Can I keep my belt?
If you’ve taught karate for any lenth of time, you’ve had someone say (on behalf of themselves, or their child) that they already have an X belt in Y art and, if they start taking lessons from you, want to know if they can wear it. For me, it depends …
If they’re coming from a Shotokan school with which I’m familiar, and they can substantiate their rank, either with a certificate or through communication with their former instructor, probably so, though they may need to change belts if their kyu grade uses a different color in my dojo.
But what if they’re coming from some other style of karate, or some other art, altogether?
In those cases, probably not. But when you say that, it generally goes one of two ways. Some people just want what they want, and they’re really not interested in an explanation. If you tell these people “no”, they’ll probably just go somewhere else. (And I’m fine with that.) But the other group of people are just asking, and will genuinely benefit from an explanation, so here’s what I tell them:
Different Arts
It’s easiest to explain when the person is coming from another art, entirely … let’s say Judo. In that case, I explain that Judo and karate are both martial arts. While there is some overlap, Judo primarily deals with grappling while karate primarily deals with striking. (Yes, that’s a gross oversimplification, but I challenge you to do better in less than 25 words.)
In this case, it’s usually sufficient to draw an analogy with wrestling and boxing. Wrestling, Like Judo, is primarily a grappling art. Boxing, like karate, is primarily a striking art. Just because you’re good at throwing someone to the ground doesn’t mean you’d be good and punching them. They’re two different skillsets.
Still, some people can’t seem to see past the belt, not realizing that the belt is an attestation of a particular set of skills, not all skills. In this case, I find it helpful to draw an analogy with the sciences. Chemistry and biology are both sciences. There is some overlap, but cheistry primarily deals with the interaction of substances, while biology deals with living organisms. (Another oversimplification, but not bad for 25 words.)
Chemistry graduates and biology graduates both hang bachelor’s degrees on their walls, but no one would try to exchange one for the other because they’re not equivalent. There are some transferable skills, and someone with a degree in biology can probably earn a degree in chemestry faster than someone with no background in the sciences at all, but they are not the same thing.
And if all that fails, I’ll tell my own story. I started Judo when I was seven years old, and earned a green belt before I “started over” as a white belt in karate at age 14. Then I spent 35 years earning a fifth-dan in Shotokan before “starting over” as a white belt in Aikido in my late 40s. My skills in each art help inform my study of the other arts, but they do not, in any way, entitle me to any status or consideration there.
Different styles
But what about someone from a different style of “kuh-roddy”?
Here’s a hint: They’re not the same. (If they were the same, they wouldn’t have different names, would they?) Even if they compete in the same tournaments, Shito-ryu is not Shotokan. They’re called “styles” for a reason, and your belt within a given style is a measure of your ability to emulate that style.
Since we’re talking about martial arts, it sometimes helps to draw analogies to other arts.
Jazz music and Blues music have similar cultural, historical, and artistic origins, but they’re distinctly different musical styles. A jazz musician could not seamlessly transition to the blues, or vice versa, without putting in the time to learn the differences. Likewise, different styles of karate have common cultural, historical, and artistic origins, but they’re distinctly different. and no one with rank in one could seamlessly transition to another without putting in the time to learn the differences.
Will the jazz guitarist be able to start play the blues sooner than someone who’d never picked up a guitar? Of course. Similarly, a “blue belt” in Wado-ryu already knows how to form a fist, stand in front stance, etc. Those things may only need to be “tweaked”, instead of learned from scratch.
The best answser (for me)
The best answer to the “can I wear my belt” question, for me anyway, is another question. “Why are you here?”
If you’re here to earn a black belt, that’s fine, but that’s not what I’m teaching you. I’m not teaching you “how to be a black belt” I’m teaching you how to defend yourself using a particular set of skills, and your performance aganst my standards may one day entitle you to wear a black belt in my dojo, but the belt is not the goal, the skills are.
To put that another way, let’s say you come to me with a year of training under your “camo belt” from some other school, and I make you “start over.” Given that a dedicated practitioner can earn a black belt in four to seven years, and then continue to wear a black belt for the rest of their karate life (potentially decades) does that year really make a difference in the grand scheme of things?
