The Shintaro Higashi Show - What Does It Mean to Be a Black Belt?

Episode Date: November 1, 2022

It's not an understatement to say the black belt is one of the most coveted honors in many of the modern martial arts including Judo. It carries so much prestige and respect that people say someone's a "black belt" in an activity that is not related to martial arts at all. However, we often don't really think about what it really means to be a black belt. Does it mean that you're a master of an art? Does it mean that you immediately deserve respect from others around you? In this episode, Shintaro and Peter discuss what it means to be a black belt. Please support us on Patreon if you can: https://www.patreon.com/shintaro_higashi_show. Any amount helps!

hello everyone welcome back to the shinto higashi show with peter you today we're going to talk about what it means to be a black belt right the i think the one yeah because i think there's some disconnect between what it actually means and what the what pop the pop culture portrays what a black belt is uh yeah and also it really varies between martial arts so yeah martial arts and then what it means in different cultures and the different dojos like there's a difference between you know a subjective meaning of it and an objective meaning of it you know what i mean right it's like if every single black belt was standardized and say it objectively you have to pass this test you have to do this for this long you have to compete this amount of time and it was exactly the same across the board

then it'd be much more standardized right and what do you have in martial arts it's all standardized all over the place it depends on style yeah but i mean there's good branding right if you say i'm a black belt in music oh you know a little bit about music right i'm a black belt in this i'm like oh shoot you know you're right so people associate black belt with uh some kind of expertise yeah expertise yeah so so i we did touch on this a little bit in the old episode about the belt system but well you did some research on what the origin is i mean read it in wikipedia two seconds before this but what's the origin who started it all right so the tokyo police department in like the 1800s started the q system so there's

q grade system downgrade system and usually the black belt start at the downgrade system right so the q grade system goes down right to measure people's kendo abilities right so it's from like so from 10 9 8 until all the way to one yeah and then the downgrade system doesn't exist yet oh okay okay yeah and then this martial arts society decided hey let's do dons also so then the cues and the dons started you know that popping up so the japanese were responsible for the Q and the downgrade system, obviously. And then later on, I think belts were associated with it. I see. Later on.

Belt colors. Judo's white and black. Right. That's what Kano came. The belt was an invention by Kano, but the Q and Dan, the grades were already in use by then. Yes, that's right. So, all right. Well, then, I mean, Q is not the black belt grades.

So we'll start with the Dan grade. So what does that mean? So in judo, let's focus on judo first. When you get to shodan, what does that mean in judo? So focus on judo first when you get to shodown what does that mean in judo so it depends right yeah in japan it's not seemed like a big deal so they have these q downgrade systems for everything you know you do abacus where you're like rocking out arithmetic calculation on these beads on a piece of wood like you have q system for you know i was like a sank you yeah in abacus when i took abacus lessons as a kid yes right do you it's like when you calculate you do you do it

in your head like that i lost it all but i you know as a kid i was able to do like you know 10 two-digit numbers you know 27 plus 37 plus 18 plus 92 plus whatever you could do give me 10 of those and i'd be able to do it in my head damn those are San Q nice maybe Yong Q I can't remember

fourth so there's Q grades for everything Go has it too I remember Go has it everybody has it so when you say like I'm a Shodan

like oh you're a beginner you're like you're a master of the beginner you're starting your journey right it's like the and kind of you kind of know

what it is what the thing you're trying to do is it's like the and kind of you kind of know what what it is what you're what the thing you're trying to do is like you know the basics yeah yeah so even like when you're looking at not just martial arts but like the first downgrade level proficiency like that's the beginning yeah because until you get there you don't know what you don't know yeah at all right so when you're like a beginner you're thinking about blasting people with judo throws or whatever it is you don't have any of the context you don't have any of the knowledge to formulate some of these combinations and ideas right what does it mean to read your opponent there's lots of different things that you can't even fathom until you get there right so in japan

showdown when you say showdown in anything it, oh, this guy has a base level proficiency. Nidan, second degree, it's like, oh, a little bit better. Sandan is when people are like, oh, you must be good. Right. Yeah. Right. First, second, third degree, black belt. You see middle school kids with Shodan first degree black belt in Japan, judo.

