Art of the Sword

It is often pointed out that a purple belt knows almost as many moves as a black belt – he simply does not perform them as well, or combine them aswell, or at the correct time. Also, some fighters do very well with a small collection of moves that they can apply well in any situation – should they be ranked lower that another fighter who knows a lot of moves but applies none of them well? A more objective method is to test fighting skill. If one fighter always defeats another when they grapple, this might be taken as firm evidence that he deserves the higher rank... Rather, the extreme informality of the Brazilian style is a direct reflection of the fact that it is impossible to provide clear cut rules as to how people ought to be graded. The most we can do is to provide very general criteria. The individual decision must be left to an experienced instructor who will take a range of criteria into account. For example, the size and strength of the student, depth of technical knowledg...

"You must be well instructed in the four openings, if you wish to fight at all surely. For whatever cuts and devices you may execute, however good they may be, if you do not know how to break off in each quarter, and to transmute the intended devices, transforming them into another more appropriate attack, always depending on how he fights against you and counters your devices, then it can befall that you are planning on one device for a particular opening, and yet he conducts himself against you such that another opening is more accessible; this opportunity will escape you, if you execute your intended devices without heeding other opportunities." Meyer, Forgeng page 105