One of the more familiar signs of the martial arts is the belt. Almost all styles of karate have a belt they wear to class like the one below.
In the present day, these belts are used to denote the supposed level of skill of the martial artist. There is a traditional story about the black belt. The black belt is the sign of highest attainment. The black belt is supposed to signify the highest attainment because a person who practiced for years with the same belt would get the belt so dirty that it eventually turned black.
The belt is also used by some people as a means of financial gain. Many martial arts studios will charge for the test to get another belt. They basically sell these belts to generate cash. Whether a person deserves a new belt or not, they take the test and pay the fee.
As with all other inventions listed in this column, the martial arts belt is based on something from within the human body.
Kung Fu is claimed to have been originated in China. It then spread out to Korea, Japan, Okinawa etc. Having been exposed to various martial arts, this story seems the closest to the truth. The martial arts of Korea or Japan seem based on Chinese kung fu. If you want to phrase it this way, Korean and Japanese martial arts are inferior to Chinese kung fu.
I bring this up because it shows how ideas are corrupted and changed. The belt that is based on something within the human body was originally developed by the Chinese in my opinion. When the Japanese and Koreans copied kung fu, they copied the belt also. They did not know what the belt was for because they did not understand kung fu. They saw the belt as a piece of the kung fu wardrobe.
The point is that Japanese and Korean style belts are not necessarily based on something from within the human body.
Inside of the human body are what I call threads or fibers. These threads or fibers connect the various parts of the body. Just like cloth thread, the threads within the body can be woven into various shapes or groupings.
The original idea for the kung fu belt is based on a particular grouping of the threads within the body.
When a person takes the cloth belt and puts it on during kung fu practice, they wrap it around themselves and then tie it in a particular manner. This is done because when they wrap and tie the cloth rope, the grouping of fibers inside of the body that act like this belt are similarly cinched tight and tied into a knot.
This picture from a cartoon will be used to help envision what is happening.
In this picture, the man’s stomach appears to be far forward. This man in the cartoon is a kung fu man. The way his body looks is meant to mimic what happens to a real person who does kung fu. It is as if there is a V in his back from his shoulders, inwards to his waste, then back out to his feet.
Various kung fu styles call for the practitioner to tuck their tailbone under. This has the effect of straightening the spine out. After some time of practice, the waist of the person will move forward like the waist of the man in this cartoon. The cartoon man’s waist is very far forward because it is a cartoon. Reality is exaggerated.
The man’s waist, or the waist of a kung fu practitioner behave as if there is a belt around the waist and someone is pulling it forward. The belt around the waist is cinched up tight and tighter. This pulls the waist further and further forward. The red line on the picture below is meant to simulate a belt pulling the man’s waist forward.
One of the purposes of the kung fu belt is to subtly introduce the concept of the waist being pulled forward to the beginning student. They might put the belt on to practice for 3 or 5 years before the subtle lesson takes hold and they realize what is going on.