Martial arts often use colored belts to represent the different levels of achievement and skill in students. According to All-Karate.com, colored belt ranks originated with Japanese judo. Originally, a student's belt was dyed with a new color instead of being given a brand-new colored belt as is common today. As a result, it was more practical to use progressively darker colors as the student advanced, hence the general order of belt colors in use today.
Beginners
Many martial arts systems use white belts for new practitioners. Different schools interpret the symbolism behind it differently, but it generally signifies purity or emptiness, as in something that is to be filled with knowledge. North Austin Tae Kwon Do states that this color stands for the innocence of a new student that has never before practiced its martial art. Other beginner's belts, granted as students progress and pass certain criteria such as formal tests, also tend to be light colored. These include yellow and orange belts.
Intermediate
Belts tend to get darker as a student advances through the ranks of most martial arts systems, which might represent the filling of the student with knowledge as she continues to practice and learn new abilities. Intermediate belts vary from school to school, but are usually in the hues of purple, green and blue. Some schools have in-between belt ranks represented by adding various colored stripes to a solid belt. A student might earn a green belt, then a green belt with one stripe, followed by a green belt with two stripes before finally earning his next solid color, such as blue. The stripe system might then be repeated with his blue belt until he graduates to the next level.
Advanced
Generally, the highest ranking belts in most martial art systems are the brown and black belts. Brown belts are advanced practitioners and are used as junior instructors or assistants in some schools in preparation for their black belts. Black belts in most martial arts are considered experts qualified to instruct. Black belts themselves have different rankings, with many schools going from a first level black belt to a 10th level master. Red belts might also be used in some arts, such as tae kwon do. Schools such as North Austin Tae Kwon Do use it as a rank between the brown and black belts.
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