my school, a bit odd. Great school though. I’ve been training since November every single day for hours. Going for my black within hopefully 3 years.

It was and still is my dream to become a black belt. just need the money for classes.

A couple years too late but thought I'd share: My time in the martial arts was more than 25 years ago. Originally it was National Karate (really it was Tae Kwon Do). I ended on red belt, which for us at the time was the first advanced belt. Order went like this: White->Gold->Green->Purple->Blue->Red->Brown->Brown with black stripe->Black. Later I moved and took up Shuri-Ryu (sp?) karate for a short time that had no red belt. Interestingly enough the sensei invited me to wear my red belt if I wanted. I decided not to bother because it'd be confusing and single me out as being a lot better than I actually was (I knew nothing of Shuri-Ryu anyway) so simply started over as a white belt again. I never had the view that the belts are meaningless. To get each one you had to memorize and learn certain things, after all, and in a particular order. So as a (whatever color) belt you knew and could do all the things that were at the previous belt levels, and your proficiency in general at the art had to be higher. Having said that, I lost a sparring match in a tournament to a fellow yellow belt, while I was really a red belt in another style... So as for one's sparring ability, yeah, it's probably not terribly meaningful! I was good at form/kata though which I enjoyed more than anything else. I overheard one guy after my form in the tournament ended say "there's no way that guy is only a yellow belt." He was right. Oddly enough I was too good for that belt level in form, but too awful at sparring to even play with the beginners!

I've studied two Korean arts and both have interesting uses of red. My main style is Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do. It's related to Tang Soo Do and the red belt is not only the rank before black, but is also used as a master color. When one reaches 4th dan, which is the master ran, they get a black (or midnight blue) belt with a single red stripe through it. At 8th dan, one reaches grand master, and the belt now as two red stripes through it. I always thought it was strange that red is both above and below black. My other style is Hapkido. When my instructor first opened his school, red was originally the third belt (white (no rank), yellow, then red), but this caused a lot of confusion with other Korean styles where red is just before black, so he changed it to orange.

had a red belt cus I liked it. wore even after receiving black, it reminds me of the heavy conditioning

Thank you, very interesting. This subject is long overdue for some explanation. I appreciate this video. In our school a great deal autonomy is given to each black belt, each lineage holder, so they can structure the individual requirements for grading up to black belt. At which point proficiency with the whole of the curriculum is the goal. This leaves students with ample material for their health and basic self-defense needs, while providing them a strong foundation with which to pursue future progress in the finer points of these arts. It has taken me forty-five years to come to these conclusions, in my own school I offer students belts white, green, brown, and black. Not testing any student before two years of regular training. My motto is ''Ten years to black belt. A lifetime to mastery.'' After receiving black belt, prospective students work on specialized technique, skills, or qualities, which become their unique talent. And for this the particular Chinese character is sewn in red thread in their blackbelt. The plan here is to give rise to the development of more individual assets, and less bureaucracy. Black Belts should see themselves as no more than sincere students. The Black Belt testifies that the student has developed themselves, physically, morally, and spiritually. At least it should be an assurance that the person holding the title has an elevated sense of justice, is merciful, humble and wise. In my school the brown belt is a sign that the student can fight, and is capable of defending themselves. And the black belt a sign they know when not to do so. Peace, its good karma. Laoshr#60 Ching Yi Kung Fu Association

The reason the Korean Taekwondo systems replaced the brown belts with a red one was to insult the Japanese. The insult being that a red belt master in Karate was below a black belt in Taekwondo !

I study Gracie JiuJitsu and Judo, which you've already touched on. In both cases, Red is a master color. Coral belt and white/red belts are very high up. Then Red belt is the highest in both systems. I've also started training IKCA Kenpo Karate, where our belts go orange, green, blue, purple, brown, and Black. No red at all until you get much higher up.

At the TKD school I went to I dont remember which one is before brown but it's either purple or red, probably red. We had red then red with black center stripe 👍 10:03 ouch RIP 🙏😞

Nicely done Dan! Very interesting and informative. In some arts of Ju Jutsu like Miyama Ryu, and San Yama Bushi Ryu, there is no red belt. Their highest ranks attainable are "Kaiden", belts which have red on the top half and white on the bottom half. Also their title is modified from being referred to as "Shihan"....all other, lower black belt ranks are referred to as "Sensei". The Headmaster's belts, which were unattainable (Red for life on the upper half, and black for death on the lower half), were uniquely referred to as "Shinan". This was reserved for the founders of the art. Another interesting note is when a martial artist dies (especially a high ranked one), they are buried wearing a white silk sash for a belt, signifying the completion of the circle of life.

That you for the shout out to my first art, tang soo do

I got up to green belt in my Shaolin class as 9 year old, but it waas the third grade up in that class, so I guess it was just a beginner belt really, cool vid x

*Good to know!*

Very good explanation, Dan! At my next promotion to 5th Dan, (my style is Tracy's / Kang Duk Won) I have the option of a red and white belt, at this point, I don't think I will do that. I like the black belt best, though I rarely wear a belt much as I like to mix submission grappling with striking so I usually go no-gi. Maybe one to hang on the wall :-)

When someone is choosing to enter a tournament that has point sparing the belt ranking typically go like you said for the most part. Beginner White, yellow, orange Intermediate Purple, blue, green Advanced Brown, black, red So if a system has a red belt at the beginning of there system how would they work that out at the tournament? Would they just have to explain that red belts are a beginner in their system or would they have to do more than that?

