What’s the Best BELT in Martial Arts?
Go to http://DrinkLMNT.com/SenseiSeth for a free sample pack with any order! What’s the difference between Judo, Taekwondo, …
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April 4, 2026
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"Harmony in Every Heartbeat
Go to http://DrinkLMNT.com/SenseiSeth for a free sample pack with any order! What’s the difference between Judo, Taekwondo, …
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Go to http://DrinkLMNT.com/SenseiSeth for a free sample pack with any order!
i do tkd itf
13th degree blackbelt in Ameridote is. It's the highest degree achieved in the only martial art worth anything.
No i min bjj and judo
Bjj and karate
I received my ikkyu when I was 14. To my knowledge at the time I was there youngest in the US to receive that ranking. My sensei had to get permission to give me my promotion by the usual. Part of the reason I earned my ikkyu was not just because of what I did in practic, but what I did in actual competitions. I traveled all over the US. From south Carolina, north carolina, Georgia, kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois. Went to Illinois for us nationals.
Every judo test i had was written and demonstrated. With every written test you had to know the Japanese translation. If you didn't pass the written or verbal; then you failed no matter what how well you could demonstrate your techniques
Judo has more belts than what is mentioned. There white, yellow, orange, green, blue,purple, brown, and black…. don't understand why you left out blue and purple. Also each belt has 2 degrees except for 3 degrees of brown
Historically, Karate has 9 Kyu ranks and 19 Dan ranks. You can divide the Kyu belts up in as many colors you want. We use white, green, brown, then black. Stripes are awarded as you progress through the Kyu ranks. We don't add stripes to the Dan ranks. Some Okinawan dojos start adding stripes at higher Dan ranks. We do have separate belts for Renshi, Kiyoshi and Hanshi ranks. That's just us.
In judo there is also blue belt after the green one.
I think you shouldn't only look at color of the belt. In BJJ, you're a 'master' of the art, you can have your own school and promote students. In TKD, at black, you're an advanced student. Only at 4th degree black can you promote students (even to yellow). A black belt in BJJ supposedly takes 8-12 years. Even if you get a black belt in TKD a lot quicker, a 4th degree in TKD will take about 10 years…
Jujitsu highest belt is red and to get it. It can take up to 48 years minimum also this is bull shit for bjj there are junior belts and there are 9 dans on the black belt and 9 dans on a red belt in total there are 35 different ranks tips and dans included and there’s a lot of different styles like karate has kyokushin jujitsu has Brazilian jujitsu, Japanese jujitsu, combat jujitsu and sport jujitsu and at my bjj dojo we don’t give kids black belts because it takes 20+ years to get a black belt 😂
You forgot judo ne-waza! If you say bjj needs infinite requirements you should also take consideration judos ground game!!
I have black belts in TKD (after 3 1/2 years of training) and BJJ (after 9). I enjoy doing both, but BJJ just requires a different level of investment– at least to reach black belt. For instance, I trained TKD three or four days a week and competed in six tournaments. I knew several people who earned black belts without ever sparring. With BJJ, I often train six days week and have been in 59 tournaments. And I couldn't begin to count the hundreds and hundreds of hours spent rolling.
There's also a different cultural understanding of what a black belt means in Japan vs the west. Everyone says your real journey begins when you get a black belt and it means you've just got the fundamentals down, but the difference is in Japan they actually mean that and in the west that's just a thing people say (and actually a black belt means you're essentially capable of starting your own dojo if you want to).
Consequently in Japan it usually takes less time to get black belts than in the West (even if it's the same martial art). BJJ seems to be an exception to this.
People seem to get their egos tied up in it as well. Even Seth in the beginning implies some belts have "bad reputations" (i.e. that they're not worth much), seemingly implying that he thinks a black belt should be worth a lot. As Jesse points out, 初段 (shodan) LITERALLY means "first step".
In some less westernised arts such as iaido and jodo, you can get ikkyu (equiv. of brown belt) after 3 months and shodan (black belt) in a year or less. A black belt at the Kodokan also frequently takes only 1 year (their school for adults has that as one of its stated aims). I doubt anyone is criticising the Kodokan.
As a personal bugbear of mine, Taekwondo is too general a term (much like Karate is) as there are the big differences between Kukkiwon Style (aka WT) and Chan Hong Style (ITF). But as I do ITF style this is going to affect me more.
I'll also add that in both ITF and WT styles (to use simple terms) kids under 18 are marked out separately as junior black belts in some way with different requirements. And you are not considered a proper "expert" in Taekwondo until you have your 4th Dan, which is usually a minimum of 7-8 years after you get your 1st.
your J cuts are a bit longer than necessary ..
TKD here… nice one .. i have to tell you.. these guys . destroyed the ranking system.. black belt in TKD is haaaard.. is really haaard.. like really hard.. like you need 6-8 years to be that good .. 5 years if you are charismatic… ITF traditional TKD though..
i got a black belt in karate when i was 11
it sucked
I’m speaking purely from an ITF Taekwon-Do perspective. The belts are just belts. What matters most is who gave you that belt. General Choi’s taekwon-do encyclopedia does dictate to a certain extend, the minimum requirements for students to progress to the next level but it is entirely up to the instructor and examiner to progress a student to the next level. Some examiners are stricter with grading requirements while some are pretty chill about it. Like I’ve seen some examiners mandate power breaking for blue belts while some don’t. And some schools actually hold back students from progressing even if the student has met minimum requirements. So if a student is from a prestigious school that has stricter grading requirements then it does add to that credibility and reputation. Also in ITF taekwon-do, physical strength is a core attribute to be a black belt holder. Therefore, some federation have a black belt with white stripe to denote that the student is a junior black belt under 18 and not yet a full fledge black belt.
Bjj takes longest so id go for thst even though bjj nit really my cuppa
The best belt is the one that holds up your pants.
The belt colors are from India roots and Buddhism…. The white being that you are pure and unknowing of the art, and the. As you progress and become more lethal or deadly, you descend from the heavens and the colors transcend also from heaven to the grave where darkness or black is the ultimate outcome
Isn’t the kyu/dan system from the game of Go ?
For me tkd
Muay thai
My martial arts has ⬜️🟨🟧🟩🟦🟪🟥🟫⬛️
I always view Black Belts as Diplomas in Education.
1st degree – High School diploma
2nd degree – Associates Degree
3rd degree – Bachelors Degree (Sensei status/School Teacher)
4th degree – Masters Degree ( Master status)
5th Degree – PHD
6th – 7th degree – Higher honorary statuses.
on my 10 year in bjj, just got my blue belt
You should also ask a itf tkd practitioner instead of just a wt tkd
I would want It in Karate or the Refined Japanese Jiujitsu style that I practice and currently yellow. But the best belt is the white belt because without it, there is nothing else.
I'M a green belt in karate
The quote at the end tho
Aint it wild that it (im gunna say it) ALL came from Greeks Pankrasian, Wrestling, and Boxing? All Olympic Prize fighters with fight camps where former champs taught different "schools". There was a also a 'professional' avenue as they were 'taken care of'. ALL THIS for Millenia. Quite possiby the 'best fighter' has already lived and died a very long time ago.
i'm gonna say a BJJ black belt is on a different level than other black belts for the simple reason it takes a long ass time to get it.
Taekwondo takes a lot more time until you get black belt what you said is off
l go to Taekwondo
all karate belt systems are not the same though….and all karate styles are different as well. I don’t think many people make fun of Kyokushin black belts….? I think it is important WHO you get your rank FROM. What is the instructors legacy etc. (I like this video BTW)
it took me 2 years to get my black belt in taekwondo do is this normal?(i also had an injury so it took longer)
is was really looking forward to your judo conclusion, but sadly its missing… you can only see the written part in the end if you look closely, but not the actual narrative for it – what happened? i cant find it 🙁
Written test is dumb
Getting a black belt at 11 is dumb
Bjj
When i was a kid i trained karate tkd judo bjj and now western boxing like boxing muay thai kickboxing and our karate dojo used to have ⬜🟨🟧🟩🟦🟫⬛ we had them like that we didn't have a red or purple
The best belt is one you earned from hard practice and/or competition. Sweat and grunts.
The people who get their ju jitsu black belt in 3 years they double and triple up classes so in reality they do 9 years worth of consistent training to get to the black belt level
Arnis