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The Taekwondo uniform is called a "dobak" or "tobak." Like everything else in Taekwondo, it is steeped in tradition and history. The dobak consists of a jacket, trousers, and belt. It is derived from traditional Korean clothing called "hanbok." The dobak is not only for wear during Taekwondo training, it is the required uniform for competition in regional and national tournaments.

Reasons for Wearing the Dobak:

• It instills pride in the student as a practitioner of Taekwondo .

• It identifies the degree of skill that the wearer has attained.

• Style is symbolic of Taekwondo's heritage and tradition.

• Rank levels indicated by belt color create incentive to achieve rank while also   preserving humility.

• It is extremely practical and healthy for physical activity.

• It distinguishes Taekwondo practitioners from other martial arts.

Students should keep their dobaks clean, ironed, and in good repair. They should understand its historical significance and wear it with pride and proper respect and etiquette.

Meaning of Dobak

According to Earl Weiss and Damian LaVoice, the rationale behind the plain white dobak has its roots in martial tradition. A goal of martial arts training is help us to come to terms with the rather unpleasant aspect that all humans face—death—and to help us understand our attachment to the body or "I." This is accomplished in part by attempting to abandon the ego through martial art training. Freud said, "The ego is a body," and to quote martial arts author Peter Payne, "The nature of the ego, the ordinary sense of 'I', is intimately bound up with the physical body."

We have a difficult time as humans getting past the egotism of the body and feeling a greater connection to the universe around us. This is evident in virtually every aspect of our lives, such as through the clothes we wear, which are really just an extension of the body. We have physical contact with our outer garments and therefore much interconnectedness.

When we put on a plain white dobak, bereft of superfluous trim, we are creating an outward sign of our humility, or should I say "attempted humility." It is a small step on the way toward the never obtainable perfection that we seek through our training in the martial arts. As Master Hee Il Cho said, "One can go on forever developing perfection within the frame work of the martial arts."

The Belt:

When you first walk into a dojang, you notice that the students are wearing white uniforms and belts of various colours. You may wonder what is the significance of the different colour belts. The belt colors signify the approximate Taekwondo skill levels of the wearers.

In the dojang, there is no age, gender, cultural, or racial barriers; all students begin their training at the lowest skill level, the white belt. Each student then trains and progresses at his or her own rate in accordance to his or her own desire and ability. During this training process, students develop proficiency at performing Taekwondo techniques, while also developing the physical characteristics of strength, stamina, quickness, flexibility, coordination, and balance. They develop the important mental characteristics of patience, humility, self-control, perseverance, concentration, and respect. They also gain knowledge about Taekwondo and its origin. As students develop these skills, physical and mental characteristics, and knowledge, they are awarded coloured belts to signify their level of knowledge and proficiency. 

A specific coloured belt is awarded to a student based upon his or her meeting the minimum requirements for the belt and for his or her demonstration of skills during a test that are substantially improved from his or her last belt test. Belts are awarded to students based on improvement of their own personal skills. For this reason, belts give only a rough estimate of a student's actual Taekwondo skills.  One red belt student may display extraordinary skills in comparison to another red belt student. It may appear that the lesser skilled red belt does not deserve the red belt, when in actuality, he or she trained an extraordinary number of hours and showed great progress to earn the belt in comparison to the more skilled red belt who was able to easily learn the skills in short time. 

The final goal of Taekwondo is supposed to be the "perfection of human character." however, many times this goal is forgotten. If you listen to Taekwondo students talk to each other, you would think the goal to Taekwondo is to make everyone a superb sparring competitor. If a student goes to every tournament and loses every match, some feel the student do not deserve his or her present rank and should not be promoted. However, a student who persists and continues to improve his or her skills, is always congratulatory to the winners, and cheers for team mates, is more deserving of promotion than a superb fighter who is self-congratulatory and neglects others. Rank is determined by many factors, having a true "Taekwondo spirit" is foremost among them.

