Was reading up here: http://bjj.org/a/ranks.html And was a bit puzzled by the inclusion of 10th degree Red Belts and 9th and 8th degree Red and Black Belts. Saw a picture of Helio Gracie and sure enough he was brandishing a Red belt. Can someone explain to me the inclusion of a Red belt? I was under the impression Black was the best for BJJ (as most other arts). Thanks
The highest belt attainable in BJJ is still the Saku belt though http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=tbn:HlWu3upJHkIJ:www.inspire.co.jp/sakuBELT.jpg
i think red belt signifies the "grand master of BJJ", hence only helio gracie has the honor wearing the red blety (being the only living grand master of BJJ,)
helio rocks - watch a show on discovery called " go warrior " and they had royler and helio - awsome dude
The way I understood it, the red belt is basically given to people who have been black belts for a long time. The only two I can think of that have a red belt are Helio and Rorion.
My instructor is a 7th degree black belt and his belt is a combo of red and black http://www.universalmma.com/pages/trainers.html
If I remember correctly, Once you attain the BJJ black belt, you advance one 'rank' in Black(or one 'degree') every 3 years. A 10th Degree becomes red, and signifies at least 30 years of maintaining regular practice in the art of BJJ AFTER you attain your black. There are other criteria behind the belt, such as status and influence to the sport. Right now, wearing the Red Belt in BJJ is so rare of a privilege that it's basically a billboard proclaiming 'I made this entire art. I've created and forgotten more techniques than you'll ever learn.'
In some forms of martial arts a red belt is given to someone who though no longer posses the power to defeat a black belt has the greater knowledge. Helio could not beat Rickson, or Royce etc but has the greater knowledge.
Helio, Rorion, and Carlson (the one who taught Helio) all have red belts as far as I know. No one earns a red belt as you would earn any other belt. They are only given to certain members for merit. I wouldn't be surprised if Rorion and maybe just one more brother got the red belt.
As I understand it 8th & 9th dan in BJJ have a belt that is red & black; the purely red belt is for 10th dan and you have to be a Gracie to reach such a level. Also in some karate styles red belt is higher than black belt, 5th dan & above, I think.