White Belt

The student has no knowledge of Songahm Taekwondo and begins with a clean (pure) slate.
Purity is often signified by the color white. ﻿﻿

Orange Belt

The beginner student sees the beauty of the art of Taekwondo but has not yet experienced the power of the technique. Orange is found among the many colors of the sunrise. ﻿﻿


 Yellow Belt 

"The seed is beginning to see the sunlight." The student begins to understand the basics of Taekwondo. The sun appears to be yellow.



Camouflage (Camo) Belt﻿

Camouflage (greens) is used to hide among the trees in the forest. ﻿The sapling is hidden amongst the taller pines and must now fight its way upward."The student begins to realize his/her place in the world's largest martial art. The student must now begin to spar in order to promote in rank.


Green Belt



Purple Belt

"Coming to the mountain. The tree is in the mid-growth and now the path becomes steep."
The student has crossed over over into a higher level of Songahm Taekwondo. The techniques, poom-sae (forms), and level of gyeo-roo-gi (sparring) becomes more difficult, creating a "mountain" that must be overcome. Mountains are often depicted as being purple. ﻿﻿


Blue Belt

"The tree reaches for the sky toward new heights."



 Brown Belt

"The tree is firmly rooted in the earth."
At this point the student has mastered the basics and developed deep roots in. 
Taekwondo. Brown is known as an earthy color, such as dirt.﻿﻿


  Red Belt


Red/Black Belt﻿"

The dawn of a new day. The sun breaks through the darkness."The previous day has ended, giving way to a new dawn. The student must begin a new phase of training; that of being a black belt. The red is the sun (in a sunrise) as it breaks through the black of night.﻿﻿

"The tree has reached maturity and has overcome the darkness... it must now 'plant seeds for the future.'"﻿ The color black is created when all the colors of the light spectrum have been absorbed into an object. That object has "taken control" of the colors and retained them. If one color was to "escape", the object would no longer be black but would appear as that color. The student has mastered the nine geup (grades) of Taekwondo. He/she has "absorbed" all the knowledge of the color ranks and overcome or "mastered" that level or training.﻿﻿

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© James Golden