Belt History and Ranking

History has shown us the methods by which our ancestors learned and defended themselves against animals and their enemies.  The techniques and methods they developed were natural graceful movements, which we now know today as the martial arts.  During that time people would use the belt as a means of holding up their pants during training sessions.

In Korean culture, the color white is a favorite.  Other Asian nations started to call the Korean people a "white" ethic nation because the clothes they would wear for training were white, including the belt.  During their training in the martial arts, they would continue to use the same belt and in time the belt would get dirty.  Depending on the length of time the person would be training, the darker the belt would get.  The belt would eventually turn black which would indicate the length of time and level of ability that person had reached in the martial arts.  Through practice and time, they started to dye different parts of the belt to signify one's ability in the martial arts.  Today we have different color belts for each rank, starting from white and continuing with darker colors up to black belt or sash.  That is why the belt color gets darker.  The different belt colors symbolize the various stages of physical and spiritual development in the martial arts.