In our system red comes just before black. And when I earned my 5th degree I got a black belt with red fringe and a solid red bar at each end. At my current rank of 6th degree I just continue to wear the same belt. Frankly, the belt ranking systems are interesting in that there is such a wide variety. At my age I’m just glad to still be training every day. 😊

I was surprised at this because in my dojo shin go Ryu we have first white then red, orange, yellow, green, blue, brown, and finish on black so this was very surprising (karate btw)

In my style it goes white yellow green beginner/blue purple intermediate/ red brown black brown 3 stripes advanced / black belts takes bout 4 yrs to go thru but lifetime to understand it properly

I just earned my Red Belt in Tang Soo Do Karate 6/28/21 ! 🥋 Black Belt (Midnight Blue) Is coming up in 2-3 years! 😅 4th Dan and and beyond is Midnight Blue with a red stripe throughout the length of the entire belt.

For my school (songham taekwondo) our order is white, orange, yellow, camouflage, green, purple, blue, brown, red, recommended black (half red half black) then black and black has 9 degrees with stripes until fifth then stars until ninth with 5 stars. ( I could be wrong but I believe that there is technically 10th degree for the eternal grand master who was the founder of the art but not entirely sure about that.) I’m currently recommended black so hopefully I can get black later this year.

In Kajukenbo belts go From white to brown there are 3 stripes before you get promoted to the next belt. Black belt has 10 degrees at a 5th degree your belt starts becoming red. Your belt will be red with black trim, then red with silver trim, and finally red with gold trim. So a 10th degree black belt, belt will be red with gold trim. I don't know why they just dont say black belt has 5 degrees and red belt has 5 degrees. Even though your belt is red your still call it a black belt. I don't understand why. You could also choose I guess to wear a black belt and put up to 10 stripes on it but I've never seen it. They just wear the red belt starting at 5th degree and change the trim as they rank up. White Yellow Orange Purple Blue Green Brown Black Red

Awesome!

I did traditional jujitsu and belts only signified areas of training or technique grouping at various levels. So we started with breakfalls and atemi (striking techniques) then we moved to infighting knees, elbows, headbutts, throws, stand up grappling, then into ground fighting last. The only person who were a Red Belt was the Soke or head of the tradition. All the Shihan wore black belts with a red stripe in the middle, but much like Shotokan you learned the whole system by Godan and anything above Godan is honorary. The Red stripe represented blood (family) and tradition. If you had the red stripe it meant that you had learned everything and that you where part of "the family". That you where free do whatever you wanted with the knowledge given to you. The Red Belt meant that you were the Head of the Family or Tradition. Since being Soke is a position and not just rank, it is not unheard of Japanese Soke having to still be trained by the former Soke's masters before they could really know or pass on their art. Even then belt rank is kinda a nee thing because some people are still using the old title system of Deshi, Senpai/Senei and Shihan. Someone is a Deshi until they reach a certain point and they become teachers (Sensei) to their Juniors and Senpai (senior students) to their seniors until they become Shihan Masters who have inherited the whole knowledge of the tradition.

I went to a school once and red was a master level color but only for those under 16 if I remember correctly but it might had been 18

This is what I appreciate with The Japanese / Okinawan / Korean and some American-based martial arts, the belt system. Other than skills, such give you a goal for you to train. You want to earn skills, discipline and you want to earn that belt. No disrespect to Chinese, Thai and other forms of martial arts but even if they have their effectiveness, it does not have that belt system and tend to present its rankings in a different way. Take Wing Chun for example, certainly they have level but such is expressed differently, one you reach a higher level you get a certificate. Don't get me wrong, I love Wing Chun and have high respect for that martial art. But in Karate and Taekwondo for example, you get a certificate as well plus the belt.

Very coo topic. In my Dojo you wear a white belt until you are promoted to ShoDan. Non JKA ShotoKan by the way.

Thank you Mr Dan again a great job good video you know this is going to sound funny and I'm hoping it puts a smile on your face but honestly confused the crap out of me because with my background Japanese martial arts Okinawan martial arts Korean martial arts your traditional Filipino combat Arts have no belts and then you have your Indonesian pentchak silat... do Rankin and belts systems are completely different in every one of these Arts some of them don't even have a red belt and some of them do and it literally depends on the system and I have noticed in even Korean hapkido there are systems of hot hapikido that has the red belt and there are other systems that does not so trust me I've always end up scratching my head figured that one out the same thing with somebody traditional Japanese Arts where do red belt is toward the beginning or middle stages and then the other Arts that does not even have a red belt for a master thank you so much I really enjoy your videos

Our dojo has red belt as part of the beginner levels however because the school is a mix ( hybrid system) red is present in the black belt rank too same as American Kempo.