Piece of clothing indicating rank within a martial art organization. Each organization chooses its own colors and their relative order and awards its own ranks. A black belt commonly signifies a practitioner is sufficiently proficient to be considered representative of their martial art. Use this tag for questions about rank and the accompanying clothing.
In some martial arts, the color of a cloth belt worn by a practitioner indicates rank within the martial art organization. Jigaro Kano first introduced the belt system in judo. The belt system is also used in other martial arts, including tae kwon do, hapkido, karate, and aikido. The belt is also known by the Japanese term obi.
Each organization chooses its own colors and their relative order. A single martial art such as judo or tae kwon do may have multiple governing organizations, and different organizations within the same martial art may use different colors, or put colors in a different order.
Rank is also specific to each organization. Ranks may or may not be recognized across organizations. A person may hold one rank in one organization, but a different rank in a different organization, even of the same martial art. For example, Keiko Fukuda, held the rank of 10th dan as recognized by the United States Judo Federation and USA Judo (two different US organizations), but the rank of 9th dan as recognized by the Kodokan, the mother school of judo.
A black belt commonly signifies a practitioner is sufficiently proficient to be considered representative of their martial art.
