What is the order of belts in Tae Kwon Do?
The origional system of TKD only had 8 gups or ranks below black belt. They included: White Yellow Yellow 2 Yellow 3 Green Blue Brown Brown 2 then Black Belt That being said most TKD schools now have anywhere from 10 to 15 ranks below black belt. Why? To make money that is it. The ATA has 15 belts below black belt and a stripe test every month and you pay for all this crap. It will depend on the school / system of TKD you are training in as to how many belts you have. If your school is any good they should have a website explaining the belt ranks and they should have also told you about them upfront so you don’t freak out when you have to pay for each belt test. There are very few TKD schools left that use the origional belt system because it became extremely commercialized in the mid 1980’s…which is a shame. TKD in its traditional form had the capabilities of being a great art but modern styles are heading more and more towards a limited commercialized system based on making money r
The WTF recognizes only 5 belts and leaves it up to each school/organization to come up with other belts to make up the 10 Gups under Black Belt. White Orange/Yellow (depending on Kwan, these can be considered the same rank) Green Purple/Blue (just like the Orange/Yellow…) Red Black Some schools add other belt colors, others add tags or stripes. Ask your son’s instructor what the belt progression is at his school.
