The Surprising History Behind Martial Arts Belt Systems

Most students assume the belt system stretches back centuries. However, it’s fairly new. 

Traditional koryu bujutsu, the classical martial arts practiced before the end of the samurai era in 1868, never used a kyu/dan belt system. Instead, these systems relied on menkyo (“teaching licenses”), similar to collegiate-level degrees. 

Where the Belt System Actually Came From

Today’s kyu/dan system originated with Kano Jigoro, the founder of judo, following the abolition of the samurai class in the late 1800s. Kano had a merchant background, and his ranking system reflected a new, more accessible era for martial arts training. 

Why So Many Levels?

• Kyu/dan system can include as many as ten kyu and ten dan levels. 
• Menkyo’s licensing model has only three to five steps, similar to a bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree.

As martial arts spread beyond a single ryu and single instructors, menkyo licensing didn’t provide a way to track and communicate incremental progress across a much wider, more varied group of students.

Why Organizations Rely on Kyu/Dan

Martial arts industry associations adopted a consistent, well-understood ranking structure across a broad and varied membership by moving from menkyo to kyu/dan. 

An Important Distinction

A martial arts industry association can certify rank within its own organization, but not within a specific ryu. That authority belongs solely to the current head of that tradition. What an association can offer instead is a documented, standardized rank based on a member's training, technical skill, and knowledge of their specific art.

Rank as a Practical Tool

Belt systems solved a coordination problem that emerged once martial arts moved beyond a single teacher and a single system. Today, they're used to recognize rank across martial arts, communicating at a glance roughly what a student has learned and how long they've trained. 

Learn More About Traditional Budo

Curious how Shudokan Martial Arts Association, a globally recognized martial arts industry association, structures rank across its jujutsu division and other traditions?

Read our latest article, or contact SMAA with questions.

The Basics of Budo: Relaxation and Physics

How do relaxation and physics factor into your budo practice?

Here’s a quick guide to these important basics:

Relaxation

Martial artists, like those engaged in most other physical activities, must learn to relax. Tension is your enemy. After developing the ability to do some basic techniques in a relaxed fashion, the techniques must be practiced thousands of times to imprint the movements into the body and the brain. But the practitioner must always be relaxed.

If you want to throw a good front punch, you must relax your upper body including the muscles in your face. Do a small experiment, please. Try to get a tense, tough, mean look on your face and simultaneously try to completely relax your upper body.

You can’t. It’s impossible. Your face and your upper body must both relax simultaneously. Then, and only then, can you punch effectively. If you remain tense, effective punching is nigh impossible. Your “punch,” if you can throw it at all, will inevitably be slow and weak.

Physics

Kinetic energy, or “moving energy,” in this case the energy you deliver to whatever you are punching, is directly proportional to the mass you can generate by the use of your body mass and directly proportional to the square of the velocity (speed) with which your hand strikes its target. 

Said in a slightly different way, the mass delivered is how much of your entire body mass you can recruit into your punch and deliver to your target. If you double the mass you deliver, you double the kinetic energy delivered to the target. 

In other words, if you increase the mass you deliver from one unit to two units, you increase the amount of kinetic energy delivered by a punch from one unit to two units. You double the kinetic energy delivered.

Learn more in our latest article.

Nurture the Basics at a Traditional Japanese Martial Arts Organization

SMAA is a martial arts organization dedicated to preserving traditional Japanese budo in the west. To get more details about joining, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here.

The Basics of Budo: Anatomy and Physiology

How do anatomy and physiology factor into your budo practice?

Here’s a quick guide to these important basics:

Anatomy

Learning the basic karate-do horizontal front punch illustrates the need for understanding at least a little anatomy. The knuckles of the index and middle fingers of the fisted hand, the part of the hand that transmits energy to the target, must move just a tiny bit to the outside just before impact with the target. This allows the alignment of these two knuckles and the metacarpals behind them with the radius and ulna in the forearm, thus enabling the delivery of the kinetic energy generated by your body mass and the punch’s velocity to the target. 

