Competition rules · The words of the mat
The main referee speaks only Japanese: commands, announcements of points and fouls, decision. Here are the words heard at the edge of the mat, grouped by moment of the bout, with what the rulebooks say about them.
Type at least two letters. Arrow keys move through the questions, Enter opens the chosen question, Escape closes the list.
From the opening bow to the final “yame”, what the main referee orders.
Red and white: the two competitors. Aka is the competitor with the lower bib number, on the left seen from the front; shiro, with the higher number, on the right. The judges raise the flag of the colour of the competitor they designate.
Sources WKO 2026 — Kumite rules, 4 · EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 17
Ready stance, feet apart, in which the competitors stand facing the front before the bow, outside the red and white centre lines.
Sources WKO 2026 — Kumite rules, 4
“Bow to the front”: the competitors (and the referee) bow to the official table. First of the three bows at the start of the bout, and at the end.
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing gestures, start of the bout; end of the bout · EKO 2019 — art. 17.5 and 17.6
“Bow to the main referee” (shushin). Second bow.
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing gestures, start of the bout · EKO 2019 — art. 17.5
“Bow to each other”: the competitors bow to one another. Third bow, before “kamaete”.
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing gestures, start of the bout · EKO 2019 — art. 17.5
“On guard”: take the fighting position. The main referee takes it too. Under the EKO rules, the command is not compulsory when it is not needed.
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing gestures, start of the bout · EKO 2019 — art. 17.5 and 17.6
“Begin”: the bout starts on this command from the main referee; so does the clock. The EKO rules specify that the referee marks the start with a gyaku-zuki gesture.
Sources WKO 2026 — Kumite rules, 5 · EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 17
“Stop”: the bout stops at once. The main referee orders it to announce a point, a foul, a jogai, to separate the competitors, to tidy a dogi, or to end the bout. A jogai takes effect on “yame”.
Sources WKO 2026 — Kumite rules, 5; jogai, b; refereeing gestures · EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 17
“Continue”: the bout resumes after a stop, and it is the order to attack when the competitors just stand and look at each other. Failing to engage promptly after “zokko” is a foul (WKO 2026).
Sources WKO 2026 — Kumite rules, 7; fouls, q · EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 17
On the main referee's “time” signal, the fighting time stops; it resumes on “zokko”. The EKO uses “time stop” to tidy a dogi.
Sources WKO 2026 — Kumite rules, 7 · EKO 2019 — art. 17.5, p. 16
“Face the front”: at the end of the bout, the competitors turn to the official table before the decision.
Sources EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 18 · WKO 2026 — End of the bout
“Corner judges, gather”: the main referee calls the four judges together to deliberate, for instance before a chui 2 or a disqualification for a single foul, or when a judge asks for a second opinion.
Sources EKO 2019 — art. 5.4; art. 17.6, p. 17 · WKO 2026 — Refereeing gestures, d and k
What the flags announce, and how the bout is decided.
Full point: immediate win. A permitted technique after which the opponent stays down or loses the will to fight for three seconds or more, or two waza-ari. Flag raised diagonally, long whistle.
Sources WKO 2026 — Ippon; refereeing gestures, a · EKO 2019 — art. 17.5, p. 15
Half point: a fall or loss of the will to fight with recovery in under three seconds, damage with loss of balance, or a sweep followed by a gedan-zuki. Flag held horizontally.
Sources WKO 2026 — Waza-ari; refereeing gestures, b · EKO 2019 — art. 17.5, p. 15
“Together, ippon”: the second waza-ari in the same bout makes an ippon. EKO announcement: “Shiro, … chudan-zuki, waza-ari” then “awasete ippon”.
“Effective technique”: a permitted strike that causes damage. If it prevents the opponent from continuing, the opponent loses (doctor's stop); without a point, the number of effective strikes weighs in the decision.
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing criteria, 5; decision, d · EKO 2019 — art. 5.5
Decision of the judges, when there is neither ippon nor disqualification. WKO 2026 priorities: the waza-ari, then damage, then the number of punches and kicks, then fighting spirit. Three votes out of five are needed.
“We take the decision”: the main referee announces that he will ask for the judgment, then says “hantei”; the judges then raise their flag with a whistle.
