| White Belt: Pure and
without the knowledge of Songahm Taekwondo. As with the Pine Tree, the
seed must now be planted and nourished to develop strong roots.
The student has no knowledge of Songahm Taekwondo and begins with a clean
(pure) slate. Purity is often signified by the color WHITE. |
| 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 beginning student
sees the beauty of the art of Taekwondo but has not yet experienced the
power in the technique. ORANGE is found among the many colors
of a sunrise. |
| Yellow Belt: The seed is
beginning to see the sunlight. The student begins to understand
the basics of Taekwondo. The sun appears to be YELLOW. |
| Camo Belt: The sapling is
hidden amongst the taller pines and must now fight its way upward.
The student begins to realize their place in the world's largest martial
art. CAMOUFLAGE patterns are used to hide among the trees
in the forest. |
| 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. |
| Purple Belt: Coming to the
mountain. The tree is in midgrowth and now the path becomes steep.
The student has crossed over into a higher level of Songahm Taekwondo.
The techniques, forms, and level of sparring becomes more difficult creating
a "mountain" that must be overcome. Mountains are often depicted as PURPLE. |
| Blue Belt: The tree reaches
for the sky toward new heights. Having passed the mid-way point,
the student focuses their energy upward toward black belt. The sky appears
as BLUE. |
| Brown Belt: The tree is
firmly rooted in the earth. At this point the student has mastered
the basics and developed deep roots in Taekwondo. BROWN is known as an
earthy color. |
| Red Belt: The sun is setting.
The first phase of growth has been accomplished. The first day
(the period of time from white belt to red belt) of growth is coming to
an end. The physical skill has been developed but lacks the control; therefore,
physical and mental discipline must now be achieved. Variations of RED
are found among the many colors of a sunset. |
| Black/Red Belt (Recommended 1st Degree Black Belt):
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 the night. |
| Black Belt: The tree has
reached maturity and has overcome the darkness.... It must now begin to
'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 geup (grades)
of Taekwondo. S/he has absorbed all the knowledge of the color ranks
and overcome or mastered that level of training. The colors of the
spectrum are bound together and are not reflected off an object, resulting
in the absence of light known as BLACK or darkness. |
