LogFAQs > #933377841

PK_Spam posted...

Dont most reputable martial arts schools wait a very long time to give these out?

Depends entirely on the school.

A black belt is just a belt - there's no standard accreditation for it, so there's no universal standard for what quality of technique is required for it. It all depends on what the school expects out of its black belts.

In my kobudo dojo, a first-degree black belt is a mark of basic proficiency - you can easily earn it 2-3 years after starting and it's not uncommon for people to grade directly from white belt to black belt. By contrast, in my karate dojo a black belt is a mark of a high level of knowledge and skill; it usually takes close to a decade of solid training to earn one. Neither of those approaches is "wrong", it just indicates that the two different styles have their black belts signifying different levels of progress.

To answer your question, if a second-degree black belt is something that a 14 year old can earn, it probably doesn't indicate a very advanced level of progress in that school. Either that or that school is a scam trying to wring as much money as it can out of its students (frequent testing is one symptom of a belt factory that is mostly in it to earn cash).

Kyuubi4269 posted...

They're middle. You go through colours (Kyu) then through rankings (Dan). I think this means the kid is 2nd Dan.

Not quite correct. Not all martial arts use kyu rankings. Sometimes dan rankings are all you have. In iaido, for instance, you're either a mudansha (no rank) or you have a dan rank; there's no such thing as kyu rankings.

The kyu/dan colour/black belt division originated in judo and was popularized by karate, but it's far from universal.

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