Having reached Yellow belt, the minimum requirement to attempt Orange belt is 24 classes and 3 months.

12 classes after achieving your Yellow belt (representing the half way mark on your journey to Orange belt) you may grade to 7th Kyu-Ho (Orange Tip).  Like the yellow tip grading, this is done at your local dojo.

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 Yellow belt, it’s important to start setting your sights on your next grading, 7th kyu Orange 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 an Instructor asks before grading someone to Orange 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?
  • Does this person demonstrate good etiquette and attitudes of a karate-ka?