Rank?

No, this isn't a hygiene post.

I've never been a huge fan of our rank system...  Know this subset of techniques, get a yellow belt... Know this additional subset of techniques, get an orange belt...  It always seemed kind of arbitrary to me.  Debating whether green belts should have to know Uchi Mata is about as useful as debating how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.  And then there are the differences in what a black belt means.  In some places - and I think this predominates in Asia - it means you have a reasonable grasp of the fundamentals.  You can get your Shodan in a year... Of course, that's a year of 10 hours of judo per week...  Others view the black belt as the sign that you are ready to teach.  In some places, you get your next rank based on beating enough others of your rank (e.g., the UK).  So... there is no standard, other than a black belt should be more skilled than a white belt.

At some point (and maybe still going in some parts of the world), I understand that there were just three ranks:  white, brown, and black.  That gets closer to something I can understand. 

• White:  you don't know much of anything. 
• Brown:  you know something, but not a ton.
• Black: you know lots.

Still a reasonably arbitrary difference on where to draw the lines, but much less arbitrary than the white/yellow/orange, etc. scheme.  But I think we can do better...

In Jiu Jitsu University by Saolo Ribeiro (which I will review sooner or later, and you can purchase via the Amazon side bar), he lays out his philosophy on rank in BJJ, which I think is awesome.  I don't recall the specifics and don't particularly feel like looking it up at the moment, but it went something like this:

• White:  you can't really do much of anything very well
• Blue:  you can survive - i.e., you have a grasp of defensive techniques such that you aren't tapping every 5 seconds
• Purple:  you can achieve position - i.e., you have a good grasp of how to pass guard, sweep, etc
• Brown:  you can submit folks
• Black:  ... I don't remember... Maybe it was along the lines of you can submit brown belts pretty well...?

Anyhoo, these are decidedly non-arbitrary standards.  The way he lays it out, you are looking to gain certain skills in a logical order.  Now that's useful.

So how do we apply this to Judo?  I don't have a great answer.  Yet.  But here's a first stab at it:

• White:  you can't really do much of anything very well (ok, this is a useful standard)
• Yellow:  you can survive - i.e., you can fall with some skill, you can avoid throws, and you don't keel over and die during groundwork
• Orange:  you can create opportunities - i.e., you can move your opponent, you show some handle on kuzushi, and you can gain position on the ground (which includes pinning)
• Brown:  you can win - i.e., you can throw with some proficiency (in a non-cooperative situation), and you can submit your opponents
• Black:  you can handle brown belts with some proficiency

Differentiation between black belts, then, is how good are they at teaching...

Needs some work... but what do you think?  Anybody have a better idea?