If these bones are not properly aligned, the punch will deliver less energy and be less effective. You will also be at increased risk of injuring your hand.

Physiology

Physiology is also important. Your muscles must have energy to function. If your muscles and liver are, due to fatigue, depleted of glycogen, a precursor of glucose that is the basic fuel of skeletal muscle and most other tissues, you simply cannot deliver an effective blow.

You have heard of marathoners and triathletes who “hit the wall.” They “hit the wall” because their muscle and liver stores of glycogen were too low to sustain prolonged exercise. They may quit, or often they struggle to finish, sometimes collapsing either physically, mentally, or both during the struggle. Nausea, cramps, and mental disorientation can result. 

The same thing can happen to martial artists who do not understand the need to fuel their muscles. While martial artists are not generally thought of as endurance athletes, even moderate glycogen depletion with the resultant reduction in blood glucose levels can reduce mental acuity, reduce reaction time, reduce coordination, and decrease strength.

Learn more in our latest article.

Nurture the Basics at a Traditional Japanese Martial Arts Organization

SMAA is a martial arts organization dedicated to preserving traditional Japanese budo in the west. To get more details about joining, call (734) 720-0330 or submit a contact form here.

Embracing the Beginner's Mind

Why is it important to approach martial arts with a beginner’s mind?

"Empty Your Cup" is a martial arts aphorism that virtually every student has heard. It refers to the idea that students should put aside their own thoughts and opinions and diligently try to do exactly as their instructor asks them to do. Whether one studies aikido, karate-do, jujutsu, or kendo, the requirement is the same: diligently and enthusiastically perform the techniques of your martial art, over and over, trying to match all the checkpoints provided by your teacher. The idea is that you should adopt a beginner's attitude, rather than an expert's, even if you are very accomplished. If you do so, you will find that your understanding and ability improve at a remarkable pace.

Outside the dojo, the attributes of a good martial artist—confidence, open-mindedness, positive attitude, and awareness—are tools for success. In life, as in the dojo, we keep what we embrace and lose what we reject. A human being with a big heart has room for many wonderful things!

Earn Your Martial Arts Certification at SMAA

Our dojo offers five unique divisions of authentic Japanese martial arts: aikido, iaido, judo, jujutsu, and karate-do. If you’re looking to earn a martial arts certification in any of these, SMAA is for you! To get started, call 734-720-0330 or submit a contact form here. We look forward to nurturing your Beginner’s Mind!

Things to Keep in Mind When Beginning a New Martial Art

Are you ready to start learning a new martial art?

Previous training in a martial art can impede your ability to perform the checkpoints of your new art. In fact, it's more than your mind that keeps you from doing your new art correctly; if you've studied another martial art, the chances are good that you learned things in a different way. The old movements are programmed into your nervous system and can take time to unlearn. By staying relaxed, focusing on the relationship between the technique and the principle that makes it work, and trying to work slowly and systematically, you can dramatically decrease the time it takes to unlearn the old and learn the new.

Inner dialog is another impediment to effective learning. Most of us have a sort of continuous conversation with ourselves, in which we constantly analyze, compare, discriminate, and predict. In situations where intellectual analysis is required, this dialog can be beneficial. However, when learning a physical skill, the dialog can actually impair our ability to experience the techniques in all their fullness. Martial arts are physical skills, and if our complete attention is focused on the moment, we are much more likely to absorb the subtle aspects of the techniques. Learning to quiet the mind is essential on the way to becoming an advanced martial artist.

Ego is one of the biggest hurdles to learning new skills, especially for those who have studied other arts previously. It's common for martial arts students to strongly identify with the system they've studied, and when they are offered new ways to accomplish martial arts goals, those new ways can seem strange or threatening. It's normal to experience a defensive reaction when asked to try something different, but the accomplished practitioner will learn that the reaction need not be acted upon. Instead, one can recognize that the reaction is a product of "self," a body of reflexive thoughts and feelings that may not actually represent who we are, and move through it toward the desired technique. Recognizing that learning to do things in new ways does not threaten who we are is an enormous step in becoming accomplished martial artists.

