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INFORMATION: Belt and Grade

Belts are awarded when a student has demonstrated enough service in taekwondo to attain the next grade and is achieved by successfully passing a grading; every three months for Kup grades and appropriate years for Dan grades.

There are ten Kup grades to black belt (1st Dan) and there are nine Dan grades.  The colour of the belt is symbolic of the grade of the student.

The coloured belts are white, yellow, green, blue, red and black:

10th > 9th Kup: White belt to yellow tag:
Unsure and without knowledge of taekwondo.  As with the pine tree, the seed must now be planted and nourished to develop strong roots.  The student has no knowledge and begins with a clean (pure) slate.  Purity is often signified by the colour white, hence the white uniform, indicating that a person is innocent, having no knowledge of taekwondo.  The white belt is automatically gained by taking taekwondo classes and in symbolic as a seed of a pine tree.

8th > 7th Kup: Yellow belt to green tag:
The seed is beginning to see the sunlight.  The sun appears to be yellow.  The colour yellow indicates that the student is getting to know the basic techniques of taekwondo.  This is compared to a plant growing roots from the energy supplied by the sun.  The yellow belt signifies the first beams of sunlight as the seed of taekwondo grows within.

6th > to 5th Kup: Green belt to blue tag:
The pine tree is beginning to develop and grow in strength.  The student’s technique is developing power.  The components of the basic techniques are beginning to work in unison.  The colour green indicates that a student is growing and is compared to a plant growing leaves.  The award of green belt signifies the sprouting of the seed as it grows toward the blue sky.

4th > 3rd Kup: Blue belt to red tag:
The tree reaches toward the sky, toward new heights.  The sky appears as blue.  The colour blue indicates that a student is reaching higher, like a plant that is growing toward the sky.  Having passed the mid-way point, the student focuses her/his energy upward and toward black belt.  The blue represents the sky, as the plant becomes a tree and stretches to the heavens.

2nd > 1st Kup: Red belt to black tag:
The sun is setting.  The first phase of growth has been accomplished.  The first day of growth, white belt to red belt is coming to an end.  The physical skill has been developed but lacks control.  Physical and mental discipline must now be cultivated.  Variations of red are found among the many colours of the sunset.  The colour red indicates danger both to enemies and to the student who’s skills now take on the responsibility of control.  The student is warned to practice the control of her/his movements.

1st Dan: Black belt (junior):
The dawn of a new day.  The sun breaks through the darkness.  The red is the sun as it breaks through the black of night.  The previous day has ended, giving way to a new dawn.  The student must begin a new phase of training, that of being a black belt.

1st Dan: Black belt (senior):
The tree has reached maturity and has overcome the darkness...it must now plant seeds for the future.  The colour black is created when all the colours of the light spectrum have been absorbed into an object.  The colours of the spectrum are bound together and are not reflected off an object resulting in the absence of colour, which we call black.  That object has taken control of the colours and retained them.  If one colour escapes the object would no longer be black but would appear as that colour.  The student has mastered the ten Kup grades of taekwondo.  He/she has absorbed all the knowledge of the colour grades and overcome or mastered that level of training.  Black is the opposite of white and means the maturity or dignity of the student in the art.  It is also an indication of being impenetrable to darkness and fear.