What if I don't want a black belt yet?

Q mystic wrote:

DougNZ wrote:I have a ju-jitsu instructor friend who has trained just over 100 ju-jitsuka to brown belt but only graded seven to black belt - not because he's hard but because all those remaining brown belts simply withered away.  Why are brown belts frightened of the next step?  That next step is really the start of the journey and everything up until that point has just been packing the suitcase.

In my organisation, we often promote to shodan just before the person is ready, for the reason that they then have to 'be a black belt'; they have no option.  It then becomes a case of getting used to being a black belt rather than spending months mentally preparing to be a black belt.  Of course, our process is not nearly as formal as that for judo.

Good post, Doug. Interesting in the 2nd paragraph.

Gradings seem almost anti something.

Quite the contrary.  Sometimes gradings are a stick, sometimes they are a carrot; always they are used positively.

That said, we do have some unusual traditions.  First, we don't have formal gradings (although an instructor in the organisation can request one if he doesn't know the person being graded well).  The reason for 'impromptu' gradings is that the instructor should know exactly where the student is at, developmentally.  Secondly, the instructor always tosses the new belt to the student.  This is to remind us all that the belt is only a belt; it is the person who is important.  Thirdly, an instructor always tosses the new black belt his own belt.  This is to remind us that martial knowledge is a flow from an older instructor to a newer one.  Finally, a new black belt is shodan-ho (provisional shodan) until such time as some formalities are completed.  One is the return of an essay with the topic being along the lines of "shodan is not a reward from the sensei; it is a promise by the student".  In other words, the new black belt must commit to their martial journey.

To an outsider, this lack of formality may well seem resrespectful. I can assure you it is not; we respect, at the heart of it all, generosity of spirit, personal improvement, the flow of knowledge, and training for training's sake. Belts, titles and the like come way down the scale of importance for us.