Life In 19x19

EdLee wrote:

hyperpape wrote:< 2k go professionals

Did you notice you inadvertently overload the meaning of "2k"?

Not until this morning when I read you quoting me, and I thought "2 kyu professionals?!"

hyperpape wrote:I guess there must be variation between different martial arts and probably also between different countries, but my impression was always that there was a huge variation within the realm of black belts, so that an "ordinary" black belt was simply incomparable to an advanced one, in the same way that an amateur low dan is simply incomparable to a professional 1 dan.

There's two points in regards to martial arts belts. There are often degrees of black belt in many Korean and Japanese systems that are referred to as "dan". So you could look at a 1st degree black belt (often called shodan in Japanese systems and ildan in Korean systems) and compare that person to, say, a fifth degree black belt. Naturally, one would expect the 5th degree to be more advanced in terms of skill and knowledge. This is not the say that the 5th degree is better able to apply whatever art that's being looked at, since there are many other factors other than just rank that would figure into that.

However, in some arts that have large competitions, there also tends to be a difference between a person who competes at a high level and one who does not, even if they have the same rank. I know that in Taekwondo and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu (the two martial arts I am most familiar with), there's often a distinction made between a competitor belt rank and a hobbyist belt rank. In BJJ, it's often said that a top competitor purple belt is about equal in skill to a hobbyist black belt. Of course, this is a generalization and simplification, but I feel like there's something similar in regards to the difference between amateur and pro dan ranks.

My experience with martial arts is limited, and I have the dubious honor of being one of the few people to ever break a bone practicing aikido. One thing I recall however, is that when one got a new belt, one got to keep it. If go ranks were like that, it would remove a good deal of the anxiety. Someone will probably want to remind me that rank anxiety is immature contraproductive, but my kgs rank just squeaked past 5k for the first time in 9 months and I'd be quite happy with a belt.

Loons wrote:I guess the colours aren't universal across martial arts? Though I guess it seems judo is the default. ...

I agree with the first statement, but why is judo the default? I simply thought that color schemes varied across different martial arts, and that there was no default.

Kirby wrote:

Loons wrote:I guess the colours aren't universal across martial arts? Though I guess it seems judo is the default. ...

I agree with the first statement, but why is judo the default? I simply thought that color schemes varied across different martial arts, and that there was no default.

Probably because it was the first to adopt the dan-kyu system from go, the first to have colored belts to reflect those grades, the first to achieve wide international recognition (is there another martial art in the Olympics?), etc. I assume that's what Loons meant.

Taekwondo is olympic