Yeah. Yeah. I can't emphasize this enough. I don't know where in the history of this kind of got muddled and became black belt is the end all be all but it never used to be the case it's it's i know for sure in korea it's similar to how it is in japan too it's showed on yeah we can i know that if you graduate from yongen university and major in judo you get uh sandan or yodan out of it and then that's what's same that's when you can that's what i call a teaching degree that only then can you teach yeah yes see i love that i

love that and you know friends are much much more strict about it too getting a first degree black belt second degree black belt you have to go through rigorous testing and there's teacher certifications if you're a judo coach it's something that's very esteemed yeah it's not like you could just slap on a belt and start teaching judo we had a visitor license yeah from uh france yeah yeah you know it's not one of those things like you can't just fake it you know because it's a little bit more objective and you know us tried to do this too um but it's not easy right right for sure so you need a population to support these kinds of things right in the organization that is majority not volunteers but people who are actually paid day in and day out yeah okay so i think all right so that's like the origin

original meaning of a showdown and black belt so it's like showdown it's just the beginning of your journey and then when you get to sundown and you're done that's when you can teach other people and then so on and so forth and then yeah third degree i think sundown is the level of proficiency where people are like well that's yeah must be advanced at something right and then and then uh after like go down look good down that's more like an honorary degree, right? Not so much. So usually, right, you're black belt forever. Yeah.

You know, you're black belt from first to 10th degree no matter how much you do it. So you could always wear a black belt. And in Japan, a lot of these guys who are 6th, 7th, 8th degree who were able to wear the red and white belt, the the coral belt those guys sometimes don't if they're on the mat training because it's a little bit more ceremonial right but it doesn't have to be you know what i mean there's such a small population of people who have it yeah that's why i wear it and do randori with it because i think it looks cool and you have all every right to do that yeah and this is the thing like if i feel like wearing a black belt i do sometimes i do because that puts this is the thing like if i feel like we're in a black belt i do sometimes i do because that puts me in the mindset of like i'm still going forward i'm still

you know attacking i'm still trying to get to the next level right right it kind of mentality wise i have this like association with black belt randori and by the time you get to the sixth seventh eighth degree which is red and white belt people usually don't do randori because it takes so long to get there yeah well to do it you're on the sideline kind of just watching yeah if you go to kakushikan you know university you don't see these olympians who are seventh and eighth degree who are you know in their 40s and 50s wearing red and white belts yeah they're just wearing black belts coach on the side yeah right i see you know so in the way with a black belt suzuki with the black belt like they don't really wear it you know well you know if you're like me you bought the you bought that look you're about that look i like it it looks cool i'm allowed to wear it so there's not enough people doing a certain thing

just a population of red white belts not so big so you kind of make up your own way yeah especially like with the red belt too yeah you know what i mean your pops got a red belt yeah red belt is ninth and tenth degree yeah yeah that's interesting yeah now he's in like the kodansha's group which is like the high ranking group right and they sometimes have these meetings and they sit there and they talk about what it means philosophically to be a red belt and stuff like that and pretty cool stuff you ever talk to your dad about what it means to be a kodansha yeah what is really cool sometimes it just makes no sense sometimes he's joking around sometimes you know he takes every opportunity to be like you have to work harder but like i remember one thing that he said was great. It was like a red belt is something that is left long after your Harai Goshi is gone.

He's like, I can't do Harai anymore. I'm so old. What do I have left? Can I still throw down on the streets? No. Do I have the ability to do and show a lot of the stuff? I'm 84 years old, but this is what I have left. I was like, huh.

Nice. He's like, it's passing along that information to the next generation you know something to show that you're dedicated he's like it's what's left after your hurray is gone that was that was his talk about by the way for those who don't know yeah yeah because it comes to time right when you yeah you know even you look at chess something like this right it's like yeah the best champions are in their 30s and then they you know you're declining cognitively and you can't do it at some right right judo is even more to the extreme so that's where i think it's important to kind of go through the ranks and then have that to solidify what you've achieved what you've learned to kind of have the

not the proof but that's really a nice way, you know? And back in the day when Kano had Judo, it was white and black belt only. Yeah. Right? And they used to even say

like there wasn't even a black belt wasn't a real thing forever. It was just everyone wore a white gi, everyone wore a belt. Yeah. And they took from- Just to hold it up, the gi.

