# Years, compressed into stripes

> A belt system turns time into a visual scale anybody in the room can read instantly. Printing the bands is more accurate than printing a dragon, and it avoids a real problem.

August 17, 2026 · https://justog.club/stories/martial-arts-shirt

Horizontal bands stacked up the chest, each a different colour, with stripes at one end. Above
them, a circular crest with no writing in it.

That's a rank system, and it's the most information-dense object in any martial arts hall.

## Why is the belt the right subject?

Because it's a visual scale that encodes time, and everybody in the room reads it instantly.

Nobody has to ask how long somebody has trained. The colour says it, and the stripes refine it.
It's a public, non-verbal, universally understood measurement — which is unusual, and it's why the
system spread far beyond the art that invented it.

Printing the whole progression rather than just your own belt turns it from a boast into a
description of a path.

## Why no writing?

Because this is the category where borrowed script goes wrong most often.

Martial arts apparel is full of kanji and hanzi chosen for how they look, applied by people who
can't read them, sometimes meaning something entirely different from what was intended and
occasionally carrying political weight nobody wanted.

The rule is the same as everywhere:
[know what it says, verified by somebody who reads it](/stories/bilingual-text-on-a-shirt).
The safest and often strongest version is what's above — pure ornament, no characters at all.

## What goes in the crest?

A shape, not a word.

A circle, a mon-style geometric device, a stylised implement, an animal reduced to a silhouette.
The tradition of circular emblems is genuinely ancient and entirely visual, so there's a deep
vocabulary available that requires no script.

If a name is wanted, put it in the language the wearer actually speaks. A club name in English is
honest; a club name in a language nobody at the club reads is decoration pretending to be
heritage.

## Which art does this suit?

All of them, and the details differ enough to be worth getting right.

Judo, karate, taekwondo, BJJ and aikido all use coloured belts but with different orders, different
stripe conventions and different meanings. BJJ in particular has a very specific stripe system that
its practitioners will notice immediately.

Getting the progression right for the specific art is what makes it read as insider rather than
generic —
[the same standard as a correct wiring diagram](/stories/electrician-trade-shirt).

## Should it show my rank?

That's a real decision and worth making deliberately.

Showing the full progression is a statement about the journey and is safe socially. Showing *your*
belt is a rank claim worn in public, which in most of these arts is regarded as slightly poor
form — the belt is worn on the mat, not advertised off it.

Different schools feel differently about that, and the wearer knows theirs. It isn't a design
question; it's an etiquette one.

## Can it name a real school?

Your own, with permission from whoever runs it.

Schools, associations and federations have marks, and lineage names carry real weight in these
communities — using one you don't belong to is a social problem long before it's a legal one.

An invented club, or your own with the instructor's blessing, avoids both.

## Does it print well?

Very — horizontal bands are about as robust as a print gets.

Flat colour blocks with hard edges, stacked, with a simple crest above. No fine detail, no
gradients, and it reads from any distance. The stripes are the only small element and they should
be generous.

Black, indigo or charcoal grounds all suit it, and the belt colours provide the palette without
any further decision.

## How do I get one made?

Describe it at [JustOG](/) — the art, the belt progression, and what shape the crest should be.
Pick a direction, drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment, and it's made to
order and shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the [shop](/shop).

Nobody has to ask how long you've been doing this. That's what the colours are for.