What is a Christian Black Belt?
Published: 12-1-2009
By Gary Spencer
In the movie Karate Kid, the main character asks, “What kind of belt do you have?” His reply was, ”Canvas… JC Penny’s $3.98… You like?” He went on to explain that a belt in Okinawa was to hold up your pants. The black belt is a relatively new concept in martial arts. It was introduced by Jigoro Kano the founder of Judo. Judo became very popular and grew to where Kano was teaching large crowds of students. He had a problem in that he cold not tell the advanced students form the beginning students, so he did not know at what level to teach them. If the techniques were too complicated, the novice would be overwhelmed. If the instruction were too basic, advanced students would get bored and loose interest. By coloring the belts and regulating what knowledge was needed to attain that rank, he knew at a glance what each student knew, so he would break them into groups and teach appropriate levels of technique. Everybody was happy. After the Second World War American GIs (General Enlisted) discovered the fighting arts of the orient. Americans understood rank, and being goal oriented, gravitated to Judo. This put the guy teaching karate at a disadvantage, so they too adopted the colored belt and kyu system. One of the most famous Okinawan instructors of all time never awarded any rank nor did he write a letter stating that a student had trained sufficiently that they could teach his system. His name was Chojun Miyagi the founder of Goju Ryu. After his death his students formed a panel of the students that had trained with Miyagi the longest and they awarded rank according to skill level and time of service. That’s why we have ninth dan Goju Ryu black belts. That is a little background on the belt color.
Today we still form black belt panels, so the student can demonstrate their abilities to the black belt community. These panels note all the things that need to be improved to help the martial artist grow. The Shodan or first-degree black belt means you know the basics of the style in which you have been training. Hollywood has turned it into something like Superman’s cape. Many styles do not even allow a black belt to teach, without supervision, until they’ve reached the rank of third-dan. A black belt is not the end of the journey. It is the beginning.
One of the things that the Okinawan instructors stressed was respect and humility. These are the most overlooked aspects of the martial arts in today’s culture, yet they are the most important. I have seen student’s loose control in a point fighting karate tournaments, and they have had to be pulled apart. They were willing to beat each other unconscious for a plastic trophy. I’ve seen students throw their weapon because the judges didn’t give them the score, they felt they deserved. Those student’s sensei failed them. Karate is a vehicle we use to shape and influence young minds for the better. Turning a karate student loose with out the humility and respect, is like giving a child a loaded gun. They will hurt themselves or others. A Christian martial artist has an even greater responsibility to teach these attributes as well as live them. As Christian martial artists we have no excuse because we represent our Lord, and the secular martial arts world is watching. Still… a Christian martial artist does not lie down and become a doormat. We are commanded to not be afraid, so we do everything in strength, and that includes representing our Lord when we wear that belt.
Martial arts have become a business and it is under pressure to produce. If a student does not receive a promotion fast enough, they find another instructor. When I began training, it was forbidden to ask for promotion. Today it is not an uncommon thing to have a parent ask for their children to be given rank. These same parents would not approach the local school principal and request their student t jump a couple of grades to improve their self-esteem. Martial arts should build good citizens. Real life teaches that hard work is the only way to be successful. Unless we allow our children to struggle, how can life refine them so they’re able to face real challenges? Sometimes, the best thing we can do for our children is to not pick them up when they fall.
Karate is an activity, and if we only teach kicking and punch, we’ve failed. Life is temporal. The way we live, is the example we leave for our children. God uses life to refine us, so that we may better serve him now in the next world. He desires us to be humble. Be humble as a black belt in and out of the dojo because everyone is watching.