Yeah, just to hold it. It was like the centerpiece and you know, it's clean, you're all white, right? And then they took it from the sumo culture of not washing your belt the mawashi yeah oh my god disgusting but they wouldn't wash your belt you're not supposed to wash your belt you know you hear about this stuff yeah right yeah it's superstition like you wash your belt you wash away all the knowledge you want the dirt and the soot and the blood and the sweat like

embedded out the above because that's right right oh and then so you and the blood and the sweat embedded onto your belt because that's... Right. And then so you go into a dojo, everyone's a white belt, but the dirtier the belt, the better the person is. Yeah, and then that's the black belt right there. So that's when he was like, all right, everybody knows the dirtiest belts are the best guys.

White belt, black belt. Right. And it just happens. And even then. It just got merged with the don gray system cute gray system eventually yeah so that's what it's about you know what i mean and i like it that they have uh now they have red and black belt what's that some of these organizations are doing fourth and fifth degree black is red and black belt it's a coral belt oh it's like half some

black half you know some black red black red black red and it's like a... It's like half sun black, half sun black red, black red, black red. And it looks like a really cool belt. I see. I see. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense, right? Because like fourth degree, fifth degree is a pretty legitimate rank. Yeah.

And you should get some recognition for that. Yeah. So it's kind of nice to be able to distinguish it. But you know, I don't know. So, okay. Now, that's what it means in Japan and Korea and France and whatever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like you said, in America, just having a black belt, doesn't matter the downgrade, showdown, whatever,

carries some prestige. I know even when you get a showdown, you can teach here. I mean, but it's a lot of like for practical reasons and whatnot. But also in the pop, in the popular zeitgeist, you know, that black belt, like you said, implies expertise. So yes. What do you think about that? Well, what will be the origin if you have if you know of any or what do you think about that in general? That kind of disconnect the difference this difference i mean yes you are you know have proficiency when you have a black but even when you're a beginner sort of in japan in middle school you've been doing

judo for 10 years since you were a little kid yeah right so you know it's like oh how does this 14 year old kid in japan have a black belt he's been doing judo since he's four or five right right and he's not doing judo since he was four or five. Right. Right? And he's not doing judo once a week, twice a week, like all these kids here. Yeah. If they're in judo and their parents have done judo and they're putting it in a program,

any sort of after-school activities every day, they don't have seasons in Japan. It's all year. In fall, we're going to do track. And in winter, we're going to wrestle. In the spring, we're going to do baseball. It's not like that. You pick one freaking thing and you stick with it year round.

So as I'm saying, age 12, 13, they have middle school kids in Japan who have judo, they still put the time in. Frequently. A lot of times. A lot of times. It makes sense. black belt is expertise you know it's just the beginning of expertise i see i see you know what i mean so that like so for

example i guess another maybe a contrasting system to the judo dan system is b bjj uh belt system so you know if to me the sense i got was that when you get a black belt in bjj that's more like a yodan maybe no no you kidding me bro sandan no yo come on bro what's your but it seems like it's a teaching degree no well what do you think no I wouldn't say Sondheim or Yoda this is the thing you can't say that because there's

I know Yodans who are extremely skilled right you know what I mean yeah I remember when Colton Brown was a Yodan and he would

slaughter anybody well yeah he was an Olympian yeah but I've seen like older guys in their 60s who never competed never really done any rounds

with 20-30 years with Yodans too and I'm not saying those guys don't 60s who never competed, never really done any rounds with 20, 30 years with the old ones too. And I'm not saying those guys don't deserve it because they're on a different path. Right. Maybe they have a bum knee. Maybe they started too late. Maybe they have a heart condition. Who knows? But they put time into the sport and then they're teaching the sport so they deserve it.

Right. So you can't really, it's not a fair comparison that way. Because my impression was that like Lou or Purple would be like a shodan level. No. No? You don't think so? No, no, no. Come on, bro.

Come on. You're shitting on the judo grade system. No? Okay. Okay, so I get where that's coming from. Yeah. Because you probably heard from someone that a judo shodan has the level of proficiency in newaza as a blue belt in Jujutsu.

