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Purpose of Belts

In Korea, the ordinary belt is addressed as "horitti" or "yodae" (meaning waist belt). The belt used in Taekwondo is called "tti." In Taekwondo, the belt serves the utilitarian purpose of holding the uniform together, but its main purpose is to document a student’s progression through Taekwondo training. Just as the "The sapling is hidden amongst the taller oak trees and must fight its way upward," students must struggle to achieve Taekwondo proficiency. The belt system rewards them for their struggle and perseverance, and encourages them to develop their skills, discipline, and self-control so they may progress to even higher belt levels. Belt color denotes the proficiency level of the wearer and it is the outward expression of the wearer’s inner level of confidence and wisdom.

Belts also help an instructor properly manage a training class. From the front of a class, an instructor may quickly evaluate the training levels of the entire class by viewing the belts the students are wearing. An instructor may determine the following from the belts the students are wearing:

• Overall skill level of the class, using the number of yellow belts, green belts, blue belts, etc.

• Approximate skill level of each student.

• Approximate physical fitness level of each student.

• Approximate number of months/years each student has been training.

• Approximate level of commitment of each student.

• What patterns, step-sparring sequences, and techniques each student knows.

• What patterns, step-sparring sequences, and techniques each student needs to learn.

• Whether a student is allowed to free spar.

• Approximate sparring ability of each student.

An instructor may glean all this information from the belts students are wearing, whether it be in the instructor's own class or in a class with which the instructor is unfamiliar. Therefore, a visiting instructor knows how to manage a class of students he or she has never seen before.

Criticism of Belt System

Some criticize the belt rank system for a variety of reasons, most of which relate to the critic's lack of rank achievement or of any other status in society. Those who cannot reach the level others have reached by their own personal achievement tend to criticize and berate achievers in an effort to belittle their achievements in an effort to increase their own status. Rank is used and has been used for millenniums throughout all societies of the world. When you need law enforcement advice, you know that a police sergeant has more knowledge and experience than a police corporal. When a soldier enters a room, he or she may immediately know the status of others in the room by their rank. When you enter a large corporation, you know the ones with the highest rank are those in offices on the highest floors. High rank is difficult to achieve in any endeavor. It takes a lot of hard work, time, and perseverance. You may have to do things you do not like to do or want to do, and act as if you enjoy it. Some would like to have rank, but they do not have what it takes to achieve it, so they criticize the ones who do.

Endless Cycle of Learning

"If you seek the answers long enough, you will find that they were always present at the beginning." Such is the Taekwondo belt system. As students near the end of their journey to black belt, they find the answers they were seeking were always present at the white belt level, they just were not aware of the answers at that point.

Philosophy of Belts

In eastern philosophy, the concept of trinity (heaven, earth, and people) signifies the harmony of the universe. The parts of the Taekwondo uniform (jacket, pants, and belt) form a trinity. The jacket symbolizes heaven; the pants symbolize earth, and the belt symbolizes the "person" that ties it all together. As stated above, the colors of the Taekwondo belt also form a trinity. If you think of a human being as a trinity (consisting of a head, the body, and the extremities) then the body is at the center of a human being, and the waist is at the center of the body. Tying the Taekwondo belt around the waist signifies the desire to organize ones self and to unite the human trinity.

The belt helps students develop their ki/chi (inner energy) through the process of collecting and dispersing energy within their bodies. As the student puts on the belt, it encircles the waist two times and then the two ends meet at the center of the waist (tanjon) where they are tied in a triangular shaped (trinity) knot that denotes the oneness of a person. The tanjon, considered the source of ki/life force/vital energy, is a point about three inches below the navel and deep inside the body and is thought to be the center of the self. As a practical matter, it the approximate center of balance of the body. Part of the knot usually touches the body in front of the tanjon, reminding the wearer of his or her personal source of ki or power. Thus, while putting on the belt, the student encircles and collects all energy from without and within into the tanjon and locks it there with a knot so he or she may disperse the energy freely throughout the body to achieve power, harmony, order, and enlightenment while practicing Taekwondo.

References

• Cunningham, D. (2004). Belt Colors and Ranking Tradition. [Online]. Available: http://www.e-budokai.com/articles/belts.htm. [2004, July 1].
•  Site no longer exists: http://www.koreaTaekwondo.org/eng/etc/sitemap.htm

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