Making a Traditional Knot
Place the middle of the belt on your belly button. You can find the middle of the belt by letting the 2 ends of the belt dangle to the floor. The 2 sides of the belt should be equal in length when you hold it up to your belly button. It's very important to have both sides of the belt be equally long in order to tie your knot properly.
Run the belt around your back, crossing the 2 strands over each other. Take the left end of the belt in your right hand once it’s behind your back, and vice versa. Then, pull your hands forward to bring the ends of the belt back to the front of your body. The point where the 2 strands cross over each other should be located just above the small of your back.
Cross the left end of the belt over the right end. Lay the right end of the belt over your belly button first, then lay the left end over top of it. The belt should resemble an “X” after you do this. Make sure the 2 strands of the belt are still even in length before crossing them over each other here.
Loop the new right end under the belt and pull it out of the top. Do this with the end of the belt that is now located on the right side of your body. The end of the belt should end up above your belly button but still on your right side. You can give the 2 ends of the belt a slight tug at this point to make sure the belt is taut, although this isn't strictly necessary.
Cross the new right end of the belt with the new left end. Simply lay the right end over top of the left end, creating an “X” with the 2 ends. The 2 ends of the belt should be about equal in length as they jut out from the center of the "X."
Loop the right end of the belt under the left and pull them both tight. Put your left hand under the belt to grab the right end, then pull it up and through the loop. Finally, pull both ends of the belt at the same time to finish and tighten the knot. If you’ve tied the knot correctly, the 2 strands of the belt should still be equal in length.
Tying a Competition Style Knot
Hold the belt so that the right end is 2 to 3 inches (5.1 to 7.6 cm) shorter than the left. Place the belt in front of you and on top of your belly button when you do this. Having one end shorter than the other will give you enough extra length to wrap the belt around you twice. You don't want to leave the left end too long, since this will make your knot lopsided when you go to tie it later.
Wrap the long end of the belt around your back twice. Once the belt has been wrapped around you twice, make sure the 2 strands in front of you are equal in length. If they aren’t, you’ll need to start over from the beginning and adjust your starting lengths. The belt should be wrapped on top of itself in the back, with the left end of the belt crossing over the right end on the right side of the front of your body.
Take the left end of the belt and loop it under the entire belt. If you wrapped your obi correctly, the left end of the belt should be the one on top. Use your right hand to push the left end under the belt, then use your left hand to pull it all the way up and out.
Loop the bottom end of the belt between the 2 belt layers in the front. Bring the bottom end up and over the front of the belt, then insert it between the 2 layers. Leave a small loop on the top by not pushing the bottom end all the way through. The loop doesn't need to be huge; it just needs to be big enough to allow 1 end of the belt to pass through it.
Put the top belt end through the small loop and between the belt layers. Going from left to right, first push the top end of the belt through the small loop made by looping the bottom end between the 2 belt layers. Then, push the top end between these layers and pull it downwards. Once this is done, pull both ends of the belt to tighten it.
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