Martial Arts Belts - Working your way up the rainbow:

Brand-new martial arts students begin with the blank slate of white belt.

There’s an old story about the evolution of the system of colored martial-arts belts: donning fresh white belts at first, trainees would let them darken over time with sweat and dirt, until, after years of increasing mastery, they turned almost black.

If it sounds like a story that’s too good to believe, it almost certainly is...

Although the belt system is conceivably an ancient tradition handed down from sensei to sensei, its origins can be readily traced to the early 20th century when Dr. Jigoro Kano developed a new form of physical education for Japanese public school students: judo! Judo, a safer version of the jujitsu fighting style. Facing an influx of new students, Dr. Kano devised a hierarchy of colored belts to illustrate their progress at a glance rather than having to ask each one to fight him every day.

How quickly athletes move up the ladder will depend on the teacher, the dojo, the style, as well as their skillsets. They may advance by taking a formal exam with practical, oral, and written sections. Additionally, students may be asked to spar with other students to prove their readiness. As in any discipline, tying on a black belt doesn’t mean you’ve made it. Instead, one might think of it as being inducted into an advanced training program. In karate, for instance, there are 10 grades of black belts, some of which require up to 10 years of study to attain.