Okay, so today I’m gonna walk you through my little adventure figuring out judo ranks, specifically looking for something from the New York Times. It sounds kinda random, right? But hear me out.
It all started when I was watching some old martial arts movies. One thing led to another, and I got curious about judo and how their ranking system worked. I wanted a reliable source, not just some random forum post. I figured, hey, the New York Times probably has something on it. They cover everything, right?
So, first thing I did was, of course, hit up Google. I typed in “judo ranks nyt” – plain and simple. I wasn’t expecting a miracle, but I was hoping for at least something official-looking from their archives.
The initial results were a mixed bag. A bunch of articles about judo competitions, profiles of famous judokas, and even some opinion pieces. But nothing explicitly listing the ranks in a clear, concise way. That’s when I started digging deeper.
I tried refining my search terms. “Judo belt system New York Times,” “Judo ranking explained NYT,” you get the idea. I even used Google’s advanced search to limit the results to the * domain.
Still no luck with a direct “list of ranks.” But, I did stumble upon a few articles that mentioned the ranks in passing. Like, an article about a judo instructor earning his black belt, which explained what that meant in the grand scheme of things. Or a piece about a judo school, where they briefly described the different belt colors.
So, what did I do? I ended up piecing together the information from several different articles. It was like a little detective work, haha! I made a quick note of each rank mentioned, its associated belt color, and any relevant details from the NYT articles.
Here’s what I gathered, based on my NYT-fueled research (keep in mind, I’m not a judo expert, this is just what I found):
- White Belt: Beginner level, obviously.
- Yellow Belt: A step up from white.
- Orange Belt: Another step in progression.
- Green Belt: Getting more advanced.
- Blue Belt: Closer to the top ranks.
- Brown Belt: Considered a pre-black belt rank.
- Black Belt: This is where things get serious. Black belts have degrees (Dan grades), starting from 1st Dan and going up. The higher the Dan, the more experience and knowledge.
Now, keep in mind, this is just a simplified summary based on what I could glean from the New York Times articles. There might be regional variations, or more nuanced details that I missed. I’d definitely recommend checking with an official judo organization for a definitive list.
The real takeaway here isn’t necessarily the list of ranks itself, but the process of digging for information and piecing things together. It’s kinda like research, but, ya know, for fun. And hey, I learned a little something about judo along the way!