And that I agree with. I see. That I agree with. Okay. Yeah. I see. I see. But Judo guy with a Shodan is not the equivalent as a Jujutsu guy with a blue belt in where

they are respective to their arts. The Newaza, yes. I see. I see. Maybe even less Judo Newaza. judo nirwaza not that good so sorry guys sorry guys no i mean you're being real here so what's the what do you think is the app comparison or is it just impossible well i think it's easy to kind of like not easy but like to start it off right judo belt color system you go white yellow green white yellow orange green blue purple brown black okay right yeah so jiu-jitsu took

the yellow orange green let's get rid of that yeah white blue uh purple brown black right okay yeah so immediately blue belt should be higher than white yellow orange green see what i mean so they bypass that okay and then they have the stripes in between and then they go on purple brown black you see what i mean right yeah so i guess it's i say like a good like It's such a different system. Jujutsu Blue Belt has Shodan or Nidan's Newaza. Okay. I know it's not a fair comparison, but just to kind of put it out there. Right.

Yeah. A Jujutsu Purple Belt is probably the equivalent in its own world as a Judo Shodan. That's what I wanted to say. Right. I see. Brown Belt belt maybe like a need on uh-huh right and then when you get to a black belt in jujitsu because it's so much harder to get they're much they're not as nice as giving it out right yeah hold them back hold them back hold them back so that's like the equivalent of a judo sandan in judo is he not like crossing over the skill sets you see what i mean yeah yeah yeah that's what i mean i mean like i i didn't i didn't i mean to imply that is that what you said maybe i wasn't listening no i would well i think i was referring

although explanation i got was that just the mad time I guess you know oh yeah did I just get defensive and I didn't even listen I just got defensive no yeah maybe but

I think I think we're saying the same thing but yeah essentially but I think yeah I thought it was very interesting that

you know in BJJ the black belt holds such it's so hard to get i guess it is hard to get yeah that's a real thing that's a real thing and it's interesting i think that kind of because a lot of people and bjj is so much more popular in america they i guess i don't know maybe it's like a western thing but it's not even that true like in france it's not like that so yeah anyway

i just like disagree with you re-explain the same exact thing and then mansplain to you exact same thing that you said to me is that what i just said no no we just basically said the same thing in different ways i think that's why i it was my mistake that i didn't and you're so polite make it uh it didn't make it um make myself clear yeah all right so the standards of getting a black belt are harder in jiu-jitsu right right but there's some issues with judo black belt and there's some issues with the jiu-jitsu black belt as well yeah right because now if you look at like the local organization that's running promotions here they have all these criteria right and do you do it through their organization

or do you just give out a black belt? So in judo you gotta go through the organization You don't have to You do, but I know guys who are high belt like me, who are like you know what man, you're a black belt because I say out you're a black belt

Because if I'm known enough on the internet to where someone who I gave your black belt. Oh, right. Because if I'm known enough on the internet to where someone who I gave a black belt to doesn't have any actual proof that they have a USJF black belt, a Kodokan black belt, or any of those certifications from a major organization, they go into a dojo and they do judo throw down and they say, who gave you your black belt? They go,

Shintaro Higashi gave me my black belt. People would be like, Oh wow. Okay. They wouldn't question that anymore. Right? Right. So same with the guy, if the teacher's a high-level guy,

teacher's been around, well-known, there's sort of this community proof. So we kind of get away with it. But generally, most guys want to go through the USJF, which is the Hudson Judo here, and go through the dog and pony show. Yeah. And it's really difficult because it's

like you have to go through concussion training first aid safety you know sexual harassment situation right and then you have to pass a background test and you have to do a kata exam a knowledge exam you have to fill out the proper paperwork you have to show proof that you're competed in certain you know and you have a certain amount of points. Right. So it's like you get to put together like a co-op board package. Yeah. You know what I mean? A promotion package. Yeah.

Disturbs a lot of people. And you fill one thing out wrong, they'll reject your paperwork and now you have to wait another six months because it's twice a year thing. Right, right. So that's more controlled, right? Yeah.

And it pushes a lot of people away. i know a lot of brown belts who've got to that level of like all right we're about to do this let's go to the promotional tournament gain some points and do this whole thing and the people like oh i'm away uh you know my wife's birthday i can't go all right you're gonna have to wait another six months six one comes around they roll their ankle they can't do it a year later they've been stuck at brown belt for a year now or even more when they're ready. And it just kind of discourages them. Kind of what happened to me with my sundown.

