The hierarchy of Karate
Like most things in Japanese culture, karate is a martial art with a well defined hierarchy.
The colour of the belt that you wear shows your level of knowledge of the art. In order of growing importance:
| COLOUR | LEVEL | ||
| White | 9th Kyu | ||
| Yellow | 8th Kyu | ||
| Orange | 7th Kyu | ||
| Green | 6th Kyu | ||
| Blue | 5th Kyu | ||
| Purple | 4th Kyu | ||
| Brown | 3th Kyu | ||
| Brown | 2th Kyu | ||
| Brown | 1th Kyu | ||
| Black | 1th Dan | ||
| Black | 2th Dan | ||
| Black | 3th Dan | ||
| Black | 4th Dan | ||
| Black | 5th Dan | ||
| Black | 6th Dan | ||
| Black | 7th Dan | ||
| Black | 8th Dan |
There’s a logic reason behind the choice of the colour. The darkening from white to black symbolises a loss of innocence and a growth of evilness of the karateka. From then on, the reverse path is followed, towards the enlightenment. This cyclic journey is illustrated by the (very rarely obtained) 10th Dan belts which are white and twice as big as normal belts.
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