BELT COLOURS EXPLAINATION

The color of the belt is an indication of the skill level of a Taekwondo student. Sometimes belts can be gained by winning competitions, the common way is by completing an exam.

The explanation of belt colors was derived from the book of General Choi Hong Hi.

In WTF Taekwondo there are 10 Geups, starting from the 10th Geup (white belt) and ends with the 1st Geup (red-black belt). The term "Geup" means degree. The term "Dan" means phase. There are 9 Dan degrees, starting with the first and ending with the 9th. All Dan-degrees are represented by a black belt.

White Belt (10th Geup)

The color white indicates that a person is "innocent", has no knowledge of Taekwondo. The white-belt is automatically gained by taking Taekwondo classes.

Yellow Belt (8th Geup)

The color yellow indicates that the person is getting to know the basic techniques, this stadium is compared to a plant growing its roots.

The student going for yellow-belt is usually not skilled enough to show "Chayu daeryon" (non-contact sparring). Instead the student has to show "Sajoe" ("four-direction-movement", one specific technique shown to all directions).

Green Belt (6th Geup)

The color green indicates that a student is growing as a Taekwondo student. The color of the belt is compared to a plant growing its leafs.

Blue Belt (4th Geup)

The color blue indicates that a student is reaching higher, like a plant that is growing towards the sky.

Red Belt (2nd Geup)

The color red indicates danger. The student is warned to practice the control of his/her movements. The color red also warns an opponent.

Poom

W.T.F. Taekwondo requires that one has to be 16 years old to get a black belt. If younger, you get a Poom, which can be replaced by a black-belt when passed the age of 16. The requirements are the same as for the black-belt.

Black Belt (1st dan)

Black is the opposite of white and means the maturity of the student in the art. It also is an indication of being impenetrable for fear and darkness.

Copyright (c) 1994-2008 by Barry Nauta (barry_at_nauta_dot_be, http://www.barrel.net/ or http://www.nauta.be). Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "Copyleft".