In aikido its really hard to define the belt system, as different organisations, and different schools within an organisation can have entirely different colors for each rank, or no colored belts at all. SO generally when we discuss rank it is by grade rather than by belt.
My dojo goes white, purple, blue, green, brown,brown, black. Our parent dojo does not use the purple or green,but my Sensei decided that we deserved a new belt to show for our gradings.
So I am testing for second kyu in November, which is pretty universally brown, then we stay brown for first kyu cuz the next belt you get is the black one...I guess by first kyu its not so important to have a new color!

I'd tell you that our system : Sun Moo Kwan Hapkido , had a system. We dont really(I mean one you MUST adhere to). In fact, I think we've changed teh way we do it in Our school (of which our master is teh assoc head) about 5 diff times in teh last years. The changes have only been the using or not using of Stripes on our belts, and teh addition of an Extra belt (... oy) to teh rankings. These are new developements, as there used to be far fewer belts. Apparantly if you move up belts , its felt that you wont get discouraged as easily about your advancements.
We have Gup levels that corrospond to belts that work backward. All teh colors have a particular significance as to what they "mean" and what their lessons are. The kids get weekly talk at teh start of thier Leadership class on the Character building/lesson for that months is. This month is : Motivation. Last Month it was Charisma...

white-9th gup
yellow-8th
orange-7th
green-6th
purple-5th
blue -4th
red -3rd
brown-2nd
brown/black -1st gup
blackbelt recommended(black but Not Really THE Black)
and
Black belts (Yudan-ja )from 1st to 10th Dan. (teh 10th is Only held by teh GrandMaster of Hapkido (who teaches SinMoo style) Ji,HanJae.

Some schools who follow our Assoc do things thier own way. Like they may only do the traditional belts (white, yellow,green,blue, red, brown , and black I think)

Hmm.. now that Ive thoroughly confused yall.. ;)

Nin

I practice Tang Soo Do. I know it varies by school, but in mine its:

White
Purple with one white stripe, then two stripes, then three stripes
Green with one stripe, two stripes, three stripes
Red with one stripe, two stripes, three stripes
Black

In DanZan Ryu Jujitsu there are small variations amoung belts, but basically it's.....

white
blue
green
brown
black (levels 1 to 9 Dan)

the kids have yellow, orange and purple between the white and blue belts that adults get. Some dojos put stripes on the belts as well, further defining rank.

I am at green level, which would indicate that I have 4 out of 6 lists mastered. List 6 is for black and above. There are other lists of arts that combine elements of the basic 6 lists that address specific needs such as the geisha arts, weapon arts, handicapped adjusted, etc.

Some dojos are able to "crank out" a black belt in a year and a half, while others take many years to perfect character and skill.

I was in Shoshin Ryu Karate which was an off-shoot from another school.... I've been out for a while, so I don't remember - bad me. However, it's a Japanese style which mixes jujitsu and karate. The katas are familiar to other karates I've read about Pinan 1-5 etc.

Belts
White (1)
yellow (3) - can normall get to each level in one semester
Blue (1) - can normall get to each level in one semester
Green (3) - takes about two semesters to reach each level
Brown (1-2) -takes about two semesters to reach each level
Brown (3-4) -takes about 3 to 4 semesters to reach each level
Black - lots of black but most folks only get to 3rd or 4th degree black belt
* to get from Black 1 to Black 2 an average is two years of training if not more....

This is all from my memory....

Before I left the school I made it to my blackbelt - I had been in that school for 7 years and practiced at least twice a week for 3 hrs.

Seconded on the "difficult to define" aspects of Aikido. The dojo where I started went white, white, blue, blue, brown, brown, black. My new dojo has an extra rank in there at the bottom, and belts stay white until they turn black. Whenever I'm visiting a new dojo, I throw my brown belt and my white belt both in my bag, and try to hang back and watch people dress before I decide which one to pull out. Then, for me, it gets more complicated, because my brown belt has been passed down from person to person since before I was alive, so it looks kind of dingy yellow-orange now, and new partners are just totally baffled at it. I've only ever seen one Aikido dojo (Durango, CO) that used orange belts.

I've practiced Ba gua zhang at three different schools now, and my current school is the only one to have gradings. The other schools i was at kinda had the attitude that gradings and sash systems had the potential to detract from yr own internal knowledge of where you are at and what you need to learn/concentrate on. "You are as good as you are" seemed to be the motto. Having come from that envronment to one where you train for gradings is interesting and i can see the merits of both approaches - personally i like having the external motavation to really hammer out the kinks in my forms - i'm assuming that as i get better this will slowly become internalised. :-)

Anyway, our "system" currently has 4 levels;
Entrance Dan
1st Dan
2nd Dan
3rd Dan

Our teacher recommends a year's training before going for Entrance or 1st Dan, 2 years for 2nd and 3 years for 3rd. After that, i guess you just work on improving without the reinforcement of grading. Our sashes are all red with a little yin/yang patch for each Dan above entrance that you pass.

I've studied at four different Isshinryu Karate schools (the most recent three all in the same pedigree, though) & our ranking system is like this:

White (10th kyu)
Yellow (9th kyu)
1st degree blue (8th kyu)
2nd degree blue (etc.) <-- green electrical tape!
1st degree green (me!)
2nd degree green <-- black electrical tape, because Sensei says the only purple they sell is "horrid"
purple
1st degree brown
2nd degree brown <-- two strips of black electrical tape
3rd degree brown <-- one strip of tape (one strip is removed)
1st degree black (shodan)
2nd degree black (nidan)

...& so forth

I just got my 6th kyu in March, & I started studying in January 2002 (though I took about 2 years off in the process, so it's realistically been a little over 3 years). A good friend in my dojo has trained continuously since Nov 2000, & he just got his shodan last December.

Hi everyone! I am new to the group.

Up until recently, I studied under two systems, MASTER system and Gaijin Ryu Jiu Jitsu. I am taking a break from the MASTER system. My last belt test was a bit too hard on the body.

In the MASTER system, I am a green belt, which is the, including white belt, is the 4th belt. In Gaijin Ryu, I am a blue belt, hopefully a purple belt at the end of August.

Surprised no one posted on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu yet...

In BJJ, it's white to blue to purple to brown to black. Very few belts, but it takes forever to get to black, 8-10 years on average, I think. I kind of think of it like the American university system...a blue belt is an associate's degree, purple is a bachelor's, brown is master's, and black is Ph.D! :-)

Another new girl reviving an old thread....

In our dojo we have the option of learning three different styles, Yue Chia, Shorin Ryu, and Yang Tai Chi. We're not supposed to put much importance on belts. Nobody is ever forced to test. One of my dojo brothers has been training for just 6 months less then I have and he's still a green belt. The belts pretty much just tell us where to stand in lineup, what rules to follow during contact exercises, and who would be the best person to ask if you dont have a clue what's going on. We have the same belt system for each style, and a lot of the qualifications go across the board (attendance, memorization of the rules/creed, number of forms to perform, commitment to personal growth etc). And if you have a BB in any system (even if it's not from our dojo) Sifu encourages you to wear it to any class. Few people ever do. Anyways, we go:

White
Yellow
Green
Brown
2nd Brown
Black (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc)