Judo Penalties and Infractions: Rules, Scoring and Kata Competition

Judo Penalties and Infractions

Similarly, there exists a system of scores and actions that are valid. There are other penalizations or infractions that are called judoka rules.

Terms and their meaning:

• Hansoku-make: is equivalent to the first action itself, the disqualification of the judoka. The penalized competitor is disqualified with 10 points, which means the opponent receives an ippon to conclude the match.
• Kikoku: penalties with kikoku are given for serious faults, and presuppose the first advertence with a penalization of 7 points. In the same way, one waza-ari is conceded to the opponent.
• Shido: a shido action is penalized with the first warning, which must be noticed by the arbitrator. It is equivalent to 5 points or one yuko conceded to the opponent.
• Passivity (Matte): a first penalization of 3 points is assigned when a lack of combativity is observed. The referee shall note the first action. It is equivalent to conceding one koka to the rival.

New Rules Established by the International Judo Federation

The new rules established by the International Judo Federation state that the sanctions for shido and kikoku are eliminatory. Only the passivity faults (tactical faults) are preserved, along with the Hansoku-make for serious faults that compromise the physical integrity of the competitors or go against the spirit of judo.

The penalizations can all add up to the elimination of the judoka. Within the prohibited actions in judo, which may be the cause of some of the previous penalizations, are: kicked, punched, biting, or scratching the opponent, and any action that may cause harm or pain. Joint locks must not be applied except to the elbow, and one must not strike the opponent's face or touch the rival judoka's hand.

Kata Competition

Some practitioners currently think that the privileged, competitive side of judo (shiai) has lost the chivalry and the confrontational essence of judo, which originated in a very difficult technique that is now very difficult to delineate. Those who do not enjoy the competitive side can broaden their knowledge and skills with the practice of established kata or forms, a part of judo just as in other martial arts. These allow each technique's particularities to be preserved and avoid deformation over time.

The established kata form is a set and must be performed without minimal variation. In Spain there exists a kata competition system, in which the katas are performed in front of a court that rates each participant. In a judo event, competitions are held where all katas have two roles: the attacker (tori), who executes the technique, and the defender (uke), who receives it.