WHAT COLOR IS YOUR BELT?

Practitioners of many of the Martial Arts have long worn belts which visually mark their progress as practitioners.  The color of these belts and their association with specific ranks within a martial arts system is both individual to the system and highly variable between systems.  This series of pages is a catalog of belt color schemes from individual arts and schools within arts.  It makes no attempt to establish any equivalence of belt colors between arts.  Titles of arts and ranks are as represented in the materials published by the art.  Listing in this catalog is not a recognition of the legitimacy or quality of the art or its instruction.

This is a living research project.  Belt ranking systems are added on a regular basis, and the failure to list a specific school's belt rankings is only a reflection of either the magnitude of the task or the failure of the school to post a ranking description on the school's Internet site.  Submissions of information, corrections, and additions are welcomed - I request that they come from the school owner, and that they either be referenced to an Internet page or include a copy of the formal document that describes them.  Please contact Walter G. Green III, Ph.D., FIMAS at wgreen@sallegreen.com.

NOTE ON DESCRIPTIONS:

Belts are described by the color with rank indicated if known.  Tip stripe indicates a narrow stripe of embroidery or material across the width of the belt near the tip in the contrasting color.  This does not include intermediate stripes given for weekly or other accomplishment prior to testing for the next belt.  When tip stripes appear on both ends of the belt, the left or right reference is the wearer's left or right.  Center stripe indicates a center stripe of material in the contrasting color that runs the entire length of the belt.  Horizontal indicates a belt that is split in half with one half lengthwise in one color and the other half in the other color.  Panels indicate large sections of material in the alternating contrasting colors.  Note that in many cases only a single black belt level is described by the source, although higher ranks are conferred.  Dates in source citations are either the date of publication or the date the Internet page was accessed if no publication date is included.

NOTE ON ART CATEGORIES:

Martial arts have been grouped in this archive according to what appears to be their primary stylistic affiliation, based on the available description.  Where there is, or it appears likely that there will be, a number of entries for a martial art, a separate page has been established.  As more examples are gathered through research, individual arts may be moved to their own page.

DIRECTORY OF MARTIAL ARTS: 161 listings as of 2010-07-10.

• American Kenpo

• Bujutsu

• Chinese Systems

• Chun Kuk Do

• Composite Martial Arts

• General Martial Arts And Self-Defense Systems

• Hapkido

• Judo

• Jujitsu

• Kajukenbo

• Karate - General

• Karate - Goju Ryu

• Karate - Kyokushin

• Karate - Shidokan

• Karate - Shito Ryu

• Karate - Shotokan

• Karate - Wado Ryu

• Kenpo

• Kobudo

• Nanbudo

• Ninjutsu and Taijutsu

• Organizational Belts

• Tae Kwon Do

• Taido

• Tang Soo Do

• Weapons Systems

FOR RESEARCHERS - A NOTE ON LINKS:

Much of the source material for this catalog is Internet based.  In developing the catalog I have noticed a high turn-over rate in martial arts school web links.  Even directories that appear to be well maintained often have a substantial number of broken links for schools whose URLs are no longer working.   Although I have listed the Internet URL for every page accessed as that URL existed when I accessed it, there is a high probability over time that individual links will no longer be functional.