Hey all, I started doing Aikido 6 months ago and have been enjoying it but theres still no mention of being graded for my first belt (although I have only been going for 1 x 2 hour session per week). One of the black belts there told me that white is one of the longest belts to get in Aikido as its one of the more difficult martial arts to get the hang of, is that right? And is it normal to take this long to get your first grade in Aikido?
something doesn't seem normal. in usaf dojos, you can test after 20 days of practice. 60 days to get your first "belt". http://www.usaikifed.com/static/images/USAF_09_test_req_4.3.pdf does your dojo post the testing requirements anywhere?
testing seems pretty straight forward and makes sense. it is a difficult martial art that takes time. but from my experience, most "martial arts" schools like to test beginners pretty early to get momentum, give them confidence, etc. i think you're problem is you're only going once a week. in my experience, that's not really enough, frankly. sure, at the usaf dojo i was going to, you would be eligible to test after 20 practice days (that would take about 6 months going as often as you do), but testing only happens a few times a year. so it wasn't like, 20 days up, test. it was like 20 days, you're eligible for the next test session which is in 4 months kind of deal. you know what we call 1-day-per-week-ers at my bjj gym? that's when you spend the whole time being "someone else's <female dog>". and yes, there have been times i've been that too, what with life, work, kids, etc. but i think if you're going to do martial arts and get better at it, more than 1 day per week is necessary.
This is just your own organisations choice to set up their system this way, nothing to do with how its done in Japan. Never heard of any Japanese system not starting with a white belt. In Japan the traditional way is white until black and a lot of adult schools don't have kyu grades instead of just training to shodan level. Although many do have a bout 5-6 kyu grades but remain wearing white. As for your time period of waiting 6 months training 2hr per week, again that is just the clubs choice.
In my old Aikido group it didn't matter what color Obi you wear as long as you wear it well. Rank wasn't a Obi color, special scrolls where awarded for the kyu and dan ranks. Adults started out at Rokkyu and required 48 days in class and 3 months in grade
Testing for White Belt My tae kwon do dojang made me test for white belt. TKD uniforms have strings that hold them close. LOL I think I waited 6 months to test for white. Maybe it was 3 months. I was going 2 to 3 times a week.
Yeah I wear a white belt as part of my uniform but I am ungraded. And I just remembered that there are some other guys there who have been going longer then me and are still ungraded too. Maybe my instructor is one of those guys who likes to take his time to grade people? Well either way I think its time that I started training more often.
it could be a case of gradings are held certain times of the year (my jujitsu holds gradings every 3 months for example) so you could just have to wait for the next grading to become available. Gradings are also often considered more of a test for your Sensei - to prove he has taught you correctly etc, possibly your Sensei doesn't think you're up to it yet. Either way I think the best thing to do is speak to your Sensei, while we can give you advice and information on how other places do things, unless someone here is from your club/association we won't be able to give the information for definite - ask your Sensei how far away from your first grading you are, I really doubt he will take any offense ^_^
Based on what the website says, and the fact that you're training once a week, I'd say you'd be looking at a minimum of 9 months to get that white belt grade. I've never seen that many coloured belts in Aikido before. What style s it?
This was the same when I was into modern jujutsu. You wear the white belt because otherwise your jacket does not stay closed. There are jackets with those tiny straps, but during sparring, those are likely to tear. So we wore the white until our first grade, and then we wore it again. Only after our 2nd grading did we wear yellow.
Yes. Plus, if you're not the best student at aikido in your class, then it really doesn't matter that you're wearing a white belt. I totally understand the desire for rank certificates, but the counter-argument is that either you can perform on the mat, or you can't. Your aikido works on the mat against a committed uke, or it doesn't. If it does, great. I agree that you're overdue for a test. If instead it doesn't, then, why the attention on the color of your dress? :dunno: I have several belts of different colors in my closet myself, but at the same time, there's something of merit in the idea of only two belt colors: black (you can perform the material against a committed uke) and white (you can't).
don't know what the op is in. but in usaf dojo's, they typically hand out colored belts for kyu grades, even though "technically" there's only white and black, or kyu and dan in the parlance of the art. at the midwest aikido center, they usually keep a box of old colored belts for kyu grades to use, so it's not like you have to buy a colored belt or pay a belt fee (aside from testing fee). during seminars, you're forbidden from using anything but white and black belts. fwiw....
In my organization, Aikido Schools of Ueshiba, the gi comes with a white belt and the informal rank of 7th kyu. You're "asked" to wear the color of your rank, and you're "asked" to wear a hakama after your first successful test. The school bought the belts, but each student had to buy the hakama. In practice at my specific dojo, nobody really cared if you always wore a white belt, and most people would wait for purple to purchase their hakama. There was actually an unspoken tradition of a 1st kyus wearing white to symbolize the mental attitude of starting over and relearning everything from the ground up. At seminars, however, we were asked to wear our colors, so that all the strangers from other schools would have an idea of who they were practicing with. The first two tests, 6th and 5th kyu, are for blue belt. The next two, 4th and 3rd, are purple belts. The last two, 2nd and 1st kyu, are brown. Then it's shodan, the first black belt.
There really is only one test - You decide to go and train. (be that daily, weekly, monthly) The rest is largely irrelevant.
Everybody that starts is a white belt , I got my first "proper" belt (yellow) just before christmas , then you progress to black. I thought all arts were similar ?
