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"Black Belt: What is it and what does it
represent?" Among
the many things for which the West can thank China are paper money and
martial arts. These are not entirely dissimilar because there exists,
even today, a remarkable parallel between these two human inventions.
In 1260 A.D., the Yuan government made paper money the only legal tender
throughout the Chinese empire. No longer would a nation's wealth and
prestige be seen by enormous stacks of gold and silver, but by the faces
and images on its paper currency.
Paper money offers numerous benefits over minted coinage (it's lighter
to carry around for one thing), and as long as an economy remains
productive paper currency works very well -- so well, in fact, that
today it is used around the world. No rational nation on the earth would
ever consider going back to a gold standard. However, for all of its
benefits, paper money has two major weaknesses: It is highly susceptible
to forgery and inflation. So it is with the martial arts.
Although all Asian martial arts did not originate in China, it is still
fair to say that the all Asian martial arts have, to varying degrees,
been influenced by China's martial traditions. Like China's paper money,
Asian martial arts have spread throughout the world. However, just as
currency evolved from gold and silver to paper representations of the
same, so too have the martial arts. No longer are the martial arts
represented by the skill and power of its practitioners, but by the
faces, images, and signatures displayed on "black belt" certificates.
Moreover, with all of its popularity, martial arts, like paper currency,
have proven highly susceptible to, you guessed it, forgery and
inflation. This is most obvious when we consider the denomination of
choice, the black belt.
What is a black belt?
The question sounds simple enough, yet despite the plethora of martial
art publications today, there are surprisingly few books or articles
that attempt to define or even describe exactly what a black belt is. In
fact, my own search of more than a dozen martial art texts and numerous
periodicals turned up not a single definition of the highly "coveted"
rank. To find one I had to turn to staple references such as
encyclopedias and dictionaries.
At my father house, which is where I grew up all my life, we had a set
of encyclopedias. The 1988 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica refers to
a black belt in the context of judo. "White belts are worn by novices
and black by masters, with intermediate grades denoted by other colors."
(So, masters wear black belts. Hmmm.) According to Webster's New World
Dictionary (1984) a black belt is "awarded to an expert of the highest
skill in judo or karate" [emphasis added].
If these definitions are indicative of the uninitiated public's
perception of a black belt, then a black belt in their eyes is at least
"an expert of the highest skill" (except, of course, to those who have
successfully beaten up one or more claimants). Some may disagree that
this is the public's perception, but how many times have martial artists
-- black belts -- heard comments like, "I'll be sure not to mess with
you" or "We're all safe with you around," after being introduced and
identified as a black belt?
Arguments to the contrary aside, the general association of the term
"black belt" with attainment of the highest level of expertise in the
martial arts is a common one.
Defacto Standard
Those connected with -- though not necessarily knowledgeable about --
the martial arts may ask: "Why all the fuss? Everyone knows what a black
belt is." Is that so? We know what those outside the martial arts think
black belt represents, but does their definition match what we, those
intimately familiar with the arts, believe? Hardly. Even within the
martial arts community itself, where no accepted objective standard for
the rank exists, the answer is still a resounding "no."
Ask a dozen instructors "What is a black belt?" and you will receive a
12 very different answers. Granted, most of the differences can be
attributed to stylistic issues (e.g. Chinese practitioners say there is
so much more to learn in their arts that it simply takes longer to earn
a black belt in their schools than it does in those that teach other
Asian arts), but other differences are essentially market-driven. For
instance, one school owner confided, "My students' parents expect their
child will be a second-degree black belt by age 12. If not, they will
take him elsewhere."
Ironically, the general public has a fairly uniform understanding what
is a black belt -- an expert of the highest skill -- yet many parents
expect their children will attain that level before they reach puberty.
Inflated parental estimations and expectations aside, does anyone really
believe that the local Karate-Mart can produce genuine "experts of the
highest skill" before the candidates reach puberty, much less maturity?
It is just such situations that make the question "What is a black
belt?" highly relevant because we (martial art practitioners and
instructors) are evaluated and compared based on the public's
perceptions and expectations -- as whimsical and unrealistic as they may
be.
Reality
We cannot fault non-martial artists for holding such an idealistic,
albeit erroneous, perception of a what a black belt is. We, as martial
artists, are partly to blame for their misunderstanding because we
ourselves do not hold a uniform, singular or consistent view of the
rank. A part of me (the idealistic side) wishes we had an accepted and
objective standard for the coveted belt. But logically, I know full well
that any definition would be so broad and watered down that the only way
the term "black belt" would mean anything would be to tack on numerous
degrees.
Sadly, this has already happened. In the second edition of Who's Who in
American Martial Arts, published in 1985, the late kenpo master William
Chow is listed as a 15th degree black belt! If anyone in the last 100
years deserved recognition for his dedication to and skill in the
martial arts, Chow certainly did, but his claim to 15th degree came
about precisely because black belts had become so cheap that even this
master's credentials had to be pumped up to be recognized for their true
value.
Given the great disparity between public perception and reality, martial
artists to whom the belt is still "coveted" are increasingly pressured
to lower their standards. Those who refuse face extinction. Refusing to
compromise their standards, many, even now, teach only in small
I-wish-it-could-be-for-profit schools, holding day jobs to make their
living.
Everything & Nothing
Despite the uninitiated public's fairly uniform expectation of what is a
black belt and what it represents, the reality is that the coveted rank
is not so easily defined. Like paper currency, black belt rank is
subject to the risks of inflation, but with an important difference --
the worth of paper money is objectively established by comparing it with
other stable currencies. Such comparisons are all but impossible in the
martial arts because requirements for black belt vary widely between
arts, between schools, and between teachers. However, there is a
parallel from outside the martial arts that may help.
Looking at higher education we can compare the time requirements for
receiving a black belt with the time required to earn a bachelor's
degree in, say, physical education or kinesology? Excluding the 12 years
of education that must precede college, four years of concentrated
instruction are required to earn a bachelor's degree. The typical "Black
Belt" program only involves only a couple of hours a night, a few days a
week. But let's take it a step further. Does that degree qualify the
recipient as an expert in his or her field? Hardly. In fact, it takes
many more years of "concentrated" study and experience to earn expert
status in that or any other field. 2 All three disciplines -- physical
education, kinesology, and martial arts -- focus on primarily physical
training, so the basis for this comparison is quite reasonable. Looked
at that way and you can draw your own conclusions regarding the relative
value of a black belt from this school or that.
The real problem remains, and this is the core issue, that the black
belt represents an ideal, not some tangible product, and just as paper
currency is only as strong as the government that stands behind it, a
black belt certificate is only as good as the training that went into
it, the standards that were met to earn it, and the instructor who
awarded it. Black belt, then, means, simultaneously, everything and
nothing. Everything for the life-long practitioner. Everything for the
individual whose life depends on "expert" skill. Nothing to those who
routinely turn out inflated paper certificates.
Final Thought
Having made my point, the following words by John Graden, are worth a
considering.
"The only two ranks that matter are white belt and black belt. White
belt represents courage [the courage to risk failure] and black belt
represents persistence and follow through. .. The world is full of great
starters, but it is the ability to follow through to the end that
separates the best of us from the rest of us."
Sincerely,
Mr. Maurice A. Gomez Sr.
American Kenpo Karate 2nd Degree Black Belt
USA- Head Instructor
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