Kyokushin Belt colours
  What do they mean?
        
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  All of the information on this page has been either paraphrased from Shihan Cameron Quinn's book, or derived from what little personal experience I can contribute.
 White

White is the symbol of purity, at least in the English and Japanese based cultures. The new white belt student might be described as pure, being completely ignorant of the requirements of the art. The purity is lost as soon as the first exercise is performed in the dojo. The pristine colour is gone forever through sweat and dust, and the journey through the colour spectrum begins. There is no shame in being a white belt and the instructor, more than the others, is aware of this because he or she too was one once.

In the Honbu dojo in Japan, while under Mas Oyama, the tradition was that uchi-deshi (live-in or full-time students) white belts would shave their heads as a sign of their dedication. The third year uchi-deshi, newly graduated blackbelts, also did this to indicate humility, symbolising the return to the spirit of a beginner.


 Red — Stability

In some countries or dojos, the red belt is not used. For a while, in Japan the white belt gains first one black stripe, then a second one.  Currently (1997)  the system for the IKO(1) is an orange belt.  The reason for the change is that in some karate systems, the red belt actually denotes a very high rank e.g. 5th dan or higher, and to have junior kohai wearing such a belt would belittle those red-belted yudansha.

In the run-up to and throughout the red belt training, you develop the very basics of karate. You unlearn any ideas you had about how to fight, and you learn about your body. (Anyone who has been through this stage will tell you that this is where they learnt their body had muscles where they didn't even know they had places!) It is here too that you begin to develop a sense of balance and coordination between the various body parts, with an emphasis on stance.

You should also be familiar with dojo etiquette at this stage.

 
 Blue — Fluidity and Adaptability

While the red belt aspects of training must be continued, now the karetaka begins to work on the upper body, strength, flexibility, and coordination. It is here that you learn to overcome the urge to "Take it easy", and if successful, training becomes a pleasure. The student begins to feel the benefits of training with an increased sense of well-being, a bigger bounce in ones step, and overall better fitness.

Here the karateka must start taking control of mind and body. This might take the form of not showing the pain of being hit during sparring, not showing exhaustion during training, not wiping the drop of sweat of ones nose because one hasn't yet been told to, not yawning despite extreme tiredness etc...

 
  Yellow — Assertion

Here you learn to focus your power, by concentrating it on the hara (the general area of the lower abdomen) or even the tanden (the single point in the lower abdomen that more or less is located at the centre of gravity of the body). Fortunately for most of us, this point is just behind where we tie the knot of our belts.

This is the first level where training begins to concentrate the psychological aspects of training, with an emphasis on mind-body coordination. It is here that the karateka must begin to develop both power and speed when performing techniques. The yellow belt is the last of the "raw beginner's" belts and the karateka begins to take control of his or her life. body, and environment.

 
  Green — Emotion and Sensitivity
 
 
  Brown — Practical and Creative
 
 
  Black
 

 

 

 

 

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