I wanted to finish sundown before I moved here. But, you know, pandemic happened and then I lost it. And then jujitsu, on the other hand, they don't do any of that stuff. That's more like the community proof thing that you described. Literally, it's like no one questions my purple belt it just came from john donner he handed me it he handed me it and everyone knows who he is right he's a he's he was the og death squad member i guess yeah yeah no i wasn't don't say that i don't want people thinking that but like i spent the summer there and he gave me a purple belt.

Now it's a legitimate thing. It's as legit as it can be because everyone knows him. You know what I mean? And then my skills match that. So it's like, all right, legit. You know what I mean? And then my brown belt was one of my judo students who became a jiu-jitsu black belt. It's not as people don't know who he is.

You know what I mean? So it's like one of those things it's like okay you know i see right but you're but that's you you're still considered a brown belt right oh yeah yeah yeah by anybody's standards you know so you're gonna get the you're gonna go for a black belt in vjj yeah yeah i think uh I want it from Brian Glick oh cause he's been teaching me for a long time you know and then

I'm not gonna ask for it I'm not gonna be that guy I don't know this sounds like you mentioned it here I mentioned it here

yeah I'm just kidding Brian Brian if you're listening I'm ready I'm 100% ready I'll hold my own with anybody.

I definitely deserve it. Brian, if you're listening. I'm listening too. I'm listening too. But you know, this is the thing, right? Originally, you wear a white belt and you train and you train and train. And the darkness, the dirtiness of the white belt is a byproduct of your training. Right, right.

So if you enjoy the training, it can't be the end all. You can't do it to get a belt. Yeah. You know, so that's really, you know,

you have to kind of let it gain, what is it, patina. Right? Like you have an old watch that's vintage, it yellows

and it does this but people love that creamy look on that dial or the way, you know, certain things like finishes crack or whatever it is

like the spider dial on a rolex right i mean so like they it should naturally do this you know so it shouldn't be the end all be all shouldn't be like oh my goal is to get a belt it's like if your goal is to get a belt you get the belt that's it right your goal is to love it enjoy it use it as a tool to get away from your wife and kids. Naturally, your belt becomes darker and darker and you get good. Your skills should match what you're wearing by the general public's standard. You don't want to be the guy that's in there training with a belt. Wow, that goes without saying.

I know guys get like, oh man, I don't know if I deserve this. Everyone starts from a different place. the belt and wow i guess it's a match yeah and you know that goes without saying right i know guys get like oh man i don't know if i deserve this but everyone starts from a different place yeah you know i had a judo dad and i i'm very athletic naturally you know so if i say so myself i'm prone to a stroke and i had i have heart issues but still all these different things are a big factor me being good good at this. Great coordination. Yeah. I have amazing anti-coordination. I know.

Very explosive. Yeah. Your explosiveness. Yeah. I think. Yeah. Your whole family. Any sport you put me in, I could fake it.

Any sport, I could fake it. Seriously. But there's guys who were like, oh, I worked in an office my whole life. I've never really lifted weights i'm not so strong i'm 40 does that guy not deserve to earn rank in judo absolutely yeah so different yeah you know set of cards that they're playing with right but okay they should you know so it's not black and white no pun intended no pun that really is the biggest takeaway yeah black belts and there's black belts yeah you know what i mean everyone has a different

starting point right so uh you know it's a special thing it's what it means to you right and all that so that i think that's a good uh into like, okay, that's what it means to get a black belt. But what does it mean after you got a black belt? What kind of things you should pay attention to? Because you now have a certain standing in the community, right? Yeah, a certain standing in the community. People look up to you. People assume certain things about you.

So you have to kind of carry yourself with a certain level of standard yeah you know and you have to be dignified and all this stuff unfortunately you know it puts this very hierarchical thing in the room yeah right yeah because there's clearly a hierarchy i'm better than you because i'm wearing a black belt right yeah you know what i mean so like and then the power struggles thought that it gets amplified as i've spoken about previously like you're wearing a black belt and the guy is a yellow belt in the room he's three levels five levels ten levels above you so when that guy says something like actually that was pretty good because you usually kind of you know the implications that you usually. I've never seen you do something good.

