Perspectives on the BJJ belt system- part 1
On the menu for discussion: history of the BJJ belt system, semantics of the belt grades.
Let us examine all the "Japanese/Korean TMA" belt systems, all of which take their hint from Judo, and by extension, go/weiqui/baduk. Judo had white and black, with increments/stripes at the black belt level indicating the "degree (dan)". This actually comes from go/weiqui/baduk, where you use units of kyus and dans for separation. 1st/shodan and upwards are "senior" ranks and the kyus are the "junior" ranks (note that higher-numbered kyus are actually lower in significance, so that ikkyu/1st kyu is actually superior to nikyu/2nd kyu). Thus, holders of shodan/1st dan and subsequent dans wear black (or other ceremonial colours for exceptionally high grades), which is where the "nth-degree black belt" thing comes from.
When you look at the original semantics in go/weiqui/baduk, a shodan is still a noob; not a complete noob, but still a noob. As you gain expertise, you accumulate more dans, corresponding to the stripes on the said black belt. Thus, as far as the Judo-like systems go, while anyone who is not a complete noob can wear black, it takes martial prowess/teaching/service/public recognition(politics) to actually collect the stripes.
This is why when you go to Japan and Korea in those arts, you see so many goddamn black belts, commercialism aside: stripes may be one thing, but the belt itself is not held on a pedestal like in the west. DO NOT CUT ME OFF HERE AND THUMP YOUR CHEST TALKING ABOUT "HURR DURR THAT IS WHY BJJ BELT IS SO MUCH HARDER AND BETTER", I STILL HAVE MORE HISTORY TO COVER.
Let us now examine the history of the BJJ belt system. First off, I am not the one to dick ride on the Helio side of the Gracie family. With this being said, their practices prior to the Jiu Jitsu Federation of Guanabara provide some interesting perspectives on the belt system.
In a nutshell, BJJ originally had 3 adult belts: white for students, light blue for assistants, and dark blue for instructors. Royce Gracie has personally said in an interview that despite being a 7th dan, he wears a dark blue belt in light of this tradition. As for why Helio Gracie went with white and blue rather than white and black, the main reasons, according to Pedro Valente who had personally interviewed the late grandmaster, are twofold: one, to provide a visual distinction from the white/black system of Judo; two, because Helio Gracie liked the colour while at it.
The takeaway here is that the "shodan/not a complete noob" rank in BJJ is BLUE. In fact, sandbagging aside, you can earn your blue in about a year or two in most cases, which is just about in line with how you can earn your Judo shodan in a year or two (for Japan and Korea, at least).
With the introduction of governing bodies, the various ranks, topped off with black and all the other ceremonial ranks, were added on top of the dark blue, with light blue being phased out of the adult ranks. Furthermore, in BJJ, black belt degrees up to 6 are by time served, and 7, 8, and 9 are by public recognition. Considering that a BJJ black belt already represents such a level of seniority, perhaps it is no surprise that service and ceremonial aspects are emphasized much more in the degrees from the get-go, whereas in Judo the symbolic aspects are emphasized for 6th and greater.
Alas, the real reason why "a BJJ black belt takes 10+ years" is because BJJ initially strayed from the Judo system with the white-blue scheme, only to do a complete U-turn and retcon the Judo colours without adjusting the semantics along the way. Moral of the story: careless retconning creates problems.
As an aside, considering how Helio Gracie tended to dismiss Judo (another item which is on public record as per Pablo Valente), this may well have been deliberate to make Judo practitioners look inferior by purposely deflating grades for BJJ. Detailed discussions on sandbagging will follow in part 2.
Let us examine all the "Japanese/Korean TMA" belt systems, all of which take their hint from Judo, and by extension, go/weiqui/baduk. Judo had white and black, with increments/stripes at the black belt level indicating the "degree (dan)". This actually comes from go/weiqui/baduk, where you use units of kyus and dans for separation. 1st/shodan and upwards are "senior" ranks and the kyus are the "junior" ranks (note that higher-numbered kyus are actually lower in significance, so that ikkyu/1st kyu is actually superior to nikyu/2nd kyu). Thus, holders of shodan/1st dan and subsequent dans wear black (or other ceremonial colours for exceptionally high grades), which is where the "nth-degree black belt" thing comes from.
When you look at the original semantics in go/weiqui/baduk, a shodan is still a noob; not a complete noob, but still a noob. As you gain expertise, you accumulate more dans, corresponding to the stripes on the said black belt. Thus, as far as the Judo-like systems go, while anyone who is not a complete noob can wear black, it takes martial prowess/teaching/service/public recognition(politics) to actually collect the stripes.
This is why when you go to Japan and Korea in those arts, you see so many goddamn black belts, commercialism aside: stripes may be one thing, but the belt itself is not held on a pedestal like in the west. DO NOT CUT ME OFF HERE AND THUMP YOUR CHEST TALKING ABOUT "HURR DURR THAT IS WHY BJJ BELT IS SO MUCH HARDER AND BETTER", I STILL HAVE MORE HISTORY TO COVER.
Let us now examine the history of the BJJ belt system. First off, I am not the one to dick ride on the Helio side of the Gracie family. With this being said, their practices prior to the Jiu Jitsu Federation of Guanabara provide some interesting perspectives on the belt system.
In a nutshell, BJJ originally had 3 adult belts: white for students, light blue for assistants, and dark blue for instructors. Royce Gracie has personally said in an interview that despite being a 7th dan, he wears a dark blue belt in light of this tradition. As for why Helio Gracie went with white and blue rather than white and black, the main reasons, according to Pedro Valente who had personally interviewed the late grandmaster, are twofold: one, to provide a visual distinction from the white/black system of Judo; two, because Helio Gracie liked the colour while at it.
The takeaway here is that the "shodan/not a complete noob" rank in BJJ is BLUE. In fact, sandbagging aside, you can earn your blue in about a year or two in most cases, which is just about in line with how you can earn your Judo shodan in a year or two (for Japan and Korea, at least).
With the introduction of governing bodies, the various ranks, topped off with black and all the other ceremonial ranks, were added on top of the dark blue, with light blue being phased out of the adult ranks. Furthermore, in BJJ, black belt degrees up to 6 are by time served, and 7, 8, and 9 are by public recognition. Considering that a BJJ black belt already represents such a level of seniority, perhaps it is no surprise that service and ceremonial aspects are emphasized much more in the degrees from the get-go, whereas in Judo the symbolic aspects are emphasized for 6th and greater.
Alas, the real reason why "a BJJ black belt takes 10+ years" is because BJJ initially strayed from the Judo system with the white-blue scheme, only to do a complete U-turn and retcon the Judo colours without adjusting the semantics along the way. Moral of the story: careless retconning creates problems.
As an aside, considering how Helio Gracie tended to dismiss Judo (another item which is on public record as per Pablo Valente), this may well have been deliberate to make Judo practitioners look inferior by purposely deflating grades for BJJ. Detailed discussions on sandbagging will follow in part 2.
댓글
댓글 쓰기