| Black Belt rankings were begun by Judo Master | | | | status. This concept, while valid, gave way when |
| Jigoro Kano. Master Kano is supposed to have | | | | more colors were introduced. |
| based his system on rankings used by swimming | | | | The full range of colors utilized by Chinese Kenpo |
| clubs. Karate clubs in Japanese Universities | | | | Systems was related to a full spectrum of |
| borrowed this ranking system. | | | | knowledge. Rightly or wrongly, a Kenpo student |
| The original karate system is rumored to have | | | | was assumed, when he was promoted to black |
| had two belts, white belt and black belt. As | | | | belt, to know everything in the spectrum. This |
| classes grew larger two more belts were used, | | | | concept began to fail when red belts were utilized. |
| green belt and brown belt. Eventually Chinese | | | | At first, red belts were used to honor high ranking |
| American Kenpo was developed by Ed Parker, | | | | masters, these were sometimes politically |
| and the number of colored belts expanded | | | | motivated belts, though there were some |
| greatly. | | | | legitimate rankings. Then, because people tend to |
| Belts of color were setup in the following order: | | | | promote themselves to the highest rank possible, |
| white, orange, purple, blue, green, three stages of | | | | the red belt replaced the black belt in many |
| brown, multiple stages of black. As the belt | | | | peoples estimation, and the spectral system |
| ranking systems expanded, rumors concerning | | | | broke apart. This was aided by the fact that |
| the significance of the colors grew. Each system | | | | some systems, especially taekwondo systems, |
| seemed to put forth a different meaning for the | | | | began replacing the brown belt with the red belt. |
| belt colors. | | | | In current times, while colored belts are said to be |
| White and black, in the beginning, didn't have much | | | | motivational in student lessons, the fact of the |
| significance, as there were so few students and | | | | matter is that there has been some abuse. Many |
| the promotions were pretty easily understood. | | | | commercial martial arts schools have lengthened |
| White meant beginner, and black belt meant the | | | | training time to align with the increased rankings |
| student had the status of an assistant instructor. | | | | to keep people at their schools for longer periods |
| As the belt systems grew ever larger this | | | | of time, and this has extended the length of time |
| concept quickly gave way to instructor rankings. | | | | it takes to learn the martial arts. It is hoped that |
| White, green, brown and black were rumored to | | | | understanding the basic facts of Black Belt |
| relate to the spring, summer, fall and winter of a | | | | rankings, as described in this article, will help |
| student's martial arts life. This also correlated to | | | | potential students when they analyze possible arts |
| beginner, intermediate, advanced and expert | | | | to study. |