Replacing your belt or making it look older?

[Rogier]

So what do you guys do? Do you frequently replace your belt, do you make new belts look older? I frequently see people walking around wearing brand new dogi with a belt that looks like it barely survived WWII.

Everyone in here probably knows someone who makes their belt look older on purpose (drag the belt behind a car for a few miles ). What do you guys think about this? At the moment I've replaced my belt 3 times and this one is starting to look funky as well.

[MikeWilliams]

While I would never be sad enough to artificially 'age' my belt, I really can't see the point in replacing them. They'd have to completely fall apart (or get lost) for that to happen.

At the end of the day, it's just something I use to keep my uwagi closed. If you saw the threadbare, crumpled state of the rest of my clobber, you'd quickly realise that I'm not the most style conscious martial artist.

[Rogier]

I'm not the most style conscious martial artist.

Please don't tell me you're one of those guys that work out in white dogi , green with a purple thread is the new fashion

[RobertRousselot]

So what do you guys do? Do you frequently replace your belt, do you make new belts look older? I frequently see people walking around wearing brand new dogi with a belt that looks like it barely survived WWII.

Everyone in here probably knows someone who makes their belt look older on purpose (drag the belt behind a car for a few miles ). What do you guys think about this? At the moment I've replaced my belt 3 times and this one is starting to look funky as well.

There is a saying I heard while staying at Eiheiji (Zen temple in western Japan)….. “tattered robes are nothing to be ashamed of and nothing to be proud of either”
Maybe that goes for belts too.

[Blackwood]

It is interesting to see whose obi goes white faster. There are some that show their age of ten plus years. There are the new ones that have gone old prematurely, either due to artificial aging, or just cheap belts.

My Hanshi replaced his belt a few years ago. It was noticable when the red belt that was fraying badly was replaced by a brand new red one. There are those that won't replace a black belt due to sentimental reasons. It is hard to replace the one tied around your waist by your sensei for the first time.

[twayman]

There are those that won't replace a black belt due to sentimental reasons. It is hard to replace the one tied around your waist by your sensei for the first time.

I agree with Mark here. Our belts are given to us by our Sensei. I do not take that lightly, it is one of a kind and is with me with each and every work out. The belt siginfies (to me) the years I have put in to my art and I only will replace it with one given to me by my instructor.

[Rogier]

The belt siginfies (to me) the years I have put in to my art and I only will replace it with one given to me by my instructor.

Now this is a point where I disagree... at some point during a seminar I dropped my belt on the floor in the lockerroom while I was undressing and left it there until I'd finished packing my bag. Someone started talking about how I was disrespecting what the belt stood for (or something like that).

Doesn't your proficiency at your art signify the years that you have put into it? Your belt doesn't really mean much, we've had enough discussions on here about people wearing belts and not being able to do anything.

[twayman]

Doesn't your proficiency at your art signify the years that you have put into it? Your belt doesn't really mean much, we've had enough discussions on here about people wearing belts and not being able to do anything.

Rogier,

I agree to a point.

Yes, what you can do with and in your art is certainly proof as to your proficiency in your art (not your belt). Technically, your belt is just that a belt and anyone could just go and pick one up and not know crap.

I guess what I was trying to get across is that my belt is not just a belt to me, it is something my instructor has given to me as a result of the effort and proficiency I have in my art. I personally would not just go pick up a new one just, because the one my instructor has given to me is worn. To me, my original rank belt is special (sentimental reasons) and a new one would not be the same.

Does this make more sense?

[Howard Thiery]

I think that it is clear that it is sentiment that makes a belt more than a belt. To me while a useful device in a dojo to signify a persons skill level (though in some dojos I have trained in there were no colors) it is ultimately just an obi used to keep my dogi closed. I think that when it is worn beyond looking sharp and clean it might be disrespectful to yourself, your art and your instructor not to get a new one. Looking frayed and worn is not the best posture to put forward, I get a kick out of people who would never wear a soiled or wrinkled dogi but will wear an obi that looks like a dead snake on the road. This is just an opinion and not one I have held my whole life (I still have my first black belt....it is in a box for memento sake...it is too ragged to wear) but it is where I am now.

Howard

[Daniel Son]

It is funny to see this thread. I remember as a young kid, I put my step-dads black belt on and ran around the house playing “karate man”, and my mother was on the phone with him at the time I was doing this. He told her for me to remove it, as it was a sign of disrespect, which I do understand and respect, but that was not my intent at the time.

