A way to find an answer is to examine what role the belt system now has in training. I imagine what springs to a lot of people's minds, (and certainly mine), is that it's a source of motivation for westerners who don't have the patience of the Japanese and aren't really learning it for the same reasons as Okinawans did.
Is the belt system now just a shallow source of motivation for westerners? As a Kyu grade, belt promotions tend to happen more often than for Dan grades. So, if the belt system is just a source of motivation why are their black belts that have been black belts for more than just a few months? They don't have regular belt promotions, which suggests that next belt= being motivated isn't always the case.
Also, if this was the case, then karate would've been killed off by now. If people just gave up at black belt before they had a chance to actually gain a decent amount of experience, there wouldn't be anyone to teach karate and it would die out.
However, the fact is that many people stop training at brown or black belt, as belt promotions become less regular and they feel they've done it all and have nothing more to aim for. For some, the belt system is the only thing that keeps them training, the only reason they're motivated. This suggests that if the belt system is just a source of motivation depends on the karateka.
This conclusion is similar to that of my previous post. Based on what I said in my previous paragraph, what the belt system is differs from karateka to karateka, but it's important for us, as individuals, to avoid making it in to something it is not.
Not everyone gives up as brown or black belts, they continue to train for other reasons than just working towards the next belt. But if they have 'other reasons' what's the point of coloured belts and regular belt promotions to start with? The answer will be the content of my next post.
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