Belt System
WHC Belt System, Ranking and Belt Promotion Test.
The WHC Hapkido belt system consists of 9 GUP or 7 colored belts, which represents your different grades. Here are the Hapkido techniques, Hoshinsul (Self-Defenes), Pal Chagi (Kicking Techniques), Kumsul Chigi (Hand Techniques), Makki (Blocking Techniques), Nak Bop (Falling Techniques), Kyokpa (Breaking Techniques) and Kyurogi (sparring) that form the requirements for your belt promotion test. Of course, there are other requirements also for Hapkido Students to perform. Belt promotion represents advancements in you current rank and to show your development towards black belt. When you reach your black belt, your belt ranking will be totally different.
White Belt:
“Pure and without the knowledge of Hapkido. As with the Pine Tree, the seed must now be planted and nourished to develop strong roots.” The student has no knowledge of Hapkido and begins with a clean (pure) slate. Purity is often signified by the color white.Yellow Belt:
Yellow signifies the first beam of sunlight which shines upon the seed giving it new strength with the beginning of new life. A yellow belt student is given his/her first ray of knowledge, opening his mind, from an instructor.Orange Belt:
“The sun is beginning to rise. As with the morning’s dawn, only the beauty of the sunrise is seen rather than the immense power.” The beginner student sees the beauty of the art of Hapkido but has not yet experienced the power of the technique. Orange is found among the many colors of the sunrise.Green Belt:
“The pine tree is beginning to develop and grow in strength.”The student’s technique is developing power. The components of the basic techniques are beginning to work in unison. As the pine tree develops, it sprouts green pine needles.Blue Belt:
“The tree reaches for the sky toward new heights.” Having passed the mid-way point, the student focuses his/her energy upward toward black belt. The sky appears as blue.Red Belt:
Red signifies the red-hot heat of the Sun as the plant continues growing towards it. A red belt student is higher in rank, he/she acquires more detailed knowledge and, just as the plant grows slowly toward the Sun, so the red belt student learns to be more cautious as his/her knowledge and physical abilities increase.
Red/Black Belt: Poom (for less than 12 years old )
“The dawn of a new day. The sun breaks through the darkness.”The previous day has ended, giving way to a new dawn. The student must begin a new phase of training; that of being a black belt. The red is the sun (in a sunrise) as it breaks through the black of night.Black Belt:
“The tree has reached maturity and has overcome the darkness… it must now ‘plant seeds for the future.'” The color black is created when all the colors of the light spectrum have been absorbed into an object. That object has “taken control” of the colors and retained them. If one color was to “escape”, the object would no longer be black but would appear as that color. The student has mastered the nine gup (grades) of Taekwondo. He/she has “absorbed” all the knowledge of the color ranks and overcome or “mastered” that level or training. The colors of the spectrum are bound together and are not reflected off an object, resulting in the absence of color which we call black.