I am a 7^th Dan Blackbelt. Question: What the heck does that mean? Answer: Oh, I know, it means you are better than a 4^th Dan Blackbelt and worse than a 8^th Dan Blackbelt. Right? Well – yes and no.

How did all this belt ranking get started? The answer is simple, it is a modern invention. It is a result of a Gendai-Ryu (modern ryu), namely Kano-Ryu Jujutsu – commonly known as Kodokan Judo. So what belts existed before you may ask? The answer is none. None in the martial art sense. The Obi (belt) was used to secure the Uwagi (jacket) inside the Hakama (traditional divided skirt/pants), and provided a place to hold the swords (Katana and Wakazashi) of the Samurai. However, many people wore the Uwagi and Hakama – it was not reserved for the Samurai. Most of the time the belt color reflected the color of the Hakama in men, and was colorful and decorative for the women.

But, you say, in the martial arts of that time, the obi was used to reflect the skill level of the samurai – correct? No. There were no generally accepted outward appearance that showed a level of martial skill. There were differences in social rank. And there were differences in Martial Rank, as there is in the military of today – but this was usually reflected in the type of armor one wore on the battlefield or whether or not one rode a horse. Not by a belt.

So how did one tell, in the dojo, who was senior and who was not? The answer….it didn’t matter. You were either the instructor or the student. When you were good enough to be an instructor – you became an instructor with your own students. The way it was known who was an instructor and who was not was through a series of licenses granted by the headmaster of a school. This certified someone as a certain level instructor in a specific art or arts. And this too is a method that developed late in the history of the samurai. Before this method – there simply was no need. You trained very very hard in many battlefield arts. Those who were better survived the battlefield, those were were not, did not. All that mattered was survival in battle. Nobody cared about rank.

Historical studies have shown that there wasn’t one accepted method of certifying instructors either. But basically, when one had mastered an art or several arts to the level where he should be an instructor of said arts, a license was granted by the head of that school. These licenses had many names according to the school you attended – but many schools used the terms Oku (with suffixes such as “iri” or “den”) meaning secrets essentially; Mokuroku meaning catalog, Menkyo meaning license, and Menkyo Kaiden roughly meaning “full transmission”. Occasionally a ryu would use the term Kaiden Shihan meaning licensed master instructor. None of these had any belts associated with them originally. One may have received a certificate (gaku or menkyo) or scroll (makimono).

So, lets discuss the development of the belt and kyu/dan ranking system widely used today.

First, everyone has heard the story of how a beginner martial artist starts with a white belt, and as he trains over time the belt became dirty – turning brown and finally black. It is a charming story, but lacking in any historical reality.

Historical reality is that belts were first used to show ability or rank in Kodokan Judo starting in the 1880’s. Jigoro Kano was the first to use the black belt as a symbol for dan rank students. Kano invented a progression of colored belts and also invented the concept of Kyu and Dan levels. Before this invention, jujutsu schools, like most other Japanese jutsu, used the menkyo ranking system mentioned above. Jigoro Kano split his students into two groups, which were the non-graded (mudansha) and the graded (yudansha). The first two people in history to wear a blackbelt as a rank were from the Kodokan; Tsunejiro Tomita and Shiro Saigo. Menkyo (certificates) or Menjou (diplomas) were not issued by the Kodokan until 1894.

There are many theories as to where the idea of the colored belts came from, but there is no written historical record of the thinking behind the choices. It is known, however that at the very beginning of the belt system, the belts were white, brown, black. Later other colors worked their way into the mix. There are still no exact standards, however, a majority of schools use the following system or something very similar for their adult students: White, Yellow, Green, Brown, Black – or – White, Yellow, Blue, Purple, Brown, Black. Most systems also have 5 kyu ranks and 10 dan ranks. Practitioners are generally considered “masters” of their art around 6^th or 7^th Dan Blackbelt. At that point, it is common to wear a red and white paneled belt. 9^th or 10^th dan often wear a red belt. However, these colored dan belts are most often reserved for ceremonial occasions, special classes, etc. The black belt is worn in everyday class.

There are still Japanese styles which use a simple White belt / Black belt ranking system, such as Aikido and some Jujutsu styles. But most use the color progression. So why do most schools still use this modern invention? I believe because of two reasons. First, it becomes easier for the instructor to categorize the students and know what level material they should be practicing at a glance. Second, it provides a certain motivation for students to study their technical material in hopes of moving up the rank ladder. It is the instructors responsibility to ensure that the senior student understand the belt reflects a relative skill level compared to others in the class. It does not reflect self defense ability. Only ability will “carry the day” in a real self defense situation, not a belt.