What Is A Black Belt? by Rob Jacob
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A black belt is a piece of cloth that can be bought at many martial arts supplies stores for as cheap as five or ten dollars. If all you want is a black belt, this route is much easier, and much less expensive.
On the other hand, if you want to earn a black belt, it can, and should be a long hard road. Once you earn a black belt, the road doesn’t end. It keeps going, and you must continue earning your black belt.
A couple years ago I got an email telling me that for $500 dollars, I could get a book showing me five stances. And after I learned these five stances, I could send in a video of myself performing these stances, and receive a black belt, a black belt certificate, and a copy of the instructor’s black belt certificate. But would it mean anything at all, other than you got suckered out of $500?
What does having a black belt really mean? Does it mean you are a great fighter? No, I know people with black belts that aren’t great fighters. Does it mean they are great teachers? No, some people are excellent karate-ka, but are not nearly as good at relaying the information to others. Does it mean that you’ve learned everything there is to know about karate, or that you have perfect techniques? Not even close. The more I learn, the more I find out how much I don’t know. And it has been said that even on his deathbed, Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan karate, was still running kata in his mind, trying to improve them.
A black belt is simply a signpost along the way showing that you have reached a certain place on the martial path. There will be people on the path ahead of you, and people on the path behind you. By helping people on the path behind you progress, you will progress yourself. It is not a race. There are no time limits, or bonuses for getting to a belt level first.
In My Journey In Karate-The Sabaki Way by Kancho Joko Ninomiya, he says “There are no yardsticks in karate. The color of a belt means very little, because the only real measure of one’s progress is internal. Whether it is in a tournament or the dojo, the important measure is how far a student or a fighter can take him or herself. It is the process itself and not the result that matters.”
There is a passage I like in the book Persimmon Wind-A Martial Artist’s Journey In Japan by Dave Lowry. A Japanese Iaido master is talking about the misconceptions of westerners about what a Japanese master would be like. “He is not an all-knowing guru with the answers to life’s problems. He has struggled along the way himself and in return for the kindness shown to him by his teachers, he shows you the methods by which you can make the same journey for yourself.” A couple sentences later, he talks about the student: “He must be able to accept too, that his seniors and teachers are travelers on same path he’s walking, a little or a lot further along the trip than he is. All are following the way as best they can.”
In the end, the difference between someone who has earned a black belt, and someone who hasn’t, is what left after the belt has been folded up, and put away.
Rob Jacob is the author of: Martial Arts Biographies - An Annotated Bibliography.
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