Kohai

Purity

White, the colour of innocence. The carrier has a blank spirit with relation to Karate techniques and the spiritual aspects of Karate. White is the symbol of purity, at least in the English and Japanese based cultures. The new white belt student might be described as pure, being completely ignorant of the requirements of the art. The purity is lost as soon as the first exercise is performed in the dojo. The pristine colour is gone forever through sweat and dust, and the journey through the colour spectrum begins. There is no shame in being a white belt and the instructor, more than the others, is aware of this because he or she too was one once.

In the Honbu dojo in Japan, while under Mas Oyama, the tradition was that uchi-deshi (live-in or full-time students) white belts would shave their heads as a sign of their dedication. The third year uchi-deshi, newly graduated blackbelts, also did this to indicate humility, symbolising the return to the spirit of a beginner.

10th / 9th

Stability

Red, the colour of the Japanese sun as pictured on its flag, as it sets at the end of the 'first day'. It shows that someone has sustained the 'first days' and whose capabilities and understanding is growing to further boundaries. In some countries or dojo, the red belt is not used. For a while, in Japan the white belt gains first one black stripe, then a second one. Currently (1997) the system for the IKO(1) is an orange belt. The reason for the change is that in some karate systems, the red belt actually denotes a very high rank e.g. 5th dan or higher, and to have junior kohai wearing such a belt would belittle those red-belted yudansha.

In the run-up to and throughout the red belt training, you develop the very basics of karate. You unlearn any ideas you had about how to fight, and you learn about your body. (Anyone who has been through this stage will tell you that this is where they learnt their body had muscles where they didn't even know they had places!) It is here too that you begin to develop a sense of balance and coordination between the various body parts, with an emphasis on stance.

You should also be familiar with dojo etiquette at this stage.

8th / 7th

Fluidity and Adaptability

Blue, Colour of the sky and the ocean, the carrier has aspirations to the horizon of Karate the spirit is as the depths of the ocean not yet explored.  While the red belt aspects of training must be continued, now the Karetaka begins to work on the upper body, strength, flexibility, and coordination. It is here that you learn to overcome the urge to "Take it easy", and if successful, training becomes a pleasure. The student begins to feel the benefits of training with an increased sense of well-being, a bigger bounce in ones step, and overall better fitness.

Here the Karateka must start taking control of mind and body. This might take the form of not showing the pain of being hit during sparring, not showing exhaustion during training, not wiping the drop of sweat of ones nose because one hasn't yet been told to, not yawning despite extreme tiredness etc...