How To Understand Judo Belts

Okay, welcome to How to Understand Judo Belts. I'm going to break this down nice and simply for you. Judo belts are awarded to the practitioner as they grade through time.

They'll be assessed and a belt is awarded as a symbol of that current grade and current knowledge. So start at the beginning. Now, traditionally, you start with a white belt, okay.

This symbolizes a beginner. From there, your first grading will take you to a yellow belt. Now, this order is based around the traditional way.

In most countries, this is how you'll find the order. Next, orange. Okay, followed by green.

Now at this point, the practitioner's starting to get a good level of understanding of judo. Next up, we have the purple belt, okay, followed by blue. Now, this is kind of the midway point and by this time, the practitioner would be having a very good understanding of the art, progressing into the later belts.

Now, sometimes you'll find red after blue. However, in some federations, you'll find brown straight after blue, okay. Red's a little bit different.

Sometimes, it can be found before white or sometimes after black, but generally after blue, okay. Now, in between brown and black, there could be a transitional period where the practitioner has a black stripe in the middle of their brown belt. This indicates that they're in between a transition between brown and black, okay.

It can kind of separate that journey a little bit. Okay then, the black belt. The practitioner by this stage, he can call himself a sensei, they can teach other people how to learn judo and they consider themselves to be very good at understanding judo at that point.

Now, some people think that when you get the black belt, that's the end when really, it's the beginning, okay. Once you get your black belt in judo, you'll be awarded some degrees of stripes here, okay, first done, second dan, third dan, and fourth dan. Now, once you get the fourth dan and you transitioned into your fifth dan, you'd get awarded a whole new belt.

Now, this is red and black block stripe belt and the reason for the block striping is because traditionally with the dan stripes on there. It kind of represents the block so going to the fifth dan, red and black. From there, straight into a whole new belt for the sixth dan as well.

Red and white symbolizes a sixth dan, again, a fresh new belt when you get to that level. So ultimately, most people think that they want to get the black belt but there is a lot more to learn after that. These are the belts, this is the order that they go in and it varies from country to country and from club to club, but generally, that's the way it is.

Okay, so good luck with your studies. I hope that you find enjoyment in wearing each of these colours and eventually, possibly even that red and white belt. That's the order of the belt.

Now generally, on average, it takes about three years for somebody to achieve a black belt, okay. That obviously depends on the individual. Now, it takes a little bit longer to get to this red and black belt here, the fifth dan belt.

It takes about fourteen years to get there so lots of dedication, lots of time put into that. It's a further six years to then get to the sixth dan, this red and white belt here. So if you want to wear that belt, you're going to put in time and effort, you're going to be a master by that stage.

But if you start white, take each belt as it comes, then you'll have a successful journey for judo. The belts are symbolized by the growth of a flower and its darkening through its life. So, that was a guide to how to understand judo belts.

I hope you found it informative and useful and I hope that you enjoy passing through each grade on your journey through judo. Good luck. .