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Belts show, but they do not prove you know

FACT: Within your martial art organization, martial art school, family, friends, and yourself, you may hold a certain rank and have all that rank's responsibilities, privileges, and prestige. However, in the minds of the rest of the people in the world, your rank only means what they think it means. It may mean a lot to them, or it may mean nothing; so do not expect them to treat you any differently than they would treat an ordinary person.

Belt Ranks

Within the Taekwondo belt/rank system, each student who stay in training will:

• Begin training as a 9th gup (class) white belt,

• Progress through the color gup belts,

• Earn a 1st dan (degree) black belt, and

• May conceivably eventually progress to the highest rank, 9th degree black belt.

Taekwondo belts are divided into three distinct groups:

• White Belt (beginner)

• Color Belts (amateur)

• Black Belts (expert)

Black belt degrees are also divided into three distinct groups:

• The first group consists of first through third degree black belts, the novice degrees where students are still considered beginners in comparison to the higher degrees.

• At the fourth degree black belt level, students enter the next group, the expert group (4th and 5th degrees). They are considered Taekwondo experts who know everything there is to know about the technical aspects of Taekwondo.

• The third group, the sixth through ninth degree black belts, is considered the master group, the elite who fully understand all the mental and physical elements of Taekwondo and have devoted their entire lives to its practice.

Basically, first through fifth degree black belts are awarded based on what the person can do, and sixth through ninth degree black belts are awarded on what the person has done for Taekwondo and the certifying organization.

Ranks below black belt range from 9th gup (lowest) to 1st gup (highest). In contrast, black belts range from 1st dan (lowest) to 9th dan (highest). This means that gups descend from 9 to 1, whereas dans ascend from 1 to 9. This inverted progression stems from the eastern belief that all life develops in, and descends from, heaven; lives on the earth; and then returns to heaven. Nine is the highest single integer in the decimal system and, in some eastern cultures, it represents the highest attainable goal, heaven.

In the Orient, three is the most esteemed of all the numbers. The Chinese character for 3 contains three lines: the upper line symbolizes heaven; the middle line symbolizes mortals; and the bottom line symbolizes earth. Eastern belief was that a king was one who could link these three things (God, mankind, and country) so the Chinese character for three and the one for king are nearly synonymous. As mentioned above, there are three groups of Taekwondo lower belts and three groups of black belts. When the number three is multiplied by itself, the product is nine, the highest integer. So, the numbers three and nine are important in the Taekwondo belt system.

The number nine is interesting in another way. When it is multiplied by any of the integers, and the individual integers of the product are added together, the answer is always nine, for example 9 times 1 equals 9; 9 times 2 equals 18 and 1 plus 8 equals 9; etc. Nine is the only integer having this property. 

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