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing gestures, i; end of the bout · EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 18
One, two, three, four, five: the main referee counts the flags aloud, his own included, starting with the less numerous colour. Example: “hikiwake ichi, ni — aka ichi, ni, san: aka”.
Sources WKO 2026 — End of the bout, examples · EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 18
Draw: fewer than three votes for either competitor. Flags crossed in front of the knees; the referee crosses his arms downwards. An extension follows, then the decision by weight.
Sources WKO 2026 — Extensions, a; refereeing gestures, j · EKO 2019 — art. 17.5, p. 16
Extension. After a draw, a first extension; then, depending on the rules, a further extension (sai encho-sen), the weigh-in, and the final extension (saishu encho-sen), where a winner must be named.
Sources WKO 2026 — Extensions (encho-sen) · EKO 2019 — art. 6; art. 17.6, p. 17
“Not seen”: the corner judge crosses the flags with a short whistle; the bout goes on. Under the WKO 2026 rules, if three or more judges signal “miezu” on a fall, the main referee asks for the video check (VAR). The EKO says “fumei”.
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing criteria, 3; refereeing gestures, g · EKO 2019 — art. 17.5, p. 15
The names of the fouls and the scale of penalties.
Foul. The corner judge waves the offender's flag downwards with short whistles; the main referee announces the colour, counts, names the foul and gives the warning. Hansoku-make: loss by foul (chui 4).
Sources WKO 2026 — Fouls; refereeing gestures, d; decision criteria, 1 · EKO 2019 — art. 9; art. 17.5, p. 15
Warning. WKO 2026: chui 1 for a foul, chui 2 possible at once for an intentional or malicious foul, disqualification at chui 4. The referee points his forefinger at the offender: “chui ichi” (1), “chui ni” (2).
Sources WKO 2026 — Chui 1 and chui 2; refereeing gestures, d · EKO 2019 — art. 13
Penalty, in the EKO rules: two chui make “awasete genten ichi”, two penalties (genten ni) mean disqualification. The referee points his forefinger at the face; two fingers for genten ni. The WKO 2026 rules count in chui only.
Sources EKO 2019 — art. 13; art. 11.6 · WKO 2026 — Chui 1 and chui 2
Disqualification. The main referee raises his arm on the disqualified competitor's side and points outside the area. Grounds: chui 4 (genten ni under the EKO), disobedience, lateness or absence, violence, one minute face to face without fighting.
Sources WKO 2026 — Disqualification (shikkaku); refereeing gestures, k · EKO 2019 — art. 11
Attack to the face with the hand or the elbow: the most common foul. Announcement: “aka, ganmen kogeki, chui ichi”.
Sources WKO 2026 — Fouls, a · EKO 2019 — art. 9.1; art. 17.6, pp. 17-18
Attack to the groin, kick or otherwise.
Grabbing the dogi, hands or feet. Tsukami-ai: mutual grabbing, which the referee separates with “yame” before restarting; chui 1 possible for both.
Sources WKO 2026 — Fouls, d; refereeing gestures, e · EKO 2019 — art. 9.4; art. 17.5, p. 15
Hooking: hooking the hand onto the opponent's shoulder, neck, head or body.
Hugging and holding: the one who holds first commits the foul.
Push, with the palm (shotei), the fist, the head or the body; even with one hand. Pressing with both arms on the opponent's arm is also a foul; one hand on the forearm is allowed (WKO 2026).
Run-away attack: pretending to launch a technique while moving away.
Out of the area: both feet entirely outside the line. The judge taps the floor with the flag; the referee says “yame”, “jogai”, brings the competitors back to the centre and restarts with “zokko”. Repeatedly stepping out to flee is a foul.
Sources WKO 2026 — Jogai; fouls, p; refereeing gestures, f · EKO 2019 — art. 9.14; art. 17.5, p. 15
The names the referee says when announcing a point, and the body parts the rulebooks name.
Punch. Chudan-zuki to the body, gedan-zuki low (after a sweep), seiken: the closed fist. The WKO 2026 rules name it first among scoring techniques.