Earn Your Martial Arts Certification at SMAA

Our dojo offers five unique divisions of authentic Japanese martial arts: aikido, iaido, judo, jujutsu, and karate-do. If you’re looking to earn a martial arts certification in any of these, SMAA is for you! To get started, call 734-720-0330 or submit a contact form here. We look forward to nurturing your Beginner’s Mind!

Wayne Muromoto: Who, What, and Why

How does your personality impact your martial arts practice?

There are usually a couple of questions I ask potential students within the first month of training, or even before they begin training. I usually don’t ask it in so blunt a manner, but they are usually some form of “Who are you, what do you do, and why do you want to train with us?”

There are several reasons why I ask these questions, some obvious, and perhaps some not so apparent at first. Obviously, I want to get some idea of who you are. My club is so small that any new person will alter the group dynamics substantially, and so I want to know from the start what you are like, where you are coming from, and what kind of prior knowledge (and stereotypes) you are bringing to the training.

Who are you? What do you do? In America, we tend to categorize people based a lot on their occupation. It’s not that I’m a social snob. You don’t need to have a white-collar job. But if you are an adult, don’t have a job, and are mooching off someone else, I’m going to wonder if you can afford to help pay the monthly dues that covers our dojo rental fees. Also, what does that say about your ability to stick things out, to work hard at a concerted, extended effort?

What prior martial arts background do you have? Some martial arts will complement what we do. Some will only hinder you learning our own style, so I will have prior knowledge of what I need to be aware of. Perhaps your experiences and mindset are not the proper fit for what we do. I sometimes suggest other martial arts schools that prospective students might enjoy more than ours. We’re not the answer to everyone’s quest for the martial arts that suit their purposes.

Why do you want to train in our dojo? There’s actually no pat and simple answer for this. Of course, if you say something like “Because I need to fight the ninjas that are coming out of the walls in my padded room,” I may ask that you focus on taking your medication regularly instead of learning how to fight invisible ninja.

Ready to Start Earning Your Martial Arts Rank Certficate?

If you have the who, what, and why, we want to have you at SMAA!

At our dojo, you have your choice of five different divisions of Japanese martial arts. To start your journey towards an official martial arts rank certificate, call 734-720-0330 or submit a contact form here!

Wayne Muromoto: Why Practice Martial Arts?

Why do you want to practice martial arts?

When I thought about it, even I have a hard time establishing my reasons for doing budo in a set of short, simple sentences. So why even ask when I can’t answer my own question succinctly? And why ask the other questions if the case is that more often than not, I allow students to train, usually regardless of their social status or occupation?

The reason that’s not so apparent is that in the asking, I’m not just recording the quantitative answers: what your job is, what prior training you’ve done, why you want to train (even if you struggle on that last answer). I’m looking at your answers in a qualitative way. How are you answering the questions? What kind of emotional and personality traits are you exhibiting when you talk about yourself, past teachers, past training? Are you SAYING all the right words, but are your mannerisms and body language in opposition to the words coming out of your mouth? Then there’s something not quite right with what you’re saying.

Two people can say the same things, but how they say it and their body language may tell me totally different things about those two.

“Oh, I trained/am still training in X martial arts, but I’m really not that good at it…” That’s the usual way people will talk about their martial arts experience. There’s humble, though, and there’s false humility. One person can smile self-deprecatingly, shake his head, and the entire body language will show humility and a willingness to learn something new. Another person, like a short-term student I encountered some months ago, said the right words, but he puffed out his chest, stuck his chin out and looked down his nose when he said it, as if his words were saying, “I’m humble and willing to learn,” but his body was saying “But I’m a badass!” He didn’t last all that long. His cup was too full, and he had a hard time adjusting to our training. Moreover, he didn’t think anything about showing up with patches up and down his training outfit promoting his other martial arts style. And he wasn’t a badass. He was just bad.

