Can you self promote in martial arts?

In all types of martial arts, self-promotion is a bit of a taboo subject. The reason for this is that it can often be done for the wrong reasons. In fact, very rarely is it justified at all and is often frowned upon. The reason for this is that it goes against what most martial arts stand for – which is against poser culture. Some people have no problems with others’ self-promotion, whereas others take it very seriously and despise fake black belts.

In this article, we shall assess whether it’s possible to self-promote and whether it’s a good or bad thing. Remember, some things in life aren’t always clear cut and context is key.

Is it possible to give yourself a black belt?

Technically, anyone can give themselves a black belt. However, a black belt without real training is arguably useless. For instance, someone who has never trained Karate could go out and buy a black belt and start wearing it. Of course, any true Karateka would be able to see past this and realize that it’s not genuine. With this in mind, what’s the point?

In less literal terms, you cannot give yourself a black belt. At least, this is completely unheard of in all martial arts. As all martial arts are based on hierarchy – this means there should always be a superior above you who can award you a promotion. So, there’s really no need to self-promote. In other words, it isn’t possible to give yourself a black belt unless you do so fraudulently.

You can self-promote if you create a new martial art

There is one way in which people can give themselves a black belt though. This is a somewhat controversial subject that involves creating a new martial arts. Often, people will do this to gain the prestige of owning a black belt. They may sometimes do this to create a new business based on their new found martial art. Often, these martial arts have giveaway names such as ‘Davejitsu’ as the owner is called Dave.

Of course, some of these martial arts may be legitimate but most are questionable. In other words, if there are no seniors above you in rank then it makes sense that you would have to self-promote to black belt. Just remember though, many of these made-up martial arts that aren’t mainstream often teach bullshido and should be avoided. Once again, the likelihood is these people gave themselves a black belt for image and nothing else.

When self-promotion is justified

So far, we’ve established that self-promotion is a bit of a dodgy topic within martial arts. Now we shall give an example of when it is more acceptable to self-promote. Imagine you’re born in a country or place where there are no martial arts nearby. Whilst most westerners may be alien to this concept, it’s certainly something that goes on. Even in backwater towns in the USA, this can happen.

Here, you may find someone who has put in the time and effort to become a black belt yet they have never received a single promotion. This is a very rare occurrence yet can happen. So, what do these people do? Most of the time, this issue can be resolved by contacting a local practitioner in the same discipline.

For instance, if you train BJJ and you’re stuck as a purple belt then you could arrange a black belt to test your skills. If good enough, you could be awarded a higher belt. Sometimes, people will travel to far locations to get a promotion if they’ve struck up a relationship with a senior practitioner.

Having said this, if this is completely impossible then it would be ok to self-promote. Ultimately, there are no rules that say against this and this falls under a case of extremely obscure circumstances. In other words, most people probably won’t judge you if they hear your story and see that you are indeed worthy of your rank. Still, if you promote far too early then you could upset a lot of people.

Conclusion

As seen, in most situations, self-promotion in martial arts is not justified and is questionable at best. However, in some cases it’s definitely justified if your situation is very unique and you have no other options.

In summary, self-promotion in martial arts does go on. At the same time, there is a saying The mats don’t lie which suggests that if you’re good enough, you’ll be able to prove it. With this philosophy, you can’t go wrong and it shows that ultimately, belts are just an indicator and aren’t the be-all and end-all of martial arts either.