Actually, that was pretty good. Like those things seem like a regular non-important microaggression. But that stuff can be amplified 10 times by, you know, there's a hero in the room that you're trying to emulate. Right. So like stuff like that, you have to really be aware of this stuff. You know, and the black belts who I know who are like, oh, bro, come on now. What are you talking about? Toxin, maxillin, and microaggressions.

Usually, I won't talk about those things. Because I'm pretty like, what's the word? Insensitive. Lasse affair? Oh, I don't know. Yeah. I say crazy stuff, but this is the thing. In the room, you have to be a little bit more aware because of the power balance.

Yeah. There's a difference between me going on a date and putting my hand on someone's lower back who's willing to be there versus a school teacher doing that to a girl in the classroom. You know what I mean? There's a huge difference, right? You see how that is a fucking difference? It's still the same hand on the back, right? You see what I mean?

But the context of it makes it very different. The power imbalance is negative difference. Right. Power dynamics. No, that's a weird analogy. No, it's kind of, you know, that really displays the issue here. Yes. It's not the actual.

These comments don't happen in vacuum you know in a vacuum it's true you know like i remember this guy once told me a story about like uh oh if you identify as something in like a chat and then a group chat with your friends it doesn't matter but in a work chat right yeah i know right right peter i i see what you mean yeah yeah i don't know why you uh refer to me yeah okay yeah that's uh that makes that makes total sense, you're right. Yeah, one of those guys. Yeah, black belt. You know what's crazy, man? What? I was talking, I was getting a haircut one day, right?

I go to my haircut and this woman who's cut my hair. Great haircut, by the way. Thank you. Yeah. I started going back to barbers, but they kind of messed it up. I went to this lady, she's giving me a haircut. And she goes, oh my God, you look like you do martial arts. I'm like, yeah. Yeah. She goes, oh, my kid just got a black belt my son just got a black he's amazing he's so strong

he's so whatever and i'm visualizing this you know monster of a dude right yeah and he's like yeah he's so good and unbelievable i was like what martial art yeah and then she goes taekwondo and immediately I'm picturing like a 8 year old kid right and I go oh that's amazing that's amazing

I was like how old is your son and she goes he just turned 8 literally nice wow you got it right I was like

wow that's amazing congratulations to your son yeah and then she you know well we're just talking about martial arts but like it's different you know that black belt means different things yeah right that's interesting what did she ask what you do yeah yeah yeah she probably didn't know did she know she knew yeah oh okay she's from like the middle eastern region she's from

like morocco or something like that. Oh, okay. So she's very aware because they have a French influence over there. Yeah, North Africa. Yeah. Yeah. So she's like, wow, judo. That's amazing.

That's a real tough one. You know, blah, blah, blah. She'll just, you know, like some people, I know that some people, that grinds people's gears or something. But, you know. Yeah. She's just happy for her son. What know, she's just happy for her son. What does it matter?

Just happy for her son, yeah. I'm not going to be like, oh, that's not legitimate. I know. Don't be that guy. Don't be that guy. Oh, that's great, you know. And then she did say something like, oh, my brother's friend, best friend or something like that does jiu-jitsu.

Have you heard of it? I'm like, yes. She's like, what do you think about? Because the guy was saying, you know, my son should get into jiu jujitsu have you heard of it I'm like yes she's like what do you think about because the guy was saying you know my son should get into jujitsu too what do you think and my answer was like well if he's already proficient at striking which if he's a black belt he should be

right then why don't you learn some grappling in case he gets taken down yeah you know she was like wow that's a good idea that was it not like oh

jujitsu is more legit than taekwondo you got yourself your son doesn't know how to fight you know yeah that that worsens the martial arts thing yeah it makes it worse right right if you're that guy you know I mean I spoke to a Krav Maga dude one time and then he didn't know I did judo I had long hair my ears were covered and he asked me if I did martial arts. And I said, no, not really. I just lift a lot of weights. I said that.

And then this guy just started bashing. All the other arts. All the martial arts. He goes, MMA isn't real because your gloves, your hands are protected. Your hands are never protected. Do you walk around the street with a glove? I'm like, no. He's like, do you walk around the street wearing a cup?

No. MMA isn't real. I'm like, no. He's like, do you walk around the street wearing a cup? No. MMA isn't real. I was like, what about judo wrestling? Can they be kind of effective? What do you think? He goes, judo is the worst. Jiu-jitsu is the worst. What are you going to wear a gi for?

