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Grades or belts?
Belts were invented by a Japanese
Judo instructor teaching in France in the
early 20th Century.
They have no historical/traditional significance and
were intended as a learning tool not a status
symbol.
When you get a black belt
ranking it doesn't mean you've gotten a foot in the door. It means you have
learned how to find the doorknob.
(Dave Lowry)
Kung fu
Chinese martial arts sometime use belts,
sometimes not. It depends on the individual system/style/school. If belts aid
learning, then they are useful. If not,
they are just fabric.
Whole-body
It is difficult to compare a
tai chi syllabus to an external martial art
because the material being explored is fundamentally different. How so?
In tai chi, the initial concern isn't combat. It
is health, fitness,
composure, concentration and the cultivation of whole-body movement. The
latter in particular is unique to the internal martial arts.
Performing a technique/application/movement
using aggression, muscular tension, force and isolated limb movement simply
isn't the tai chi way.
Weighting?
Our tai chi syllabus contains a lot more material than an 'external martial
arts' belt does. Much of the training is not
directly about combat.
Rather, it underpins the use of the body and this is then
utilised when fighting.
An external martial artist might pass their yellow belt
in just 3 months, whereas a tai chi student could take over 6 months to
complete the introductory material at a basic level of
competence.
Learning curve
Tai chi students learn how to move
first, then fight later. This means that their learning curve is quite different
to the external martial arts. Martially, students do very little
fighting at first.
But this changes as they become more advanced - both the
body use and combat concerns start to become
increasingly sophisticated.
Topics such as jing and neigong
require an immense amount of study.
Tai chi is
an art where all the principles of other martial arts have been turned upside
down.
They practice fast, we practice slow.
They practice hard, we practice soft.
(Cheng Man Ching)
Plateau
The external martial arts often plateau at a certain stage. A
block is a block is a block. There are no new
insights to explore. This is not a bad thing. Their
chosen art is usually still very effective.
People may get better but there is often little to
discover as the student attains the
higher ranking belts.
Tai chi fighting method
There are no plateaus in tai chi. If a student
fails to make continual on-going progress, then the fault lies either with their
teacher's limitations or their own personal
attitude/approach.
Tai chi was designed to be a journey without
a destination. You just keep going. There is no
conclusion. No end point. No certificate, trophy, reward or belt.
Consider judo belts...
A judo student attends lessons 2-3
times a week, passes a belt every 12 weeks and usually passes all of the
coloured belts within a couple of years.
This is standard practice in most
martial arts.
External expectations
The typical martial arts expectation of passing a new belts every few
months simply doesn't translate to tai chi.
Usually the students are adults, whereas most
external martial artists start out as youngsters.
Tai chi adults won't usually attend 2-3 times a week, nor pass a belt every 3-6
months, nor reach black belt anytime soon.
Less commitment
In lieu of the mainstream martial arts level of commitment, students tend to do less and
expect more.
They make excuses: job, family, commitments,
you name it...
And they still expect to move up a grade.
When the higher rank is not forthcoming, students resent
their teacher.
As you like it
Tai chi students who continue training long term tend to work at a
pace that suits their own
personality.
They may have lofty aspirations/ambitions, but these are tempered by the
reality of who they are and how committed they
are. This is quite a Taoist way of
being.
A sense of perspective?
There are 20 belts in the tai chi chuan syllabus:
White 1
White 2
Yellow 1
Yellow 2
Orange
Green
Blue
Purple
Brown 1
Brown 2
Black (1st dan)
Black (2nd dan)
Black (3rd dan)
Black (4th dan)
Black (5th dan)
Black (6th dan)
Black (7th dan)
Black (8th dan)
Red 1/Black (9th dan)
Red 2/Black (10th dan)
It might take a student years to get
good at the art. Remember though: most
martial artists retire at 40.
Tai chi chuan is a lifelong art, so it will take longer to gain martial
aptitude but (providing you practice) the skills
may last a lifetime.
Beginner's belts
(i) Pale belts
White, yellow,
orange & green belts
are all about improving fitness. A student is required to work at notably
improving their stamina, flexibility, coordination, cardiovascular health and
agility.
(ii) Darker belts
The blue, purple,
brown 1 &
brown 2 belts are more martial than the pale belts.
Applications, martial sets and
weapons work predominate.
Intermediate belts
The first 4 black belts are
intermediate-level tai chi chuan.
Experienced belts
5th - 8th dan black belts are for more experienced
tai chi chuan practice.
Advanced belts
The next 2 black belts are for advanced-level kung fu (Chinese
boxing) and are only suitable
for instructors.
Page created
18 April 1994
Last updated
05 January 2024
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