The Black Belt Mentality

Recently, HBO has been showing re-runs of The Karate Kid Part I to III !side fro" getting a real
treat fro" recalling how things were back in the #$%&s, it also got "e thinking about why 'eo'le
'ursue the "artial arts One of the "ost notable features of studying "artial arts is the black belt
If so"eone says he(she has a black belt in a 'articular "artial art, we cannot a)oid thinking *wow,
bad ass+*
There are legends about the origin of the black belt One story I heard was that Okinawan
karatekas used to tie a white sash around their ki"onos during training, and o)er the years the
sash would darken because of accu"ulated dirt until it beca"e black ,o ha)ing a blackened
sash would be a sign that one had been 'racticing for "any years and was thus co"'etent in the
art Historically, it see"s the belt color syste" was introduced by Kano -igoro .founder of -udo/
when he started 'ublicly teaching 0udo in the #%%&s
1ither way, the black belt is widely recogni2ed as a sign of acco"'lish"ent and co"'etence in a
"artial art 3i)en that it usually takes at least two years of constant 'ractice to achie)e a black
belt, the "ysti4ue of ha)ing a black belt is understandable The black belt is so iconic that there5s
e)en a "aga2ine na"ed after it, Black Belt Maga2ine, one of the oldest "artial arts 'ublications
in the 6nited ,tates
Of course, in "artial arts co""unities there has been concern that the "artial arts are being
chea'ened by the so-called Mc7o0os, usually referring to franchised "artial arts clubs These
training centers are not bad in and of the"sel)es, but so"e serious "artial artists co"'lain that
so"e of these centers "isre'resent the "artial arts by either churning out large nu"bers of black
belts in a short a"ount of ti"e .leading to half-baked "artial artists/ or by "isleading students
into thinking they5re the ne8t 9huck :orris and can therefore handle any life and death situation,
when the training curriculu" is anything but realistic
! real danger is if so"e guy gets his black belt after only a few "onths and he decides to o'en
his own gy" and call it a *self defense* club That5s when 'eo'le can get in serious trouble if they
think they can a''ly what they learn there in the street
This 0ust goes to show that official rank or title doesn5t necessarily tell the whole tale There can
be brown belts who can "o)e and fight better than a black belt, for e8a"'le It de'ends on how
they train ;hich brings "e to another 'oint
I re"e"ber "y aikido sensei once saying that the black belt is not the ulti"ate goal Rather, it 0ust
"eans that one has "astered enough of the basics of the art in order to truly start learning and
e8'loring the dee'er "eaning and nuances of the art !nd this ty'e of thinking brings us to life in
general
;e can ne)er really learn enough !s noted !"erican historian ;ill 7urant once said, *1ducation
is a 'rogressi)e disco)ery of our own ignorance* Once we acce't this, that we know enough to
reali2e that we know nothing, then we can ha)e the hu"ility to actually be o'en to new ideas and
new 'aradig"s
In the end, the black belt is su''osed to be a sign saying *I5" ready to learn "ore* rather than as
so"ething to be used to inti"idate or i"'ress others I su''ose this is why so"e of the highest
"asters of a "artial art so"eti"es wear a white belt, the sign of the no)ice In a dee'er sense,
e)erything always co"es full circle
0alnawalaco"