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Matthew Banks
13th December 2000, 22:26
Hi I train in Yoshinkan Aikido and we adopt a coloured belt system from 7th kyu to 1st kyu going yellow, green ,blue,orange,brown,brown,brown then dans wear hakama obviously. On other forums Ive been attacked about this system why. 1) according to shioda the main reason it was introduced was for a safety feature e.g. if doing corner tecniques with people youve never met before you can tell instantly how hard you can apply tecniques on uke as their grade is clearly visible. Plus it can make lessons more productive as you can easily separate the class by ability.
The ability requirement for each grade is very specific if your cant make that level you dont go up the grade. And no people dont just train for each belt for ego etc. What is more lower graded students know exactly what grades to go to etc in no dan grades about for advice e.g. brown belts.
People say that it de traditionalises the art but I can safely say we very very traditional. No the belt system isnt a scheme to make money as the gradings cost hardly anything and in most cases in my area is free. Plus it allows students to see their progress , I know you dont need belts to show your progress but it can help trust me.

My question is do any of you guys have a coloured belt system in your dojo and what do you think of it?

Ive heard apart from the white to hakama thingy or hakama straight away , some school have the odd brown belts for slightly more advanced students.

Any thoughts?


Matt Banks

dainippon99
14th December 2000, 06:07
I train in shodokan aikido (tomiki). Tomiki sensei was also a top judoka, so when he formed his own aikido organization, he decided to put the colored belt system in from the start. I think that the kyu/dan system is just as good as any other ranking system. the ability level recognition is helpful and i think it puts a more structured feel into the training.

Darren Yeow
14th December 2000, 06:30
I train in Aikikai Aikido, and as following with post WW2 tradition, we have the belt system of white kyu, and then hakama when shodan is reached.

For those who say that it de-traditionalises the art unless graded in this way, are slightly mistaken, because the only traditional way (O'sensei's) is to wear hakama from day 1.

This is because the current gi worn by practitioners is the equivalent of undergarments, and the hakama was the outer clothing.

It's only after the war when all materials in Japan was in shortage that it was suggested that hakama be worn only once a certain rank has been achieved, because of a meterials shortage and not rank.

Personally at our Aikido, we basically know everyone else there. If we don't know our partner, then we usually do the techniques a little softer to guage each other's experience, and the more skillful would have to adjust to the less skillful - or harmonizing. This is usually done unconciously, but be still try to maximise our experiences.

DY

MarkF
14th December 2000, 11:22
Matthew,
I think your reason number one was the reason for dan grades, and in the beginning, with few students, Prof. Kano gave a certificate of grade to new students, as shodan (this was before any colored obi were given, or before the black belt, itself).

I am speaking of judo as that is where this system, which replaced that of mokuroku, kyoju dairi, and menkyo. Later, with more students and a much bigger dojo, Kano began to separate mudansha from yudansha by having the dan graded wear black belts, as an indication as the one's training level. So what you are speaking of, was very much the reason for this; to know from whom to learn, or ask for assistence. It was much later when the idea of colored belts were adopted, and may not have occured in Japan.

Dan grading was simply to let one know where they were in one's training, and was not originally a "rank" of any kind. In fact, Mr. Kano wore black hakama, usually, especially when demonstrating, while others wore white.

It simply was an easy to understand system which came out of the menjo, as it became nearly impossible to write the scrolls for all who advanced. If you go to http://koryu.com and read the interviews with Takeda Tokimune Sensei, he gives a reason which is very much the reason for it in judo, aikibudo, aikido and aikijujutsu.

It has been abused almost since inception, as has the mokuroku.

Mark

BC
14th December 2000, 17:15
I train in an Aikikai-affiliated dojo. We recently switched from a colored-belt kyu system to an all white-belt kyu system. Why? Well, I've been told that our late Japanese Sensei had implemented a colored belt system when he first came to the US because it was becoming hard for him to keep track of the skill levels of his rapidly growing number of students. However, at any seminars, all kyu ranks wore white belts, in accordance with Hombu dojo, since very often our guest instructors were from Hombu. After our Sensei passed away, the current leaders of our dojo decided to switch to the all white-belt kyu system to be consistent with Hombu, since the issue of distinguishing the level of skill and experience of our mudansha was not an issue anymore. For me, I actually prefer the all white-belt system to the colored-belt, because it seems simpler and less pretentious, and eliminates some of the ego and rank jockeying amongst the mudansha. Just my two cents. However, this is just my opinion.