Belt Auction

How many Karate belts are there?

Public Comments

1. There are many different "styles" or "schools" of karate, and each can have its own belt system. In some of them it cannot even be said that white is the lowest and black is the highest. I took Keichu Ryu karate, and it went: White Yellow Green Purple Brown Black Red/white My friend is in Isshin Ryu. They don't have the purple or the red/white. But each belt has divisions, marked by one or two stripes on the end of the belt in the color of the next belt. For example, a white belt in the second stage of progress toward a yellow belt would get one yellow stripe around the end of his white belt. But I don't know if that is an official part of the Ishin Ryu belt system, or just something the sensei of that dojo does so the kids feel like they are making SOME kind of progress. The traditional Okinawan pattern is: White Yellow Green Brown Black Red/White Stripe (I studied Isshinryu for a couple years and they did have this marking in our dojo.) Red Typically there is a half way point between each of the colors. My style of Shidokan Shorin Ryu uses a color on the last three to six inches of the belt to seperate these steps. White - 8th Kyu Yellow Tip - 7th Kyu Yellow - 6th Kyu Green Tip - 5th Kyu Green - 4th Kyu Brown Tip - 3rd Kyu Brown - 2nd Kyu Black Tip - 1st Kyu Black - 1st Dan through 6th Dan Red/White - 7th/8th Dan Red - 9th/10th Dan So it is really more important to understand what Kyu (Japanese/Okinawan) or Gup (Korean) a student is to understand where they are in the progression. I understand that there are branches of ninjitsu that actually have 15 Dan (blackbelt) ranks. I took Kyokushin Karate and this is there belt order: Black belt- 1st Dan(highest) Brown seniour- 1 Kyu Brown belt- 2rd Kyu Green seniour- 3th Kyu Green belt- 4th Kyu Yellow seniour- 5th Kyu Yellow belt- 6th Kyu Blue seniour- 7th Kyu Blue belt- 8th Kyu Red seniour- 9th Kyu Red belt- 10 Kyu White belt- Beginner Karate belts Can vary between the different types of karate( Shito Ryu, Wado Ryu, Goju Ryu, & Shotokan) The type of Karate that I am doing is Wado Ryu. The belts are: -White belt (ungraded)(10th Kyu)(9th Kyu) -Red belt (8th Kyu) -Purple belt (7th Kyu) -Green belt (6th Kyu)(5th Kyu) - Brown belt (4th Kyu)(3rd Kyu)(2nd Kyu) -Black belt (1st Kyu) For Wado-Ryu The Colors Are... * White * Blue * Green * Purple * Brown * Black Each belt has 5 kyus. Black has 10 levels.
2. inancient japan where karate made long long time ago there was only ONe BELT. white. which after years and years of time waering and practicing in it turned black, thus earning yo black belt denoting expertise and mastery....
3. I think it depends on which type of karate as well as each individual school. I take American Kenpo, here's our belt system we use at my school. White Yellow Orange Purple Blue Green Gray Tan Brown Red 2nd Brown 2nd Red Black
4. yea it depends on which type of karate u do i have been doing this for 4/5years i am going in for my 2nd degee black belt.i do kiaido ryu martial arts our belts are = white belt(lowest/begginers belt) yellow orange blue purple greeen brown brown belt black tip black belt (1st degree) '' (2nd ) '' (3rd) '' (4th) etc etc until 10th degee black belt
5. 26.
6. i think at most seven, but there are many different stlyes of karate so i'm not exactly sure.
7. The first poster gave a pretty good answer. There are small differences among different styles and different associations or even among clubs, but overall that is a pretty good set of lists. For the one poster that gave the answer about in ancient Japan and only one belt...sorry to burst the folksy bubble, but uniforms and belts were introduced to karate at the beginning of the 1900s. Not so ancient. And there is no proof of the dirty belt theory... (seriously, orange? green? purple? huh? does that really make sense?). I used to believe those old wives tales too when I was a teenager so I don't mean any disrespect. But, in this day and age those tales should be cleared away.
8. it depends on which type of karate you take american karate is what i take and the belts are.... white yellow orange green purple blue red advance red brown advance brown black 2nd degree black 3rd 4th and so on