I recently watched the movie Redbelt and it got me thinking about the rank of red belt and how it has many different meanings in different martial arts. In my art, taekwondo, it is most often the rank before one achieves their probationary black belt or even 1st degree black belt.
Lets look at the traditional emotions associated with the color Red; anger, passion, love, boldness, and different forms of rage. Red is also traditionally associated with blood for obvious reasons as well as fire. Red could mean you have committed your blood to your art or that you are truly passionate about your martial art. In one case, a Shorin-Ryu Renshi (4th Dan), told me that the Koreans had Red come before black to insult the Japanese, as they traditionally have Red as the final rank, usually achieved at 9th Dan. I find the validity of this statement to be false, but it certainly added fuel to my intrigue.
In Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Red belt is the highest rank one can achieve. Which is somewhat part of the plot of what the movie Redbelt is about. While this post is not really about ranking in martial arts, it does describe a little bit about Red Belts. Red Belts in any martial art are generally one of the top ranks. As I learn more about the rank of Red Belt I will post part two.
JoKyoNim Tim
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