Having reached Red belt, the minimum requirement to attempt Brown belt is 50 classes and 6 months. How quickly a student grades largely depends on three factors:
  • The student’s frequency of training.
  • The student’s intensity at training.
  • The student’s focus during training.

For a detailed description of these three components, visit the introduction area of our Journey Section.

Having obtained your Red belt, it’s important to start setting your sights on your next grading, 3rd Kyu Brown belt. By no means does this imply that you should be in a rush to grade, or lack patience in developing your skills, understanding and overall progress. It merely suggests that you should start to focus on what skills and abilities are required for the next part of your journey and set an action plan in place to start developing these.

Its only when we are chasing something that we are happiest, most focused and on track to reach our potential.

Questions A Regional Instructor Asks Before Grading Someone To Brown Belt

  • Has this student continued to develop their ability in their Basic techniques?
  • Has this student continued to develop their ability in Taigyoku Shodan?
  • Has this student continued to develop their ability in Taigyoku Nidan?
  • Has this student continued to develop their ability in Saifa?
  • Has this student continued to develop their ability in Bassai-Dai?
  • Have they developed the key principles within Bassai-Dai (i.e. do they show up in other areas of their karate)?
  • Does this person demonstrate the etiquette and attitudes of an advanced karate-ka?