If your child just tied on a white belt, you have probably asked the instructor what comes next, and then noticed that the answer does not match what a neighbor's kid wears at a school across town. That is normal. No single body sets belt colors for all martial arts, or even for all of karate. Each style, association and often each individual school sets its own order. Here is how the common systems usually work, what stripes and degrees mean, and how to keep track of your student's progress.
Why belt orders differ from school to school
Many martial arts began with only a few grades, and the long run of colored belts most kids wear today came later, as schools looked for ways to mark progress more often, especially for children. Because no one authority wrote the list, each style and school built its own. One school puts orange before yellow. Another skips purple. Another adds half-colored belts or striped belts for its youngest students.
So the only belt order that matters for your student is the one their school uses. Ask for it in writing. Most schools print it in the student handbook, post it on the wall or list it on their website.
Karate
A common karate order runs white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, brown and black. Some schools add red or gray, use several shades of brown, or use fewer colors overall. Many karate styles also number ranks by kyu, which count down toward black belt: a beginner might be 10th kyu and a student just below black belt 1st kyu. After that, black belt ranks count up by dan, or degree: first degree (often called shodan), second degree and so on.
Taekwondo
Taekwondo schools often use white, yellow, green, blue, red and black, and many add orange, purple or brown, or a tip belt (a stripe of the next color) halfway between full ranks. The colored ranks are usually called gup and count down the way kyu ranks do in karate. Black belt ranks are called dan. Some taekwondo organizations give younger students a junior black belt rank until they are old enough for an adult dan, often worn as a belt that is half red and half black.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Adult BJJ has fewer belts and much longer stays at each one. Under the most widely used system, the adult order is white, blue, purple, brown and black, and promotions usually come when the instructor decides a student is ready rather than on a fixed test schedule. Kids follow their own order, commonly gray, yellow, orange and green, often with white and black variations of each (gray-white, gray, gray-black and so on), and move into the adult belts as teenagers. Black belts earn degrees over many years, and the most senior ranks wear red-and-black, red-and-white and finally red belts.
Judo
Judo uses kyu and dan grades too. Outside Japan, many clubs use white, yellow, orange, green, blue and brown before black, though the exact colors vary by country and association. In Japan, adult students often go from white to brown to black with no other colors. At the senior dan levels, some judoka wear a red-and-white belt and, at the very top, a solid red one.
What stripes and degrees mean
Stripes are small bands of tape or embroidery near the end of the belt, usually on a black or colored panel. In BJJ, an adult typically earns up to four stripes on a belt before moving to the next color. In karate and taekwondo kids programs, stripes often mark a skill learned, a form memorized or a requirement met between tests. Some schools use colored stripes for specific skills, such as one color for forms and another for sparring. Again, your school decides.
Degrees belong to black belts. A first-degree black belt has passed the black belt test. Higher degrees follow years of training and teaching, often with a required wait between each one. Some schools show degrees as bars on the belt; others do not mark them at all.
How to keep track of your student's belts
- Get the full order from the school, including any stripes or tip belts.
- Write down the date of every test and promotion and the name of the school. Instructors change and families move, and the early belts are the first ones forgotten.
- Keep the old belts. Many families hang them on a rack or in a shadow box.
- Take a photo at each promotion, with the instructor if you can.
Turning the belt order into a keepsake
For a young student, My Belt Journey prints every belt in their own school's order, each drawn in its color, with a line beside it to write the date it was earned. The belts they already have are filled in for you, and it hangs on the bedroom wall waiting for the next test. From $39.
Once the road is longer, or the black belt test is coming, The Journey draws every belt in color, stripes and all, climbing the print in order with the date and place each one was earned. It works for karate, taekwondo, BJJ, judo, kung fu or any other art, in whatever order the school uses. From $45.
The Belt Ornament puts this year's belt on the tree, drawn in its color with stripes or degrees, along with the student's name, the rank, the year and the school. Order one each December and the tree slowly tells the story from white to black. From $24.
For instructors, the Rank Promotion Certificate draws the new belt in its color with the student's name, the date and signature lines for the instructors. From $24.
Shop this guide
The Journey
My Belt Journey
Belt Ornament
Rank Promotion CertificateOrdering
Each piece is personalized on its product page. You type the belt order, colors, dates and school name exactly as your school uses them, and the school name prints only as the words you type, never as a logo. Every order is checked by hand, and you approve a proof before anything prints. Allow about two weeks, so order well ahead of a test or promotion night. Schools ordering five or more prints get 30% off; see team and school orders.
Browse everything for students and schools in the martial arts gifts collection.