A Brief History of the Karate'-do Uniform & Belt/ Sash 
                             

All of our forms of training are taught in an ordered and progressive way- with the intensity and complexity of training gradually increasing with belt level. The belt levels progress from White, Yellow, Blue, Green to the intermediate level of Brown. Brown belt consists of three levels, after which one graduates into Black belt where students continue training through 10 levels of advancement. At 1st degree Black, the student is considered a disciple of the art. Fifth degree and above are considered Master, with the rank changing to Senior Master at 7th degree. At 7th degree, the belt changes from black to red with white panels. An 8th degree is called Elder Master. The highest level at 10th degree is that of Grandmaster Sin Kwang The'. Disciples may additionally be accepted by a Senior Master as a closed-circle student of the system to study another level of training and conditioning in the Shaolin arts.

    The "traditional Gi" uniform is much closer to the garments the Shaolin monks wore than any other uniform commercially available. Traditional clothing worn mostly by normal, non-martial arts people in China is often called a "traditional kung fu, or Tai Chi uniform", and has become popular for modern martial artists. In ancient statues of Shaolin monks taken on visits to the Shaolin temple, all monks wore a wrap-around style "Gi". In fact, this uniform is similar to a style of garments worn by peasants and farmers (and monks) in ancient Northern China. The picture above (right photo) was taken outside the temple village. The iron         monk statue has a wrap-around style "gi".    

When karate master Gichin Funakoshi , the father of Japanese Karate (left photo above) first went to mainland Japan in 1922 to teach Okinawan karate, most Okinawan instructors were still wearing Chinese style rank sashes tied in a bow at the left hip. Photos exist of Choki Motobu also wearing baggy shorts for training with a black sash around his waist. The word -" Kara Te' " meant 'China' Hand methods, until the 1920's when Funakoshi changed it to "empty hand" in the official Japanese language.  Goju Ryu, Shorinji Ryu and the Korean art of Tang Soo Do "Tang Dynasty Fist", a predecessor of Tae Kwon Do are directly descendent of China's Shao-Lin temple palm techniques (open-hand). Karate' was formed by combining techniques from the quan fa styles most prominent at the time : White Crane, Black Tiger, White's Monkey, Monk's Fist (Arhat/Lohan), & Drunken Immortals. Predominant use of the fist may have occurred to prevent injury during training, or because it was easier to teach than trained fingers methods.
 In the Shaolin-do system, students study both the external/hard styles and the internal/soft styles and use the traditional "gi" uniforms as a matter of common sense for its practicality and as reminder of the traditional aspects of our art. Some who study only the "internal/soft" styles wear a "kung fu uniform" and wear a sash instead of a belt to distinguish their involvement . All wear the Shaolin-do yin-yang club patch to honor Grandmaster Sin The' and Great-Grandmaster Ming for preserving the Art for us!