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Japanese Judo a martial art became the first art to introduce a colored belt to indicate a ranking system for students learning martial arts. The concept of using a ranking belt was designed by Jigoro Kano. This idea was initially used in swimming and was apparently lifted to be applied to Judo. The ranking system using the colored belt was soon adapted to Karate and was used first by Sensei Gichin Funakoshi in his Karate school known as Shotokan. In the beginning, students only wore the white and black belts. During the old days, there were no colored belts and the white belt was dyed into different colors. The standard ranking system for Karate belts was white, yellow, green, brown and black.
The originality of the ranking belt system comes from the word kyu, which refers to ‘boy’ and describes the white belt, while the word dan means ‘man’ and describes the shodan black belt. The ranking system symbolizing kyu and dan refers to a sense of maturity which comes about as the calmness of one’s mind. The expanding of ranks in Karate made it easier to teach this form of martial art and as Karate expanded across the globe, other forms of martial art also began using this ranking system and wearing belts soon became a popular trend. The original colors were white, green, brown and black which were defined further by tips at the end of the belt or stripes running along the belt. Eventually, colored belts became a selling gimmick as a result of Parker, of Chinese kenpo fame that used them to goal motivate several elements of martial arts.
Martial art in Tibet is known as Vadha. The word Vadha refers to slay. In ancient times this word could either mean to slay using an empty hand or to slay using a poisonous hand. How Vadha originated within Tibet is still unclear. It is thought that Vajra Mushti is Vadha’s predecessor as well as the origins to many other forms of martial art practiced in the modern world. Vadha and its disciplines have spread throughout northern India and Nepal as well. When Vadha made its way to the United States it was in 1957 with a Vadha practitioner named Omah Kelie settling in Florida. He soon met Jack McCrave a bricklayer from Staten Island, a small man who was able to break several pieces of lumber using his limbs with ease. Kellie soon took McCrave under his wing and spend months on end teaching him martial arts. Even though Kellie left Florida for England, his pupil had mastered the art of the highest rank under his master.
The technique employed by Vadha is a hand and foot strike combination. It is known as the deflection technique where the opponent will redirect the force of attack rather than directly oppose the attack. This is called the ‘arc of attacks’. By opposing the onslaught, it is possible to avoid bodily harm resulting in direct impact. Vadha employs a four ranking system beginning from white, yellow, green and brown. There are 10 black belts following these belts. The first black belt is called the ‘Master of Novices’. A Vadha student will not be taught advanced techniques until the black belt stage has been reached. Once the 5th black belt has been attained, the student will be known as the ‘true master’. Practitioners are allowed to wear a red sash over their black belts once they’ve reached the 5th level. Once a practitioner has reached the 10th level of the black belt they receive the highest distinction from the Vadha Federation.
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