Judo glossary ============= The 107 Japanese words a judoka meets on the mat, in plain English. Every grading asks for some of these by name. Referee commands ---------------- What the referee says, and what you do when you hear it. Hajime: Begin. The referee starts or restarts the contest with it, and nothing counts before it is said. Hantei: Decision. The referee asks the officials to decide a contest that has no other result. Matte: Wait. The referee stops the contest temporarily; both judoka stop where they are and return to their starting places. Osaekomi: Holding. The referee calls it when a hold-down is properly on, and the clock for the hold starts. Sono-mama (also written Sonomama): Do not move. Both judoka freeze exactly as they are, usually so the referee can adjust something, and neither may improve their position. Sore-made (also written Soremade): That is all. The referee ends the contest with it. Toketa: Broken. The hold-down no longer counts and the clock stops; the contest continues. Yoshi: Carry on, after sono-mama. The pair resume from the position they were frozen in. Scores and penalties -------------------- How a contest is won, lost and stopped. Golden score: The extra time played when a contest is level on both waza-ari and yuko: no time limit, and the first score of any kind - a yuko will do - or the other contestant's third shido settles it. Hansoku-make: Disqualification. Awarded for a serious infringement, or for a third shido, and it ends the contest immediately. Hikiwake: A draw. Not a result in IJF competition, where a level contest goes to golden score, but used in team events, kohaku-shiai and some domestic rule sets that allow a contest to be tied. Ippon: One full point, and the end of the contest. Awarded for a throw largely on the back with control, speed and force, a twenty-second hold-down, or a submission. Maitta: I submit. Said aloud, though tapping twice on your partner, on yourself or on the mat is the usual and safest way to submit. Shido: A penalty for a rule infringement, such as non-combativity or a false attack. Three of them mean the contest is lost. Waza-ari: A half point in everything but name: a throw missing one of the elements of ippon, or a hold of ten to nineteen seconds. Two of them make ippon and end the contest, and nothing smaller ever adds up to one. Waza-ari-awasete-ippon: Two waza-ari combined into ippon. The contest ends there. Yuko: The smallest score, below waza-ari: a landing on the side or further forward, on the upper back, on a buttock or the neck, or a hold-down of five to nine seconds. Removed from international judo in 2017 and brought back for the current Olympic cycle. Yuko are counted but never add up to a waza-ari; they separate contestants otherwise level, and the first one wins golden score. Etiquette --------- The bows and the words that frame every practice. Arigato gozaimashita: Thank you, said after practising with a partner. Onegaishimasu: Please, or literally "I make a request": said to a partner before practising together. Rei: The bow. Judo begins and ends with it, on entering and leaving the mat and before and after practising with a partner. Ritsurei: The standing bow: from a straight standing position, bending forward from the waist about thirty degrees with the hands sliding down the thighs. Seiza: The formal kneeling position, sitting back on the heels with a straight back, from which zarei is made. Zarei: The kneeling bow, made from seiza with both hands placed on the mat in front of the knees. People ------ Who is who, on the mat and beside it. Judoka: A person who practises judo, at any grade. Kohai: A junior member of the club, behind you in experience, whom a sempai is expected to help. Sempai: A senior member of the club, ahead of you in experience. Sensei: Teacher. The coach on the mat. Shimpan: The referee. Tori: The one performing the technique. Every description in this reference is written from tori's side unless it says otherwise. Uke: The one receiving the technique. Being a good uke is a skill of its own: staying safe, giving honest resistance, and taking the fall well. Kit and place ------------- The suit, the belt, the mat and the room. Dojo: The place of training, literally "the place of the way". The room the mat is in, and by extension the club that trains there. Judogi: The judo suit: jacket, trousers and belt. Cotton, loose enough to grip, and always clean. Obi: The belt. It holds the jacket closed, carries the grade, and gives several techniques their name and their grip. Tatami: The mat. Firm enough to move on and soft enough to land on. Zori: Sandals, worn to and from the mat so that bare feet, and therefore the mat, stay clean. Training -------- What the parts of a session are called. Kake: The execution: the moment the throw is completed. Kata: A prearranged form, performed with a partner to a set pattern. Kata teaches the principle behind a technique rather than how to win with it. Kumi-kata: Gripping: how you take hold of your partner, and how you stop them taking hold of you. Kuzushi: Breaking the balance. The first of the three parts of a throw, and the one that decides whether the rest will work. Nagekomi: Throwing practice: repeating a throw all the way to the mat with a partner who takes the fall. Ne-waza (also written Newaza): Groundwork: everything that happens once the contest goes to the mat. Also the name for practice restricted to the ground. Randori: Free practice: both judoka attacking and defending freely, at a pace they agree. Not a contest, and the place most learning happens. Shiai: Contest. Judo under the competition rules, with a referee. Tandoku-renshu: