Try judging the book on its own merit.
Geez, chill out a bit!
I'm not the author of this book, nor am I black-belt in anything, nor am I a BJJ practitioner. However:
1) Rank structures in BJJ are different to most Japanese arts. Where a BB in a Japanese art tends to denote that you've mastered the basics and are ready to move on, a BB in BJJ denotes that you've pretty much mastered the whole thing. There really aren't that many (legit) BBs in BJJ as far as I can tell. My impression is that a BJJ blue belt is comparable to shodan in Japanese styles
2) Why does it matter? If the authors had left off their gis, would you be any the wiser? As long as the information presented is good, who cares?
To quote Royce Gracie, "a belt covers 2 inches of your ass - you've got to cover the rest"
I can't help thinking that the world would be much better off if we just used elastic to keep our pants up.
Cheers,
Mike
What a black belt meant back in the day
JIM,
Originaly black belt once meant something and I really think that the whole notion of a time frame was non existent in the old days,you either had the skills to be able to wear a black belt or not regardless of wether you trained for 20 long years.
That whole notion is gone today as most styles and systems outright tell you it takes 4 to 5 years or 8 years whatever the case may be,in bjj there is no time frame as you might never reach the black belt level regardless of the time put in.
The notion that the black belt is just a basic level has to be a new world idea because in the old schools black belt meant mastery something I am proud to say bjj tries to keep intact.
Hector Gomez
Re: What a black belt meant back in the day
Quote:
Originally posted by hector gomez
Originaly black belt once meant something and I really think that the whole notion of a time frame was non existent in the old days,you either had the skills to be able to wear a black belt or not regardless of wether you trained for 20 long years.
Just to note that the "black belt" is still a recent thing in the martial arts as are dan and kyu grades. The concepts of black belt would have been introduced even in Japan around the same time as jujutsu was introduced to South America.
The meaning and value of a belt colour is surely totally dependant on the value assigned by a particular style. I don't think you can compare rank value between styles, particulary when styles are from different countries.
That being said I think that after eight years training (in anything) it would be a bit early to write a book on the topic. Even so as the authors are open and honest regarding their rank and experience I feel that any judgement of their work should be reserved purely based on it's content.