The rank rainbow

Many Martial artists have heard the explanation for the different rank colors that are found in Karate. Some people have wondered where the whole idea of changing a student's rank color originated. I have heard people claim that the belt colors were created for the money that a Sensei can get from his/her students for each succeeding test. The "revenue rainbow" is a sarcastic term for it. History is that Sensei Gichin Funakoshi, the Founder of Shotokan karate, was the first Sensei to award Karate Black Belts to his students. He was inspired by Judo Sensei Jigoro Kano. I quote:

"This much we know for certain: On April 12, 1924, Gichin Funakoshi, the "Father of Modern Karate," awarded karate's first black belt dan upon seven men. The recipients included Hironori Ohtsuka, founder of wado-ryu karatedo, Shinken Gima, later of gima-ha shoto-ryu, and Ante Tokuda, Gima's cousin, who received a nidan (second degree) black belt. Like Gima, Tokuda had trained extensively in Okinawa before coming to Japan proper. The others were Kasuya, Akiba, Shimizu and Hirose. This beginning was a highly personal, yet formal ceremony in which Funakoshi is said to have handed out lengths of black belting to his pupils. Still there is no evidence that Funakoshi himself had ranking in any budo under the dan/kyu system.

Actually, Funakoshi was greatly influenced by Jigoro Kano, aristocratic founder of judo, and originator of the dan/kyu system. Kano was a highly respected individual, and Funakoshi prided himself on being an educated and "proper" man who rightly believed that he was acting correctly. Kano's system was not only being applied to judo, but to other budo as well under the aegis of the Butoku-kai and the Japanese Ministry of Education. Funakoshi, then, just adopted the order of the day: a ranking system officially sanctioned by Japan's greatest martial arts entities. Funakoshi's own rank was of no consequence, since it seems that belt ranking was really just something for the students, not for headmasters. "

http://www.judoinfo.com/karateranks.htm

One of the legends of the color change is that the white belt becomes soiled with the yellow of sweat, the green of grass stains, the red/ orange of blood, and the dark brown of dirt as you progress in the art. This visualization might appeal to some of the men in my aquaintance.. that old "grunt grunt.. Hunh!" macho don't be afraid to get down, and get dirty perspective.

However for me, I have developed a personal impression of the color changes, which I do not mind sharing with others. It is based on energy ( Ki / Chi) ......

White: The fullest potential of all energy, not used yet, but available. Like the bright whiteness of the Sun that we cannot look at directly without harming our eyes. A white belt has all the potential within, they only need to learn how to direct the energy. (Sun)

Yellow/ orange: The student starts to learn how to apply their energy outwards. Just like the color yellow is in the center of a rainbow, you can see that the student is perceiving the various spectrums of the techniques, and stances. (Spectrum/ Rainbow)

Green: The student starts to absorb the energy, make it part of themselves, and use it productively. Like green plants, the techniques start to flow more naturally, with less thinking and more doing. (Grass)

Brown: The creativity, and ability to use the majority of the energy being absorbed, and produced. With a solid connection to the knowledge of who they are, and what they are capable of, the brown belt strives to grow even higher like a tree not letting the earth put a limit to their goals. (Tree)

Black: The fullness of absorbtion of energy... all of it being used effectively, and not wasted. Movement, and stillness at the same time.. like space. Filled with energy, yet no longer is it needed to have the energy visible. Ability just becomes present without fanfare. Then the black belt recognizes another Sun of potential within him/her.. and starts back to white. (Space)

(Can also be found on my good friend's "The Martial Arts Curator" forum:
http://cwee.proboards29.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1143627487&page=2 )

I prefer my own spiritual visualization of the color change over the soiled stained version.. but until recently I'm the only one that has seen the rank color system in this way. I share it with you so that you can join me in seeing the joyous inspiring thoughts of the cycle of energy.