THROUGH THE RANKS

 by Phillip Starr

I'm sure that many of you have met people who studied, passed the required examination(s), and were awarded a given dan rank and then later took up the study of another style or art and were almost immediately handed a dan grade. Is such a thing valid?

I don't think so at all and I believe that such a thing is a very bad reflection not only on the person who accepts such a grade, but on the one who gives it to him as well. For instance, I knew of one taekwondo teacher (a Korean) who held a 6^th dan in taekwondo and a 1^st dan in judo. Another instructor held a 4^th dan in taekwondo and a 5^th dan in judo. They cut each other a nice deal to enhance their marketing; one would promote the other to a 5^th dan in taekwondo in exchange for being promoted to a 4^th dan in judo! And so it was.

One young man held a 5^th dan in judo and had a smattering of skill in karate. Upon joining a certain karate organization, he was immediately promoted to a 5^th dan in karate!

This kind of thing cheapens a person's art. It demonstrates where his interests truly are. He is interested only in “rank” rather than genuine knowledge and skill. He may be interested in displaying his newly-found rank for marketing purposes (which translates as “a means of making money”) but he lacks honor and, in my opinion, honesty.

The individual or organization that awards rank without the appropriate examination(s) is equally dishonest and their main interest lies in increasing their numbers (usually the number of people who will teach whatever they claim to teach and bring in more members, which once again translates into “making money”). He/They obviously don't hold their organization/school in very high esteem, considering that one can acquire instant dan ranking simply by joining their group.

I believe that if someone (even if he is high-ranked in a particular discipline) joins a different style or art, he should be willing to slap on a white belt and start from the beginning, That's the only way to REALLY learn a new style or art. It does require swallowing some pride but that shouldn't be an issue for a real martial artist.

When I first met my main gong-fu teacher, Master Chen, I had already trained a bit in gong-fu and karate as well. However, I expected to start from the very beginning with Sifu Chen and he expected me to do the same thing. And that's what I did. I didn't “get credit” for any prior training at all and I didn't expect it.

Over the years, I've been approached by individuals who held dan grade in a form of karate or taekwondo and they wanted to be able to be recognized as a black belt when they joined my school. Not so. They had to start from the beginning and work their way up.

If a black belt desires to undertake the study of another style or art, he should be willing to don a white belt and start from “day one” and work his way up through the ranks. If his pride won't allow him to do that, he shouldn't be wearing that black belt.