“I always say that it is not about grade, but about substance. Even if wearing a white belt, doing your best is what matters most. This is what I try to pass on.” – Yasuhiro Uema 9th dan Shubukan Shorin Ryu
.
If you are visiting another dojo outside of your group, or changing schools or styles, I believe that it’s good etiquette to take a white belt along with you when you train.
.
If you already hold grade in another martial art, remember that, unless the school is within the same organization as yours, you have no grade there.
.
Wear the white belt, and line up wherever the other beginners line up. But it’s also important that you don’t keep your experience a secret. If any of the other students or instructors ask about your experience, you should let them know how long you have been training, and in what art.
.
The instructor may ask you to wear your regular belt, but don’t assume that they will. If they do, it’s important to keep a white belt attitude. Be open to learning something new or different, regardless of the color of the belt around your waist.
.
Being awarded any grade, you must know that outside of your association, this can mean very little. Just because you may have been teaching and training for many years does not give you (or me) an automatic entitlement to the same grade in any other style, group or association. The thing to keep in mind is that a grade is a status within an organization, and the organization that bestows it.
.
Of course there is a general expectation that each belt “level” will roughly equate in overall competence to similar belts in other dojos in other styles.
.
But after the best part of almost five decades of training, I don’t think I can say I have “mastered” anything. While I feel I have made good progress, and I’m proud of the abilities I’ve developed, I am far from satisfied with any of it. There are still improvements that can be made. I’m still learning.
.
Grades, or belt rank, are without doubt one the most controversial aspects of the martial arts. They can cause many problems. But moving to another school or changing styles is not so much about forgetting everything you know and starting all over, but more about viewing the information from a new and different perspective.
.
Personally for me, it’s the recognition by the individual that matters to me, much more than the grade itself, or the certification from the larger group.
.
When the belt comes off, only ability remains…… Be humble, be honest, be respectful. 
.
.
.