Uniforms and Rank

 The martial arts uniform or ‘gi” in Japanese, is very important. The gi itself symbolizes your spirit and readiness to train. Most traditional Karate and Jujitsu school will use white when practicing empty handed to represent a pure heart and good intentions. The karate gi and jujitsu gi are structurally different, the karate gi is thinner making it easier to kick and punch while the jujitsu gi has a double weaved top and thin knee pads on the legs. The thicker top and knee pads help protect the grappler from the ground and the thicker top allows the gi to last longer through the intense conditions of grappling.

Weapons gi are generally a darker color, the philosophy being the if you were to be cut or injured in a weapons fight it would be more difficult for your opponent to observe your weakness. Most Kobudo schools choose black as their color, however in Shugoro Nakazato Sensei’s chose brown for his system.

The hakama came from the warrior class samurai on Japan. The baggy style pants hid their legs and footwork in combat and protected their legs from brush while on horseback. It the back of the hakama is a small back brace that was originally used for support while on horseback, but is now used for back support while in the dojo. Many traditional Japanese martial arts have adopted the hakama for black belts to represent the fighting traditions of the samurai warriors.

At Peaceful Warrior Martial Arts & Healing Center we have all beginning students start out with a white uniform. At brown belt students may start wearing black or brown uniforms for workouts however they are still expected to wear the white uniform for formal occasions such as seminars and belt tests. When a student reaches the level of black belt he/she may start wearing the hakama.

  Our Ranking System

 The traditional Japanese/Okinawan ranking system is broken down into two basic groups the Kyu ranks or Yukyusha and the Dan ranks or Yudansha. A Kyu rank is anything under black belt and a Dan ranks are black belts. Kyu start out hight and work lower as they get closer to black belt, so a white belt in our dojo is a 9^th kyu a purple is a 6^th kyu a green 4^th kyu. The number basically represents the number of steps left before black belt, the lower the number the higher the rank. Dan ranks are the opposite, a new black belt is a first dan also called first degree by many American practitioners. As you get promoted the number will increase to second dan, then third dan and so on. Fore black belts the higher the number the higher the rank. In the table below you will see a list of ranks belt colors and appropriate titles for person of each rank level. Some levels may have more then one title or even wear more then one belt. For example; no matter how high an instructor goes he/she can always use the title of sensei and wear the black belt, however they can use more rank specific title or belt such as shihan or kyoshi and wear a red and white belt. In the traditional Japanese ranking system a red belt represents the highest level of black belt a complete master, however in other Korean or Amarican martial arts systems give red belts before black belt, so don’t assume that every red belt you see is a master.