I am a pretty respectful man now a days, but to see people talk about how if your belt falls on the floor and you leave it there for longer than the "three second rule" you are showing disrespect. (To who?) When you are on "the floor" and you need to retie your belt that you must “take a knee” (in the goshin schools anyways) I respect the sentimental value you have being given the belt from you teacher. Isn’t he just a guy giving you a piece of cloth though? If for sentimental reasons, give your teacher the $$ to go out and buy you a new one. That way you are receiving it from him.

In my humble opinion it is a piece of cloth, no more, no less. Joe (my teacher) actually took his off one night in class as we were talking about this very subject and tossed it on the floor and walked all over it, picked it up and put it back on. It is just a belt. In fact, I let my 14-month-old daughter play with my belt. It is amazing how they can find something so fun out of nothing.

[ZachZinn]

Rogier,

I agree to a point.

Yes, what you can do with and in your art is certainly proof as to your proficiency in your art (not your belt). Technically, your belt is just that a belt and anyone could just go and pick one up and not know crap.

I guess what I was trying to get across is that my belt is not just a belt to me, it is something my instructor has given to me as a result of the effort and proficiency I have in my art. I personally would not just go pick up a new one just, because the one my instructor has given to me is worn. To me, my original rank belt is special (sentimental reasons) and a new one would not be the same.

Does this make more sense?

It's interesting, the longer I train Karate, the more i've come to despise belts, I wish we didn't use them at all sometimes, in short, if mine is crappy enough, I replace it. I have the same rank now as I did when I trained Shorin Ryu, I feel i'm more skilled now, and I feel i've worked much harder for this one, due to the instructor not the style mind you (don't hit me Shorin guys); but it's the same rank, but not really.

[Aaron T]

I have a couple obi, as I have been known to misplace them. They all look like crap, but so do my dogi. They are in essence gym clothes, so use them until you can't use them anymore and get new ones. Anybody who roughs up their gear so it will look "used," maybe should try taking that rough up time and put it towards practice.

All the hub-ub people put into their gear, baffles me. I went to observe some awful swordsmanship in the Seattle area a few years back and was dumbfounded by the elaborate get-ups these folks were wearing. Not a just a simple uwagi and a hakama, they were all done up. I felt like I was in the seven samurai. I will say they were very cute.

Sweat more, talk and primp less.


Aaron Fields
www.seattle-jujutsu.org

[Brian Owens]

A lot, of course, depends on what art one is practicing.

In most sword schools, belts aren't used as a rank indicator. They're just for holding the uwagi closed and holding the saya in place. So when they get worn, they're replaced; just like any other part of the dogi. For a formal demonstration one might even wear a very neatly maintained, like-new looking -- if not actually new -- outfit.

But when I practiced karate there was a very different mindset. The belts, after white, were awarded based on testing, and often presented by the sensei. So to the wearers they were representative of more than just the simple utility of a piece of cloth. Our organization was a very large one, and well more than half of the black belts one would see were "old and tattered."

If a yudansha were to wear a belt that appeared to have more experience than he, however, he could expect more than a little ribbing by his peers (and maybe more than that from his seniors).

[MikeWilliams]

I have a couple obi, as I have been known to misplace them. They all look like crap, but so do my dogi. They are in essence gym clothes, so use them until you can't use them anymore and get new ones. Anybody who roughs up their gear so it will look "used," maybe should try taking that rough up time and put it towards practice.

All the hub-ub people put into their gear, baffles me. I went to observe some awful swordsmanship in the Seattle area a few years back and was dumbfounded by the elaborate get-ups these folks were wearing. Not a just a simple uwagi and a hakama, they were all done up. I felt like I was in the seven samurai. I will say they were very cute.

Sweat more, talk and primp less.
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AMEN!!!

Mind you, the above could just be a grappling mindset. Folks in gappling arts seem an awful lot less concerned by appearance, belts, fancy uniforms etc. than, for example, karateka.

Probably because it's impossible to look elegant when you're having the snot (literally) choked out of you.

[JCCAikikai]

loool, this is awesome

ive been doing aikido for only 2 years and my gi is already looking beaten up.
gotta agree with MikeWilliams there, we dont care much about the looks...especially when it comes to grappling (katadori, munadori or w/e not), but even during striking attacks my gi get all over the place lol.
my belt looks a lot worse than my gi tho lol

its funny tho, a friend of mine dd somethin to his belt to make it look dirty and old...it was sad