Belts
The International Taekwon-Do Federation currently uses a system of 10 or more gups (colour belt levels) and 9 (although some consider there to be 10) degrees (dans, or black belt levels). The gups start at 10 and go down to 1, from which Degrees are then achieved, and go 1 through 9. (For example, someone who just promoted from 2nd gup to 1st gup is now eligible to promote for 1st degree.)
The degrees 1-3 are associated with an Assistant Instructor, degrees 4-6 are associated with an Instructor, 7-8 with a Master, and 9th degree with a Grand Master. Degree grades are usually denoted by Roman numerals e.g. VII, VIII, IX representing 7, 8, 9. However, in recent practice, particularly in North America, this system has been relaxed.
Many consider instructors who have attained a rank of 4th dan and have their own students (or have promoted their own black belts) to be Masters in their own right. Many Masters who have attained the rank of 7th dan claim the title Grand Master (or it is near-universally applied to them), and almost all 8th Dan holders get the title Grand Master.
Even though different Tae Kwon Do styles, associations, or schools may make adjustments or additions, traditionally there are ten colour belt levels ("gup," "kup," or "keub") and ten black belt levels, called "dan."
Tenth dan had historically been reserved as a posthumous award, but in recent years has seen presentation to a few living recipients (mainly from Korea).
The original colours are white, yellow, green, blue, and red. Between solid colours a crossbar/stripe of the next full colour is added to the belt indicating the awarded gup level. For instance, the levels one would advance through include white, yellow stripe, yellow, green stripe, green and so on.
However, some groups use a solid colour alternative instead of stripes (black, camo, orange, etc.). For example, a common belt scheme assigns the following keubs:
- white (13),
- yellow (12),
- purple (11),
- orange (10),
- green (9),
- senior green (8),
- blue (7),
- senior blue (6),
- brown (5),
- senior brown (4),
- red (3),
- senior red (2),
- red-black/Bo dan (1).
The wide variety of belt levels is an American phenomenon rooted in an effort by schools to provide the appearance of rapid advancement to appease children. Under such a system, the earlier belts can sometimes be earned in as few as eight weeks. Gup belt records are kept by the school of origin and dan ranks are recorded at the style headquarters registry.
