Duration of contest

For the World championships and Olympic Games, the time duration of contests is, for men, 5 minutes of real contest time, for women, 4 minutes of real contest time.

A competition scoreboard displays scores of each contestant and time remaining.

Competition area

The competition area is divided into two zones (contest zone, safety zone). The demarcation between these two zones (danger zone) is indicated by a red area. The contest area within and including the danger zone is always of a minimum of 8m x 8m (a maximum of 10m x 10m). The area outside the danger zone (safety area) and is 3m wide.

Classification and double repechage

The method of competition is the elimination system with double repechage, i.e. for all categories the contestants will be divided into two tables by means of a draw, an elimination system will be used to produce two finalists.

All contestants defeated by the group winners A1, A2, B1 and B2 will take part in the repechage of their respective pools according to the elimination system. Their final contest will be against the loser of the final of each receptive other table. The winners of these two contests are placed « third », the losers are placed « fifth ». The « seventh » are the losers of the final repechage fights.

Position and function of judges

The judges are obliged to assist the referee and sit opposite each other at two corners outside the contest area. Each judge are obliged to indicate his opinion by making the appropriate official gesture, whenever his opinion differs from that of the referee on a technical evaluation or for a penalty announced by the referee.

Any technique applied when one or both contestants are outside the contest area will not be recognized. When a throw is started with both contestants inside the contest area, the action may be considered for point scoring purposes if the throwing action continues uninterrupted and the thrower stays within the contest area long enough for the effectiveness of the action to be clearly apparent. In ne waza the action is valid and may continue as long as either contestant as a part of the body touching the contest area.

In order to stop the contest temporarily the referee announces matte.
The timekeeper stops the clock at the call of matte.

Penalties

There are four levels of penalties in judo:

• shido or note
• chui or caution
• keikoku or warning
• hansoku make or disqualification

Penalties are not cumulative. Each penalty must be awarded at its own value. Whenever a contestant has already been penalized, any succeeding penalties for that contestant must always be awarded, at least, in the next higher value than his existing penalty.

Shido is awarded to any contestant who has committed a slight infringement, i.e. negative judo, false attack, more than 5 sec. in the danger zone without attacking

Chui is awarded to any contestant who has committed a serious infringement , or having been penalized shido, commits a second slight infringement i.e. to kick a hand or arm in order to make the opponent release his grip

Keikoku is awarded to any contestant who has committed a grave infringement, or having been penalized chui, commits further slight or serious infringement

Hansoku make is awarded to any contestant who has committed a very grave infringement, or having been penalized keikoku, commits a further infringement of any degree.

Scoring Waza Ari

The referee announces waza ari when in his opinion the applied technique corresponds to the following criteria:

(a) when a contestant, with control, throws the other contestant, but the technique is partially lacking in one of the three elements necessary for ippon (largely on the back, force, speed)

(b) when a contestant holds with osaekomi waza the other contestant who is unable to get away for 20 seconds or more, but less than 25 seconds.

The referee announces yuko

(a) when a contestant, with control, throws the other contestant but the technique is partially lacking in two of the other three elements necessary for ippon

(b) when a contestant holds with osaekomi waza the other contestant who is unable to get away for 15 seconds or more but less than 20 seconds.

The referee announces koka

(a) when in his opinion a contestant, with control, throws the other contestant onto one shoulder, or the thigh(s), or buttocks with speed and force.

(b) when a contestant holds with osaekomi waza the other contestant who is unable to get away for 10 seconds or more but less than 15 seconds.

When ippon is scored, the fight is over. The referee announces ippon when in his opinion an applied technique corresponds to the following criteria :

(a) when a contestant, in a controlled movement, throws the other contestant largely on his back with considerable force and speed

(b) when a contestant holds with osaekomi waza (grappling technique) the other contestant who is unable to get away for 25 seconds after the announcement of osaekomi

(c) when a contestant gives up by tapping twice or more with his hand or foot or says maitta generally as a result of a, shime waza (strangling technique) or kansetsu waza (arm lock technique)

d) when a contestant is incapacitated by a shime waza or kansetsu waza

Should one contestant gain a second waza ari in the contest the referee announces waza ari awasete ippon

The referee announces sogo gachi (compound win) when one contestant has gained a waza ari and his opponent subsequently receives a penalty of keikoku

Attacking Judo

In order to promote attacking judo, competition rules started by reducing time of contests. Twenty minute finals with prolongation time were not rare in the thirties. Contest time was later reduced to ten minutes then to five minutes of real time. But, it was only in 1976, that the referee call of matte stopped the time clock automatically. Before that time, he had to call jikan to stop the clock.