Sources WKO 2026 — Ippon and waza-ari · EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, pp. 18-19
Kick. Mae-geri (front), mawashi-geri (roundhouse: jodan to the head, chudan to the body, gedan to the thigh), ushiro-geri (back), yoko-geri (side), kakato-geri (heel), hiza-geri (knee): dojo vocabulary; the rulebooks cite mae-geri, mawashi-geri and do-mawashi kaiten-geri.
Sources WKO 2026 — Ippon and waza-ari · EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, pp. 18-19
Elbow strike. Can score to the body; prohibited to the face, the neck, and downward onto the shoulder or collarbone. Hiji is also one of the breaking techniques.
Sources WKO 2026 — Ippon and waza-ari; fouls, a and t · EKO 2019 — art. 16.5
Foot sweep. Alone, it does not score; followed by a well-timed gedan-zuki on the downed opponent, it scores waza-ari (WKO 2026).
Sources WKO 2026 — Waza-ari, d
Rolling kick, the body tipped over. Named in the WKO 2026 rules: if it is dodged and followed by a gedan-zuki, the opponent scores.
Sources WKO 2026 — Waza-ari, d
Knife hand and spear hand: hand techniques, hence prohibited to the face and the neck. Shuto is also one of the breaking techniques.
Ball of the foot and edge of the foot: the two surfaces named for the knee-kick foul. Sokuto is also a breaking technique (sokuto-geri).
The words of the breaking test, when it decides.
Board-breaking test, which decides certain bouts (EKO open category, finals of some tournaments). Four techniques under the EKO: seiken, sokuto, hiji, shuto.
Sources EKO 2019 — art. 16
“Turn around and bow”: at tameshiwari, after the bow to the front, the competitor turns, bows and says “Osu”, then “kamaete” and “hajime”: break.
Sources EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 19
Success: all the boards are broken. The official raises his arm to 45° and announces the competitor's name or number, the number of boards, “kansui”.
Sources EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 19
Who decides what around the area.
Main referee: he gives the commands, announces the points, the fouls and the decision, and has one vote out of five.
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing criteria, 1 and 2 · EKO 2019 — art. 5.1 and 5.3
Corner judge: four per bout, red and white flags and a whistle, one vote each.
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing criteria, 1 and 3 · EKO 2019 — art. 5.1 and 5.3
Head referee: every final decision concerning the competition is his; he conducts the video check with the supervisors (kansa).
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing criteria, 1 and 3 · EKO 2019 — art. 5.1
Doctor's stop: proposed by the tournament doctor when a competitor can no longer continue, declared by the referees after deliberation. After a foul technique, the offender loses; after an effective technique, the injured competitor loses.
Sources WKO 2026 — Refereeing criteria, 5 · EKO 2019 — art. 5.5 to 5.7
Common technique names (mae-geri, mawashi-geri…) are the dojo's vocabulary; refereeing words point to the texts. Spellings follow the rulebooks (zokko, hantei, shikkaku); zokkou and shikaku are also seen. The six flag-signal drawings are original drawings by the dojo (2026), made from the rulebooks' descriptions; they do not replace their text.
He stops the bout with “yame”, announces the colour of the waved flags, counts them aloud including his own, names the foul, points his forefinger at the offender and declares “chui ichi”. EKO example: “aka — ichi, ni, san, shi, go — tsukami, chui ichi”. The competitor answers “Osu!”.
Sources for this answer WKO 2026 — Refereeing gestures, d · EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 18
In the same way: “yame”, colour of the raised flags, count, name of the technique, then the arm raised diagonally for “ippon” or horizontally for “waza-ari”. EKO example: “aka — ichi, ni, san, shi, go — jodan mawashi-geri, ippon”.
Sources for this answer WKO 2026 — Refereeing gestures, a and b · EKO 2019 — art. 17.6, p. 19
Shomen ni rei (to the front, the official table), shushin ni rei (to the main referee), otagai ni rei (to each other). The same three bows open and close the bout; then “kamaete” and “hajime”.
Sources for this answer WKO 2026 — Refereeing gestures, start of the bout; end of the bout · EKO 2019 — art. 17.5
Every answer cites its text. The rulebooks belong to their organisations; when in doubt, the official document prevails.
Unofficial translation from Japanese (Claude, for the dojo, October 2026); the original text prevails.
Rules are there to be understood; the rest is learned at the dojo on Nuns’ Island, with a free first class.
