The Sport

People from all age groups, male and female participate in judo, from 4 years old and younger in some cases, right through to 70 years old and higher. Some "judoka" or practitioners of judo participate at competitive and even internationally competitive levels, while some only for recreational purposes at club level without entering competitions. Competitions are run by categories based on age, gender and weight.

The sport is practised on "tatami", Japanese style mats and judoka practice wearing "judogi" or judo uniform. The uniform is specially constructed to withstand the pulling and tugging that occurs while fighting.

What does it compare to? Well, the closest comparison we can suggest if you have never seen judo is to imagine amatuer wrestling but with clothes. There is no punching or kicking and having clothing to hold on to adds a whole new dimension to the sport, making the techniques that are used very different from wrestling.

How does a judo competition work? 

In a judo competition, the area for the fight to take place is an area of generally 8m x 8m, surrounded by a safety area of 3m.  The safety area is indicated by a different colour tatami (mats) from the main competition area. To tell the contestant apart on competitor will wear a blue belt and the other a white belt, or at higher level competitions one will wear a blue judogi (uniform) and the other a white judogi.

The fight is controlled by the referee and two judges who sit in diagonally opposite corners of the mat. Although the referee will control the fight and the scoring, the officials work on a "majority of three" rule and the two judges can orverall the referee if they disagree.

Depending on age groups contest can last between 3-5 minutes, although an "ippon" score will end the contest immediately, and if scores are even at the end of time, the time will be extended to a "golden score" period where the first score of any value will end the fight.

There are four different scores in judo, in descending order - ippon, waza-ari, yuko and koka. While an ippon or two waza-ari will win the contest straight away, any number of yuko and koka can be accumalated.  The single highest score at the end of the contest decides the winner.  A judo scoreboard will display each competitors score from ippon on the right to koka on the left.  The easiest way to tell who is ahead is to read the scores as a number from left to right.

What are scores given for?

There are four ways of scoring. 

The first is throwing your opponent.  Depending on the quality of the throw and how the person lands the referee will award a score for the throw. To get the ippon you need to throw your partner with control largely on the back with speed and force.

The second way is with a hold down. The score for a hold down depend on how long you are able to hold your opponent for. It takes a 25 second hold down to be awarded ippon.  If they escape the hold down before this time, but kept it on for at least 10 seconds one of the minor scores will be awarded based on how long the hold down was.

The last way to score doesn't apply to children's divisions and that it from strangles or armlock.  The only score you can get for a strangle or armlock is ippon and this is awarded when your opponent submits by tapping twice or saying "maitta" (I give up).