To-day, a penalty is attached to a step outside the mat. Similarly, defensive behavior or grips, false attacks i.e. actions that clearly do not intend to throw the opponent, passive attitude in the danger zone (generally more than five seconds) are no longer permitted. They are named negative judo and penalized. Now, scoreboards display who is in the lead of the fight, thus judo rules are designed to prevent non combatively and promote offensive attitudes.

IJF refereeing commission decisions aim at pinpointing the clarity of the fights in order to make judo contests more understandable for both specialists and non-specialists. This is the main reason why the International Judo Federation experimented and adopted blue judo uniforms despite the symbolic rupture entailed in that decision.

When Kano renewed old traditional jujutsu forms, he wanted his method to fit the social and cultural needs of Meiji period. To-day's judo rules refer to a similar desire. Innovations linked to the internationalizations and growth of judo practice, improvement of training, political and economic contexts are handled in respect of judo culture, history and traditions.

Traditions and Techniques

Judo rules aim at preserving traditions and technical specificity. For that purpose a bowing guide was issued according to which each contestant is required to bow onto and off the competition area and contest area at the start and end of each contest. After bowing onto the contest area the contestants move forward to their respective marks and must bow simultaneously towards each other and take a step forward.

However, judo fighters are allowed to express their creativity but between the guidelines of judo techniques. Pick ups and leg grabbing are good examples. They are considered as waza but the result of their action must be immediate. Some « unorthodox » techniques are applied. They are recognized as legal throws provided they are designed according to judo principles of kuzushi, tsukuri, kake and performed with real control. Among coaches and judo players, these new waza are currently called after the name of the champion who "invented" them.

Equality of Chances

The constant desire of judo leaders to preserve the equality of chances of the two contestants and to improve clarity of referees' decisions can be illustrated in many ways. One example can be given with the very controversial establishment of weight categories. When judo was accepted as an Olympic sport in July 1960, four weight classes were introduced: under 68 kg, under 80 kg, over 80 kg and open class. In 1967, two more divisions were added: under 63, under 70, under 80, under 93, over 93 and open class. In 1979, male judo fighters were divided into eight categories (including open class). The limits of the weight classes have been changed recently to reduce excessive weight differences: under 60, under 66, under 73, under 81, under 90, under 100, over 100, open class. For women, to-day weight divisions are: under 48, under 52, under 57, under 63, under 70, under 78, over 78.

The evolution of the way contestants are classified reflects a search for better objectivity. To-day, the elimination method of competition is compensated with a double repechage system, allowing someone beaten on the first row to reach the third place. Another example is the definition of scores below waza ari (koka and yuko) along with penalties of identical level (shido and chui) that was given in Lausanne in 1973. From this time the role of the judges became more significant. They were allowed to interfere with the referee's decision if they both were of the same opinion. A scoreboard was designed to make the process of the fight easier to follow for contestants, referees and spectators. Prior to this initiative, the referee and judges had to remember every single action over the entire duration of the contest. To-day's electronic scoreboards have been improved to increase their readability.

Nowadays, the size and width of the judo uniforms are strictly observed by referees to allow each contestant equal possibilities of grappling.

Safety of the Contestants

As Kano got rid of dangerous jujutsu techniques, one of the first safety rules of modern judo was to prohibit risky waza. First, locks were restricted to the elbow joint. Then, other techniques were banned in contests because of the incapacity they could cause like do jime (squeezing head or abdomen with the legs in a scissors movement), kawasu gake (leg entanglement), kani basami (scissors throw), waki gatame directly to the ground, uchi mata diving head on the mat.

In the meantime the ability to land in the bridge position was discouraged. The judges give the score to prevent subsequent injuries to the head.

Contest area that were installed, until the mid sixties, on an elevated platform (usually 6 inches high) were lowered at the mat level for safety reasons. Then, in 1972, the seven centimeter border line was turned into a one meter danger zone and the safety area was extended to 2.5 meters.