Karate practitioners wear a standard uniform known as a gi. The outfit consists of loose white trousers and a loose white jacket cinched with colored belts. The sleeves and trouser legs of the gi are a few inches shorter than normal clothes and have billowy cuffs to help promote ease of movement and to prevent any accidental entanglement. Most gi construction features sturdy seams and lightweight material made from polyester and cotton blends to provide comfort, protection and durability. Despite being synonymous with karate, the gi has its roots in judo.
History
In 1892, Kano Jigoro, often known simply as Kano, invented the discipline of judo, a martial art featuring a variety of throws and takedowns. Fifteen years later, in 1907, Kano devised the traditional gi as a standard judo uniform. He designed the gi to have long sleeves and trouser legs to help maximize gripping surface and control when conducting judo's many grappling techniques. The judo gi's popularity soon made it a fixture in most martial arts training, including karate.
Significance
Kano chose to make the gi white to represent the qualities of purity, simplicity and humility. Each of Kano's students wore the same white gi regardless of social class, reinforcing the idea that all students begin as equals. These same principles continue to influence modern martial arts training.
Belt System
The first gi uniforms were all white with either white or black belts. However, Kano later developed a colored belt ranking system to designate a student's progress within the martial art. In 1924, sensei Gichin Funakoshi, a friend and admirer of Kano's judo, adapted the belt ranking system for his Shotokan Karate schools, and the colored belts remain a staple of the modern karate gi.
Requirements
To achieve a colored belt, karate students must demonstrate their skills in graded examinations. Instructors will only graduate students to the next level once the student has shown a mastery over all necessary techniques. The exact progression of belt colors and their meanings will vary from school to school. In general, most karate students begin as 10th Kyu, or student, and wear a white belt. They progress through the ranks from nine to one Kyu, which awards a black belt. Even the black belt often has subsequent degrees, ranging from first degree, the lowest, to 10th degree, the highest. Other common belt colors include green, orange, red, blue and brown, with each color also capable of having its own individual degrees and levels.
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