Did you know that many years ago martial arts was taught in secrecy? Martial arts schools as we know them today did not exist. Students trained solely for self-defense and meditation. Unknown at that time were the multitude of benefits of martial arts training that would appeal to millions of people of all ages in the future.

Some students wore a special white uniform that allowed easy freedom of movement for the practitioner. A white belt tied around the waist completed the ensemble. These first martial artists trained hard, sometimes hours a day, learning to fight and to defend using their hands and feet as weapons. After months and years of practicing, the student’s belt, which was never washed, became soiled and noticeably darker in color. This became a visual sign of the amount of training and experience the student had and why the black belt symbolized an expert in the arts.

Most modern day martial arts schools use some form of progressive ranking system to indicate the student’s level of experience. Beginner students typically wear a white belt (or sash) and expert students wear a black belt. However, since students train indoors in a facility, belts are not exposed to elements that would automatically darken the belt with training experience. Therefore to appropriately distinguish students based on skill level, many martial arts organizations adopted a color belt system between white and black. Imitating the soiled progression of light to dark, beginner colors are usually light such as yellow and orange; intermediate colors, blue and green; advanced colors, purple and brown.

The order of colors are by no means a standard. In some styles for example, the red belt, not black, is the highest rank in the system while in others, red may precede black. Although ranking systems may differ from school to school, the function of the system remains consistent: Each belt rank represents the culmination of knowledge the student has learned and also clearly defines the information that is to be learned to achieve future ranks.

In Japanese it is pronounced kempo, in Mandarin Chinese, chuan fa, and in the Hokkien dialect, kuntao. Regardless of how it is pronounced, all of these words come from the same Chinese characters and have been translated variously as fist law, fist rule, fist way, and way of the fist. Using Hepburn's Japanese and English Dictionary, a long-standing authority on the Japanese language, the word kempo is made from two Chinese characters - ken and ho. Ken translated literally means "a game played with the hands." Ho means "rule" or "law." When these two simple characters are combined, their pronunciation becomes "kempo" which is written in Romanji as kempo or kenpo.

The literal translation of these two characters then, is a game played with the hands, and "rule" or "law." But, as with most languages, literal translation is woefully inadequate. Take the case of the computer translating program which attempted to translate Russian technical journals into English. Since it could only translate literally it completely missed the mark when it translated the Russian term for a "hydraulic ram" into "water goat." "Fist way" and "fist law" also miss the mark (although not so dramatically). If we go beyond the literal translation of "rules of a game played with the hands" (rearranged) we come up with "boxing principles." Fist law, fist rule, fist way, etc., are all acceptable, but boxing principles better captures the characters' real meaning.

One more refinement, however, should bring us even closer. Substitute the word "fighting" for "boxing." This is because to the Western mind "boxing" carries a hands-only connotation, where Oriental martial arts "boxing" includes both hands and feet. Substituting "fighting" for "boxing" then removes that "hands only" impression, yielding "fighting principles" as the best translation of the term - kempo.

On a final note - we often refer to "fighting." Do  not mistake this to mean that we expect you to be mugged next week, or some lunatic to attack you at your local gas station (Weigel's in Knoxville!).  We use the word "fighting" because the possibility that you will be attacked is the basic premise in all martial-arts training. This is just a focal point for your martial arts training. View the martial arts as a path to inner peace, a sport, a way to lose weight, a physical-fitness discipline, or just a hobby. Any of those are fine, but keep your focus on the imaginary confrontation to guide you through your martial arts training.

Fighting is both a literal possibility and a metaphor for battles with any enemy you have in mind, whether it's obesity, stress, laziness, or a street thug.

One of the first things that most people notice about martial arts are the different colors of belts that martial artists where. But what you might not know is that colors represent different meanings and skill sets. Additionally, depending upon what type of martial art is being referred to the color of belts will define unique things. In other words, there isn’t a universal belt system that all belts belong to.

Looking at Brazilian Jiujitsu, belt colors for children are completely different from the belts for adults. Adults will wear white, blue, purple, brown, black and red, whereas children adorn white, yellow, orange and green. Despite the different colors, the one thing that the belts share in common are their demonstration of progression. As student of Brazilian Jiujitsu achieve new competencies through training they climb to the next level. Colored belts are used to signify how much a student has mastered thus far.

Beyond the colors of belts, there is also a numbering system that is used to provide additional ranking and classification. The number ranking system is useful when martial artists are being compared in group environments. The combination of ranking and colored belts make it easier to classify what students have attained through study and instruction. An example of the numbering and belt system would be when someone is referred to having a 2nd degree brown belt in a particular martial art.

In terms of what each belt color means and how you earn one, well that really depends on the level of commitment from the student, where training takes place and who is providing instruction. For instance, if someone was taking Brazilian Jiujitsu a two-hour course four days a week with a world-renown trainer then they’d be more likely to achieve a black belt status.

It should be noted that martial arts isn’t a race, it’s a marathon and to receive the full benefits and enjoyment of this art form, students should go at an even pace that allows them absorb and comprehend all that martial arts has to offer.

For an in depth tutorial on the color of Brazilian Jiujitsu belts, ranking and a planned course of study, contact a local and reputable martial arts facility. They will be happy to answer your questions and share additional insight with you.