On: Inside the world of longsword fighting

[krapp]

I heard that originally, you put on a white belt, and you just bled and sweated on it and got pounded into the dirt with it until it turned black with the accumulated filth of experience. Then you were a black belt.

I don't know if it's true, but it's a nice image.

[jdmichal → krapp]

Considering that the concept of a colored belt system arose sometime around the 1880's [0], a nice image is likely all it is.

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_belt_%28martial_arts%29#O...