The belt, or obi, is the cloth band that closes the gi jacket and shows the grade of the person wearing it in judo and BJJ. Judoinfo.com gives obi simply as judo belt. In both arts it is the one piece of kit you have to earn.
- Japanese name: obi, judo belt.
- In judo: colours mark the kyu (student) grades, black marks the dan grades; judoinfo.com calls black belt holders yudansha and everyone below mudansha.
- In BJJ: bjjheroes.com notes that before the 1969 federation, Gracie jiu-jitsu used only white for students and blue for instructors.
- BJJ order from age 16, per the IBJJF General System of Graduation: white, blue, purple, brown, black, red and black, red and white, red.
What does the belt mean?
The judoinfo.com terms list gives obi as judo belt, dan as black belt rank and kyu as student rank. The belt is practical first: the original Kodokan contest rules on judoinfo.com require that each contestant shall wear coat and belt, because without the belt the jacket flies open and there is nothing to grip. It became a marker of grade second, when Jigoro Kano began awarding kyu and dan ranks.
On the Royce Gracie page, bjjheroes.com records that in the early days of Gracie jiu-jitsu, before the federation was created in 1969, jiu-jitsu had two colours: white for students and blue for instructors. Royce later set aside his coral belt and wore a navy blue belt in that older style to honour his father.
What is the BJJ belt order?
The IBJJF General System of Graduation lists eight belts for athletes aged 16 and older:
- White belt, open to any age.
- Blue belt, from age 16.
- Purple belt, from age 16.
- Brown belt, from age 18.
- Black belt, from age 18, divided into six degrees.
- Red and black belt, the 7th degree, from age 49.
- Red and white belt, the 8th degree, from age 56.
- Red belt, the 9th and 10th degree, from age 66.
Students aged 4 to 15 follow a separate ladder of grey, yellow, orange and green kids belts before they reach blue.
How is the belt used in training?
- It closes the jacket and gives your partner a legal grip in judo.
- It shows your grade, so partners know how hard to go and what to expect.
- Stripes on a BJJ belt mark progress between colours.
- It is tied the same way every time, with a flat knot and even ends.
- It is kept off the floor when you are off the mat and carried with the gi.
How wide is a BJJ belt?
The same document sets the shape. From white to brown, a belt for athletes aged 16 and older is 3.5 to 4.5 cm wide, with a black bar of about 10 cm placed 2 to 3 cm from one end. Kids belts are narrower, 2.5 to 3.5 cm. On a black belt the bar is red, edged by two white bars, and carries the degrees.
How do you look after a belt?
Wash it. The old idea that washing a belt washes out the knowledge is a joke, and a sweaty belt is a hygiene problem for everyone you train with. Tie it so the knot sits flat in the centre; a knot that keeps coming undone wastes a minute of every round. When a belt frays through, keep it. People hang their old belts on the wall for a reason.
If you want the belt colours with you off the mat, our BJJ accessories are belt-colour stickers for the bottle and the laptop.
What does a belt not tell you?
A belt colour is a minimum, set by one instructor. The IBJJF states that the time from white to black belt is at the professor's discretion, and that the federation only recognises a graduation that meets its minimum times. Two blue belts from different academies can be years apart in experience, so the colour tells you where someone stands in their own academy more than how they will roll with you.
Sources
- Judoinfo.com terms list, JudoInfo
- Original Kodokan contest rules on judoinfo.com, JudoInfo
- Royce Gracie page, BJJ Heroes
- IBJJF General System of Graduation, IBJJF
Related terms
Kyu and dan grades, Kids belts (BJJ), Black belt (BJJ), Stripes, Gi, Promotion / grading, White belt (BJJ).