The Taekwondo belt

The belt (띠, ti) is the cloth sash worn around the waist over the uniform. Its colour shows the wearer's grade: coloured belts mark gup grades and black belts mark dan grades.^[4] The grades themselves are covered in Belt ranks and grades. This page covers where belts came from, what they are said to mean, how they are worn and the customs that surround them.

Where belts came from #

Belt-based ranking began in judo. Kanō Jigorō introduced the rank system in 1883, and the first dan grades went to his students Saigō Shirō and Tomita Tsunejirō.^[1] Belt colour was first used systematically to show rank by Kanō in the 1880s; before that, older Japanese schools generally gave rank certificates only. The earliest belts were wide obi, and because students trained in kimono, only white and black were used.^[2] An expanded system of coloured belts for the lower grades came in the early 1900s,^[1] and accounts differ on who introduced it; one history credits Mikinosuke Kawaishi.^[5]

The founders of several Korean kwans had trained in Japanese karate or judo, where this system already existed (see History of Taekwondo). The sources cited here do not record when each kwan adopted belts or colours.

The story of the belt that darkens #

A popular story says a student began with a single white belt, never changed it, and that years of sweat and wear darkened it to black and, with still more wear, faded it to a pale grey or silver. It is told in many martial arts and is usually offered to explain why belt colour reflects long training.

It is not part of the documented history of rank. The accounts of the black belt and of rank in judo describe belt colour as a system introduced by Kanō and do not mention the story.^[1][2] One history of belts calls it a legend that "is not the true origin of wearing a colored cloth around your waist".^[5]

Colours and what they are said to mean #

Different organizations and schools use different colour sequences. The ITF publishes a meaning for each colour in its sequence:^[3]

The ITF page also says that black, red and blue denoted levels of hierarchy in the Koguryo and Silla dynasties.^[3] The ITF page is the only organizational statement of colour meanings cited here. Colours between white and black vary from school to school.

How the belt is worn #

The belt is tied over the jacket at the waist, with the knot at the centre of the front.

• Number of wraps. Most Kukkiwon and World Taekwondo schools wrap the belt twice around the waist, while ITF schools wrap it once.^[8] The ITF records that a special meeting on 1 July 1985 decided the belt should be wrapped once, and gives three meanings for this: to pursue one goal once it is set, to serve one master with unshakable loyalty, and to gain victory in one blow.^[3]
• The knot. A flat square (reef) knot, pulled snug so that it lies flat.^[8]
• The ends. Both ends hang at the same length.^[8] A belt that is too long or too short for the chosen wrap does not tie evenly, and a single wrap needs a shorter belt than a double wrap.^[8]
• Names and marks. Embroidered names, ranks and school or organization marks go on the belt according to school custom. Belt makers advise asking one's instructor which end carries them, since schools differ.^[8]

Teaching traditions #

Many schools pass on explanations of the belt that are not set out in the published texts of the ITF cited above. Instructors in some schools teach that the two halves of the belt stand for the mind and the body, that the knot joins them, and that the belt sits at the centre of the body because the two must stay in balance: a strong mind cannot sustain a weak or ill body, and a strong body alone can be corrupted without a disciplined mind. These are teachings handed down in the schools that hold them rather than rules of any organization.

Not washing the belt #

Some students are taught never to wash their belt, on the belief that it stores the hard work, memory and experience of training and that washing would wash them away. One practitioner describes it this way: "when one washes their belt, they are essentially washing away all of the techniques and skills".^[6] The belief is found across martial arts, and practitioners disagree about it. Some describe it as a later or Western custom rather than a traditional Korean or Japanese one,^[9] and one martial arts writer who looked for its origin found only the answer "tradition".^[7] No organization's rule on washing belts is cited here.

See also #

• Belt ranks and grades
• The Taekwondo uniform