Anyone who is willing to make the commitment of time and effort may learn Taekwondo and advance through the belt system. For some, advancement may take longer than for others due time conflicts with other phases of life, money problems, physical differences, physical or mental disabilities, or injuries. However, since belt advancement is awarded on personal improvement, anyone who preservers may reach the black belt level. The secret to earning a Taekwondo black belt is simple—commitment and perseverance.

Coloured belts signify the position/rank of each student in the dojang hierarchy. The higher the belt/rank, the higher the position, and the more respect deserved. After years of studying and training, a student may reach the top of the belt/rank hierarchy, the black belt level. Since rank is awarded based on tenure, performing certain minimum skills, and on making substantial personal improvement, it is a more a social and psychological status than it is an indicator of fighting ability. A higher rank many times indicates the person has higher tenure in the dojang/organization, not necessarily that the person has a higher skill level than persons of lower rank. Skill level does not always equate to rank. Just because a young red belt may be able to consistently beat an older 6th degree while sparring, it does not demean the 6th degree nor raise the red belt's esteem.

The practice of Taekwondo requires strict order and discipline, which comes from respect of the seniority of the belt system. The more respect a student has for the significance of the belt system, the more serious he or she may become in his or her Taekwondo training.

Purpose of Belts

In Korea, the ordinary belt is addressed as "horitti" or "yodae" (meaning waist belt). The belt used in Taekwondo is called "tti." In Taekwondo, the belt serves the utilitarian purpose of holding the uniform together, but its main purpose is to document a student’s progression through Taekwondo training. Just as the "The sapling is hidden amongst the taller oak trees and must fight its way upward," students must struggle to achieve Taekwondo proficiency. The belt system rewards them for their struggle and perseverance, and encourages them to develop their skills, discipline, and self-control so they may progress to even higher belt levels. Belt color denotes the proficiency level of the wearer and it is the outward expression of the wearer’s inner level of confidence and wisdom.

Belts also help an instructor properly manage a training class. From the front of a class, an instructor may quickly evaluate the training levels of the entire class by viewing the belts the students are wearing. An instructor may determine the following from the belts the students are wearing:

• Overall skill level of the class, using the number of yellow belts, green belts, blue belts, etc.

• Approximate skill level of each student.

• Approximate physical fitness level of each student.

• Approximate number of months/years each student has been training.

• Approximate level of commitment of each student.

• What patterns, step-sparring sequences, and techniques each student knows.

• What patterns, step-sparring sequences, and techniques each student needs to learn.

• Whether a student is allowed to free spar.

• Approximate sparring ability of each student.

An instructor may glean all this information from the belts students are wearing, whether it be in the instructor's own class or in a class with which the instructor is unfamiliar. Therefore, a visiting instructor knows how to manage a class of students he or she has never seen before.

Philosophy of Belts

In eastern philosophy, the concept of trinity (heaven, earth, and people) signifies the harmony of the universe. The parts of the Taekwondo uniform (jacket, pants, and belt) form a trinity. The jacket symbolizes heaven; the pants symbolize earth, and the belt symbolizes the "person" that ties it all together. As stated above, the colours of the Taekwondo belt also form a trinity. If you think of a human being as a trinity (consisting of a head, the body, and the extremities) then the body is at the centre of a human being, and the waist is at the centre of the body. Tying the Taekwondo belt around the waist signifies the desire to organize ones self and to unite the human trinity.

The belt helps students develop their ki/chi (inner energy) through the process of collecting and dispersing energy within their bodies. As the student puts on the belt, it encircles the waist two times and then the two ends meet at the centre of the waist (tanjon) where they are tied in a triangular shaped (trinity) knot that denotes the oneness of a person. The tanjon, considered the source of ki/life force/vital energy, is a point about three inches below the navel and deep inside the body and is thought to be the centre of the self. As a practical matter, it the approximate centre of balance of the body. Part of the knot usually touches the body in front of the tanjon, reminding the wearer of his or her personal source of ki or power. Thus, while putting on the belt, the student encircles and collects all energy from without and within into the tanjon and locks it there with a knot so he or she may disperse the energy freely throughout the body to achieve power, harmony, order, and enlightenment while practicing Taekwondo.