I
saw someone asking a question online about the belts in Taekwon-Do.
They
asked “What are the belt colors in Taekwondo?”
The answers
that person received all said pretty much “it depends on the
school”.
I
gave my answer too, which I will post here. And elaborate on it a
little more.
The
first observation I have to make is that there are two styles of
Taekwon-Do in the world.
One
is the ITF style (International Taekwon-Do Federation) and the other
is the WTF style (World Taekwondo Federation).
You
might notice that I write them differently, in fact WTF calls itself
Taekwondo, and ITF is Taekwon-Do. Putting and emphasis on the “Do”.
The Do is the philosophical side of the art.
Living
in korea for 7 years, I have trained with WTF guys often, and even
worked as a Taekwon-Do teacher at WTF dojangs. I noticed that each
school had different sets of belt colors, I could not understand how
they all keep it organized between schools and within the WTF
organization itself. How do they measure the parameters of belt
colors and such. But I never asked about it much.
Apparently
they take out or add belts all the time. To keep the progression of
the children longer.
In
other countries it seems to be the same case.
However
in ITF Taekwon-Do, there has been since the beginning, a set of six
colors from white to Black. This has never changed and it is the
standard worldwide until today.
I
have trained in ITF for over 20 years now. So I can give a simple and
clear explanation about the belt colors for it. For WTF though, it is
very confusing and hard to say what the official belts are nowadays.
WTF
(World Taekwondo Federation - Kukkiwon)
Olympic
Taekwondo Style
The
style that is most spread out in South Korea and which is present at
the olympics. It was formed in South Korea after the separation of
North and South.
About
their belt colors; It
varies a lot.
There's
many colors and variations between schools and the colors are there
for somewhat random reasons.
From
what I know, WTF used to have the same belts as ITF, but as time
passed they changed it over and over. These days it's like a crazy
salad of colors that changes from school to school.
I've seen kids wearing pink belts, I asked the teacher why they had a pink belt and the answer was "because it's pretty".
I believe currently this is the official set of belts for the WTF. but like I mentioned before, I have seen many other belt colors in Taekwondo Dojangs in Korea (including pink!).
ITF
(International Taekwon-Do Federation - Traditional
Taekwon-Do)
Martial
art / Traditional Style / North korean Taekwon-Do
The
original Taekwon-Do. Although it is both Northern and South Korean,
it is considered by most South Koreans as the “North Korean
Taekwon-Do”, the reasons for this are very complex and it should be
the subject of another article.
Now
focusing on the belt colors:
There
has always been just six colors, each color represents
something.
This
has been this way and remains this way in all ITF Dojangs worldwide
without exception.
White:
purity,
innocence, ignorance
*White
with a yellow slash
Yellow:
A
seed of knowledge the student has planted while learning tkd so
far.
*Yellow
with a green slash
Green:
It
symbolizes the leaves of a tree. The seed of knowledge and training
has sprouted into a tree, the students growth.
*Green
with a blue slash
Blue:
The
tree reaches the sky, also symbolizes the element of water and the
ability to adapt and develop new skills.
*Blue
with a red slash
Red:
Fire,
danger, Power. the student has acquired strength and power through
training but is yet to develop self control to use his skills with
wisdom, thus he must be careful and focus.
*Red
with a black slash
Black:
Knowledge,
impervious to darkness and fear. Skill and maturity.
*
Between each color belt there is also a slash before passing unto the
next belt. Under traditional training times, you pass a full color
belt in one year.
Note
that on the above image it says GOLD and not Yellow. It is supposed
to be Yellow, not gold. But I didn't have any better image to use for
a visual example.
Black
Belts:
1
Dan to 9 Dan
9
is a mystical number in Asian culture, 3 is a magic number, and 9 =
3x3 therefore it is the most powerful number.
One
is considered a full instructor once reaching 4 Dan, black belts from
1 Dan to 3 Dan can teach but cannot conduct belt tests save special
exceptions.
The
highest Dan in ITF Taekwon-Do is 9 and it is a honorary degree that
is earned through a lifetime of training and helping to promote the
art.