Aoinagi Karate

Your First Belt Rank

The time will soon come when you are ready for your first belt rank. When you entered Aoinagi Karate you were un-ranked although you may have worn a white belt with your uniform.

You will get the opportunity to gain a new belt rank in a short time. The first belt students usually wear at Aoinagi Karate after the white belt is the orange belt. Orange belt is tenth-kyu or jukyu. The examination requires that the person know one kata, several stances, a few punches, four blocks and at least one kick.

Some people like to get right down to a goal when they start something. Other people only want to experience the process and don't care to form goals. The program here is intended to set a standard for attaining belt ranks. If you like, set a goal. If you don't like goals, then just skip the whole section and just keep training. The belts will come as you increase your breath, depth and duration in martial arts. But if you want to have a program set up in front of you to challenge your curiosity then read on.

Getting Started

It will be helpful for you to become familiar with this website in order to progress towards your first colored belt rank. We suggest that you take a look at the teal-green column to the left side of this page. Go to the top of it. Right under "First Time Visitor" there is a link to "Getting Around the Website." This section is an explanation of the website and will help you get ready for your exciting journey through Aoinagi Karate.

Getting Around the Website

The glossary is a real help at this website. It may be accessed through the teal-green left frame as the last entry in the "Curriculum" heading. Let's go to the glossary right now. Say you want to look up the Japanese word "obi" to find its meaning. Click "Glossary" and a new window will emerge with some query questions. Type in "obi" and click "search for word." You may return to RIGHT HERE by pressing "back" on your web server.

Did you find the word "obi?" It means belt.

You really want to keep this glossary around you while you begin your study at Aoinagi Karate website. From this point on there are a lot of words we just assume you know. And with the help of the glossary you will learn them quickly.

The Standards

The left teal green frame holds another important document for belt advancement. It is the "Belt Standards" document. When you access this document you will get a query for the standards of every belt from orange to black belt. Only the right hand column in the query links to the belt standard. Just select the standard you wish to see. For your convenience here his a link to that document;

Belt Ranks

If you have looked over the three documents discussed above you probably have a rather good idea of what is entailed in getting your first belt rank. If you learn the Orange Belt Standards and learn to use the Glossary for becoming familiar with the jargon you will soon be ready for a belt rank examination.

Good Luck!