When new acquaintances find out that I study the martial arts, it is inevitable that a follow up question will certainly be asked of me. What that next question happens to be will reveal either their knowledge or ignorance of the martial arts. If the question is "what style do you study or how long have you studied?" then I know that I can have an intelligent conversation with them about the martial arts. If their next question is "what rank are you?" then I know my interaction with them about the martial arts will be minimal. What is the reason that so many people are so focused on rank in the martial arts today? I guess I could thank Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, who in the late 1800s first introduced rankings and colored belts into the martial arts. Instructors of other arts in Japan seeing the incredible growth of Judo soon followed by introducing ranking into their arts. Now in the United States, it is hard to find any school that does not have a "black belt club" or any person who understands that a black belt in a particular style does not make you a martial arts expert. Very few people understand that rank in the martial arts is a subjective determination made by an instructor to create a hierarchy in his school that increases his ability to control his students. This is why you cannot compare rank between different styles in the martial arts, between schools in the same style or even between the same instructor in different periods of his teaching.

      The reason for America's obsession with rank in the martial arts is very simple; this obsession is being fostered and encouraged by the majority of martial arts instructors in this country for their own self interest and not for the betterment of themselves, their students or their arts. Many instructors use rank or the promise of rank as a carrot to dangle in front of their students. It is not uncommon to hear of schools selling classes by the rank. The marketing of a "black belt club" to a six year old is the ultimate exploitation of the ego of that child's parents. It is simply very easy to prey on an insecure person by catering to his fragile ego. There are many commercial martial arts schools in this country who make thousands of dollars a week doing just that. The reason that they can do this is because most people have not yet realized that rank in the martial arts is a subjective determination made by an instructor to create a hierarchy in his school that increases his ability to control his students. This is why you cannot compare rank between different styles in the martial arts, between schools in the same style or even between the same instructor in different periods of his teaching.

      Take a moment and look in your local yellow pages under martial arts and determine the percentage of ads that mention the rank of the instructor in the ad. The implication is that the higher the rank of the instructor, the higher the quality of instruction will be. This is of course a fallacy because once again - rank in the martial arts is a subjective determination made by an instructor to create a hierarchy in his school that increases his ability to control his students. This is why you cannot compare rank between different styles in the martial arts, between schools in the same style or even between the same instructor in different periods of his teaching.

      If you are studying or thinking about studying the martial arts, take a moment and review your motivations. Do you desire the knowledge, confidence, self-defense ability and increased understanding about yourself that comes with martial arts training? Or are you just seeking rank or higher rank to impress your family, your friends or yourself? If so, can you see the illusion? My teacher once told me that the study of martial arts is the study of truth. It is amazing how many people in the martial arts are not looking as much for truth, knowledge or increased ability as for rank. Do not be fooled. Do not be misled. Rank in the martial arts is a subjective determination made by an instructor to create a hierarchy in his school that increases his ability to control his students. This is why you cannot compare rank between different styles in the martial arts, between schools in the same style or even between the same instructor in different periods of his teaching.

      Rank, however, can be an important tool for an instructor to both motivate students who have yet to form the necessary internal motivation to be a serious practitioner and to exercise classroom management techniques for the efficient transmission of the art he is teaching. While rank can never be a universal standard of quality among all martial arts schools and styles, rank can provide a standard of quality of technical proficiency for a particular school during a particular time period of that school's existence. As such, the use of rank may be deemed necessary and appropriate by an individual instructor. The wise student will see it for the tool that it is for his instructor's use. The proper student neither seeks nor shuns rank. Understanding what rank is and what rank is not, a real student simply continues to practice his art.