Practice on your own, without a partner: the movement of a technique rehearsed solo. Tsukuri: Fitting in. Placing your body where it needs to be while your partner is off balance. Uchikomi: Repetition entries: turning in to a throw again and again without completing it, to make the entry automatic. Ukemi: Breakfalling: the skill of landing safely. The first thing anyone learns, and the reason judo can be practised at speed. Grades ------ The words for the grades themselves. Dan: A black-belt grade, counted upwards from 1st Dan (shodan). Kai: JudoScotland's grades for children aged five to seven, nine of them, marked with a coloured stripe or tab on the belt rather than a new belt each time. Kyu: A grade below black belt, counted downwards: 6th Kyu is the first, 1st Kyu the last before dan grades. Mon: The British Judo Association's junior grades, eighteen of them, taken by judoka under sixteen. Mudansha: A judoka who does not yet hold a dan grade. Shodan: First dan: the first black belt. Yudansha: A judoka who holds a dan grade. Groups of techniques -------------------- How judo sorts its own techniques. Ashi-waza: Foot and leg techniques: sweeps, hooks and reaps. Gokyo no waza: The five sets of throws, forty in all, that the Kodokan arranged as a teaching order in 1895. It is the backbone of this reference, and not the whole of judo. Kaeshi-waza: Counter techniques: turning your partner's attack into your own throw. Kansetsu-waza: Joint locks. In judo these are applied to the elbow only, and are restricted by age. Katame-waza: Grappling techniques, the ground family as a whole: hold-downs, strangles and joint locks together. Koshi-waza: Hip techniques: throws that load your partner across your hips. Ma-sutemi-waza: Rear sacrifice techniques: you fall straight onto your own back to throw. Nage-waza: Throwing techniques: everything that puts a standing partner on the mat. Osaekomi-waza: Hold-downs: pinning your partner's back to the mat and keeping it there. Renraku-waza: Combination techniques: one attack linked into another with a change of direction, so the answer to the first opens the second. Renzoku-waza: Continuation techniques: a second attack in the same direction as the first, riding the movement your opponent gives you rather than turning it around. Shime-waza: Strangles. Restricted by age in every federation, and always released the instant a partner taps. Shinmeisho no waza: The techniques the Kodokan recognised after the Gokyo was set: names like Obi-otoshi, Kuchiki-taoshi and the -gaeshi counters, real techniques that simply post-date the list. Sutemi-waza: Sacrifice techniques: throws where you give up your own standing position to make the throw work. Tachi-waza: Standing techniques: judo done on the feet. Te-waza: Hand techniques: throws driven mainly by the arms and hands. Waza: Technique. It ends the name of every group of techniques in judo. Yoko-sutemi-waza: Side sacrifice techniques: you fall onto your own side to throw. Reading a technique name ------------------------ The pieces every Japanese technique name is built from. Learn these and most names read themselves. Ashi: Foot, or leg. Eri: Lapel or collar. Gaeshi (also written Kaeshi): Reversal or counter: their attack becomes your throw. It is the ending that marks a counter technique. Gake: Hook: the leg hooks and stays, rather than sweeping through. Garami: Entanglement: the limb is bent and wound rather than straightened. Gari: Reap: the leg cuts your partner's leg away, like a scythe through grass. Gatame (also written Katame): Hold or lock: it ends the name of a hold-down and of an armlock alike. Written katame on its own. Goshi (also written Koshi): Hip. Written koshi on its own, and goshi at the end of a name: O-goshi, Harai-goshi. Guruma: Wheel: your partner rotates over a fixed point, as a wheel turns on its axle. Harai (also written Barai): Sweep: the leg brushes your partner's leg away along the mat. Often romanised "barai" inside a name, as in De-ashi-barai. Hiza: Knee. Jime (also written Shime): Strangle. Written shime on its own, and jime at the end of a name: Hadaka-jime. Juji: Cross, from the shape of the character for ten. The arms cross in Juji-gatame and in the cross strangles. Kata-: One, or single, as in Kata-gatame (single shoulder hold). Not the same word as kata, the prearranged form. Ko-: Minor, or small. Ko-soto-gari is the minor outer reap, the smaller cousin of O-soto-gari. Kubi: Neck. Kuzure-: Modified or broken: a variation on the standard form of a hold, as Kuzure-kesa-gatame is of Kesa-gatame. Mae: Front, or forward. Makikomi: Wrapping: you trap your partner's arm and roll them over with you as you fall. Migi and hidari: Right and left. Every description in this reference is written in the standard right-handed (migi) form. Morote: Two-handed, as in Morote-gari, the two-hand reap. Nage: Throw. O-: Major, or big. O-soto-gari is the major outer reap; O-uchi-gari the major inner one. Otoshi: Drop: your partner is dropped rather than lifted. Ryo-: Both, as in Ryote-jime, the two-hand strangle. Sankaku: Triangle: the shape the legs make around head and arm. Shiho: Four quarters, or four directions: the shiho holds control your partner from above across all four. Sode: Sleeve. Soto: Outer, or outside. In O-soto-gari the reap comes round the outside of the leg. Te: Hand. Tsurikomi: Lifting and pulling: the fishing-rod action of the hands that draws your partner up and forward onto their toes. Uchi: Inner, or inside. In O-uchi-gari the reaping leg comes from inside your partner's legs. Ude: Arm. Ushiro: Rear, or backward. Yoko: Side, or sideways. From Waza Book: https://wazabook.com/glossary/