Description
Meijin Senpai Karate Belt
Meijin Senpai Karate Belt is the result of our research. For years we searched for the optimum materials and methods that would produce the perfect karate Belt of the type that was worn during the Golden Age of Karate when karate belts were softer and easier to tie.
A belt that was stable, long lasting, good looking, and able to take embroidery well. One that also showed character and maturity after long and faithful use.
The result is our new Senpai belt in the 1.75″ width with 10 lines of stitching. This looks and feels like karate belts that cost more than twice as much from other suppliers, but that do not perform as well in actual use.
It has become the immediate choice of instructors who like a wider belt that offers a a more stable and attractive background for custom embroidery.
Sizes: 1=78”; 2=86”; 3=94”; 4=102”; 5=110”; 6=118”; 7=126”; 8=134”; 9=142”.
Colored Belt History
According to the Kodokan Judo Academy in Tokyo, the history of coloured belts for different grades or ability levels was started by Jigoro Kano (1860 -1938) Sensei, the founder of modern Judo.
Kano Sensei, in his youth, studied Kito-Ryu jujutsu. Later, by absorbing techniques from other schools such as Yoshin Ryu, he created Judo (柔道) as a physical activity for all people, from Yawara, the ancient samurai unarmed method of violently subduing an enemy.
When he was a student, instructors wore strong jackets decorated with diagonal lines of stitching similar to a modern kendo jacket. The colour and sometimes the degree of elaboration of the stitching would distinguish the instructors rank and experience.
Kanos idea was to create an art that everyone could practise regardless of income, social status, or gender. Buying expensive new training jackets at every promotion was beyond many people, so he substituted a coloured belt to denote the wearers ability.
Originally just white, brown and black were used; other colours were added as student numbers increased exponentially with the introduction of Judo into the Japanese educational system.
In the early 1920s, when Gichin Funakoshi started introducing Okinawan karate into Japan, Kano Sensei supported him by giving Funakoshi access to the upper levels of Japanese society. Funakoshi adopted both the training clothes of Judo and their coloured belt rank system, thinking, perhaps, that this would allow him to benefit from the prestige of Judo and its founder, who by this time was heavily involved in the Japanese Olympic movement. Time has proved him correct!
Japanese Belt Embroidery
Please place your order for the type, size and color of belt that you would like in your shopping cart. Please your custom belt order in the shopping cart.
If you have special instructions as to design layout, please call us on 818-889-3856 and discuss your order with one of our embroiderers who, by that time, may also have questions for you. Every custom embroidered belt is uniquely yours so we want to make sure that we can create exactly what you envisaged!
