On the other hand, I once trained with a "grandmaster", and when we were about to enter a tournament, we were instructed to refer to him as "sabumnim" (that means "instructor"). Hubris got the best of him, I think. But it does show that titles are arbitrary. You can call yourself any title you want, and no one can do a thing about it.
Lots of good answers here. Whats up with people giving all the thumbs down? I would not expect that on such a question and the answers that are here.... The term Grandmaster is one that is misused and is also one that has many different definitions. In the 1960's no one used the term grand master. For the first few years of my training the only time I heard it used or read it it was used to describe the head of the style. Now it seems like everything else martial arts related the term is being used to describe many people that don;t really meet the terms original definition. Titles used to be important and rare. People used to know that martial arts titles were rare and had a greater meaning than the way they are used today. Even the title of Sensei has been cheapened and misused way to often. Today ask any martial arts student what the term Sensei means and I'll bet 99% of them will say that Sensei means teacher. In reality it means much more than teacher. Sensei was intended to indicate "He who has gone before". It is meant to indicate someone that has a great skill set, knowledge level and experience level.
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Becoming such is recognition from the community of fellow practitioners of your lifetime of dedication to the art and the promotion of the same.
It also means that you have progressed well past the mere basics of the art and have transformed the same so as to have made it a personal expression of your life.
As Liondancer says. Most all traditional MA with a rank structure reserve the highest rankings for those who have attained a mastery of all aspects of the system, but also done a great deal of work promoting the system, teaching, researching, doing public-relations work... In other words, advancing the art in all ways.
These are almost always honorary awards... The person would have long since mastered the physical aspects of the art and in most cases is of advanced age.
Pretty much the head of the organization, at least for us. Out grandmaster is an 8th dan, but head of the organization. Hes the only grandmaster in our organization, so idk about ppl having multiple "grandmasters" in the same organization.
In my organization, we only have either one and two Grandmasters at a time, the president of our organization and his "number one," so to speak. So for us, a Grandmaster basically means the leader and highest ranking of our organization. We can't have our own Grandmaster for our own school.
Other ways to describe the difference between Grandmasters and Masters are that Grandmasters have more responsibility, rank, experience, and genuine respect than Masters.
They are not determined by a particular technique, but they definitely have to be proficient and knowledgeable.
It depends on the school and what their tradition is.
In my school it is said that the first 5 dan ranks are for your skill and the second five dan ranks are for what you give back to the art. So a master not only has skill but also serves the art, by supporting the school which is also cleaning and maintenance of the school, teaching, being a role model etc., whatever is needed to keep the tradition of the art.
I've been told you get it by achieving an 8th or 9th dan black belt but what do you have to do to advance to that level, like is there a set numbers of years you have to train after becoming a master or some difficult technique you need to master? Basically What separates a master from a grandmaster?