I was like, they have no gi also. He's like, yes, but there's no striking. I'm like, okay, so what about boxing? He's like, boxing? Boxing? He's like, you're wearing gloves man your hands are taped shut like what

he just kept shitting on all the different martial arts he goes there's only one truth he's a problem of God this is the only thing that you'll ever be able to learn and he was like

preaching this and I was like man and ironically this guy was like soaking wet 130 pounds and he was little by little

pissing me off and I just for a second I was like oh man I pounds and he was little by little pissing me off and i just for a second i was like oh man i would love to just take him just kick him in the leg and spear double i'm like oh man what that's very interesting why did you say you didn't do any more so you just wanted to see where he goes yeah i just want to see how off the rails he goes about the stuff i just kind of sometimes i'm just kind of like you know ah you know let me just be a regular dude here yeah yeah but you know like that's very unlikable you know if he's going around doing that he doesn't do the martial arts community a service he's doing a disservice yeah i mean and who wants to learn from that guy or go to a school like that right right you know it's like a religion you know what I mean yeah it's a it turns people off

that if you're just so dogmatic and yeah and then they're trying to convert you and your thing is dumb it's like come on

you know cool so if you're this is the whole thing of martial arts respect right yeah exactly so I like

I like that at least judo's trying to make it a thing where it's like alright if you're a shodan in judo if you're a black belt in judo you're not a

sex offender you do background checks you're not a felon right they do those things and they preach at least to be respectful and all this stuff

even though a lot of these guys they don't know what that even means yeah it means very different things to different people but you know it's hard to maintain the i guess minimum standard because it yeah i mean unless like you do it like the french

government or you know french did a good job korea yeah yeah yeah i am it's yeah it's interesting i just think i think it's probably because yeah like you said that it's due to the popularity like or the lack of the popularity of judo in america so it's kind of decentralized japan yeah japan's good yeah you know because if you have a good result competing they'll bump you up real fast yeah it's like if like if you win the Olympics, they'll give you a fourth or fifth degree or something immediately. Yeah. I think Korea does that too. I think it's fifth if you win the Olympics.

So now you're at the fifth and it's like, all right, I stay in it for a couple of years and I get a red and white belt. And then as long as I stay in judo, whether I'm teaching or doing this, it's not like going to a dojo once a week and then like, oh, look, my time in grade. In Japan, you have to stay in it and actually coach or teach or be in a room. And in that case, you get promoted up. So it's incentivized to keep you in the sport. Right. You know what I mean?

Even my guys, they get a black belt and they're like, ah. I know. I've seen a lot of people just kind of drop off after the... Yeah, they'll still come and train for the camaraderie of the people in the room. Yeah. Because they're friends in the room. But majority of the time, they're not really trying to pursue the higher ranks. Right.

You know what I mean? So you encourage people to take the test and all? I do, but I'm not really bought into that system of doing the kata, doing the dog and pony show. If you fill out the paperwork wrong like you got you can't do it i'm not really big into that i don't love that even though i'm on the promotion board you you should uh how about you give me the uh give me sandan soon yeah i'll be i'll be a single and i'll be like i'm a Shintaro Higashi-san. Yeah. Or a jiu-jitsu blue belt equivalent, as you would say. Well, you know why I like that.

I love saying begging. I'm just kidding, guys. I'm just kidding. Who's walking into jiu-jitsu schools with white belts? No, I do tell people that it's not my first rodeo. Yeah. Are you wearing a white belt in your jiu-jitsu school right now? I do, yeah.

I don't have other belts. I lost the blue belt you gave me. So you demoted yourself because a blue belt coming from a judo instructor. No, no. I didn't know what to do with that situation. It was kind of weird to me that I was like, okay. You know what's weird? You're in there wearing a white belt launching darker colored belts.

I mean, it's just the mad time. Like I've spent more time standing up, you know, way more time than a lot of these people. I'm glad you have a jujitsu outlet though and you found the club. Yeah. You belong to a club out there training. Me too. Me too. Yeah.

Anyway, I think that was a great, you know, discussion about what it means to be a black belt. Yeah. Any closing remarks? Yep.

Nope. Thank you guys for listening. Join us on Patreon, find us on Instagram, all that. Yeah. Thanks for listening guys. And I'll see you guys in the next episode.