In a way, talking to prospective new students is like speed dating. How do you get a handle on this new person in only a few minutes, who might barge into your life and stick around every training session, three hours a week, week in and week out, through a cursory interview? You can end a speed date right away if your creep-o-meter senses that the potential partner is a jerk. But a jerk in the dojo may hang around for a long time. 

And if you are that new student, are you self-aware enough to know what kind of impression you are conveying to other people, not just in the dojo, but also in the rest of your life? Is that impression positive or negative? Are your words saying one thing, but is your body language giving away your true nature, and is that nature something you actually like or is it time for a change in attitude?

Ready to Start Earning Your Martial Arts Rank Certficate?

If you have the who, what, and why, we want to have you at SMAA!

At our dojo, you have your choice of five different divisions of Japanese martial arts. To start your journey towards an official martial arts rank certificate, call 734-720-0330 or submit a contact form here!

The Specialties of Suiejutsu

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to swim in armor?

Like most other koryu, or “ancient schools,” the various systems of suieijutsu each have (or had) their own specialties, which were often influenced by geographical location and clan affiliation:

• Shinden Ryu focused on long distance swimming
• Kankai Ryu concentrated on swimming in the ocean
• Suifu Ryu was directed toward swimming in river rapids
• Kobori Ryu includes much of the above, and it was what the bushi studied to learn to engage an opponent in the water while wearing armor.

Kobori Ryu Today

Kobori Ryu students learned to tread water by moving their legs in a manner a bit similar to an eggbeater. Today, you can see people involved in Western water polo and synchronized swimming do something vaguely reminiscent of this Kobori Ryu technique. The purpose of this water treading skill was to keep a vertical body position, which allowed the bushi to use a sword or gun and even shoot arrows while in a river. 

Kobori Ryu still exists today in Japan, where it is taught on a relatively limited basis. Students are no longer concerned with outdoor warfare, as is the case with most koryu today, and their focus is on using the training to develop their minds and bodies to live well.

To learn more about the history of suieijutsu, click here!

SMAA Can Help You Earn Martial Arts Rank Certificates

Do you want to learn more about the history of suieijutsu?

Two of the world’s leading experts in suieijutsu are SMAA officials in Japan. By attending the Shudokan Martial Arts Association, you can learn more about the history of this fascinating martial arts style.

If martial arts are your passion, you can earn prestigious martial arts rank certificates in legitimate, historical Japanese martial arts. To get started, call (734) 729-0330 or contact us here.

The Origins of Suieijutsu

Did you know there’s a martial art centered around swimming?

The Japanese bushi studied suijutsu (水術) or suieijutsu (suiei-jutsu) as one of their martial arts. It is essentially combative swimming. These antique and sophisticated forms of martial swimming are presently undergoing a resurgence of sorts in Japan and videos can even be found online.

The Ancient Origins

Long ago, a bushi (“warrior”) met many situations where he might need to cross a body of water, attack an adversary from the water, or protect himself while in water and wearing armor. Centered on the needs of combat, the Japanese advanced several different types of swimming over the generations. For instance, Iwakura Ryu contained assorted traditional bushi swimming skills, including swimming in armor, eating while swimming, even swimming while bound with rope. 

To learn more about the origins of suieijutsu, click here!

Work Towards Martial Arts Rank Certificates at SMAA

Two of the world’s leading experts in suieijutsu are SMAA officials in Japan. By attending the Shudokan Martial Arts Association, you can learn more about the history of this fascinating martial arts style. 

If martial arts are your passion, you can earn prestigious martial arts rank certificates in legitimate, historical Japanese martial arts. To get started, call (734) 729-0330 or contact us here.