Judo scoring, rules and judging
Ippon, waza-ari and the yuko brought back for 2026β28
Judo is scored on three descending scores β ippon (the instant win), waza-ari (two of which make an ippon), and yuko (reinstated for 2026β28, counted but never adding up to a waza-ari). Three shido penalties equal disqualification, and level contests are decided in golden score.
Judo Competition Formats & Judging
Competition Formats
Individual Weight Categories
Judo's core format is the individual, single-elimination bracket contested within a weight category. The Olympic programme uses seven weight classes for men (β60, β66, β73, β81, β90, β100, +100 kg) and seven for women (β48, β52, β57, β63, β70, β78, +78 kg).
Eliminated fighters can return through repechage, giving two bronze medals per category. Senior contests run for four minutes, with golden score added when the athletes finish level.
Mixed Team Event
The mixed team event, an Olympic medal event since Tokyo 2020, pits national teams of six β three men and three women β across a set of weight-category bouts.
Each bout is a normal judo contest, and the first team to win four bouts takes the tie. If the teams finish level on bouts, a single deciding category is drawn at random and fought to settle it.
How Judo Is Scored: the Judge's Toolkit
A judo contest is run by a mat referee, supported by a video-review commission. The referee awards scores and penalties in real time, and the scoreboard shows each athlete's ippon, waza-ari and yuko separately.
**Ippon** β the maximum score, which ends the contest immediately. Awarded for a throw landing the opponent largely on the back with control, force and speed; a 20-second pin (osae-komi); a submission to a strangle or elbow armlock; or two waza-ari combined.
**Waza-ari** β the half score, for a near-ippon throw missing one criterion or a 10-to-19-second pin. Two waza-ari combine into a match-ending ippon, and a single waza-ari beats any number of yuko.
**Yuko** β the lowest score, reinstated for the 2026β28 cycle. Awarded for a side landing 90 degrees or more toward the front, a landing on the buttocks or upper back, or a 5-to-9-second pin. Yuko are counted but never add up to a waza-ari; they only break ties.
**Shido** β a minor penalty for non-combativity, false attacks, stepping out or illegal grips such as leg grabs. Two shido can be given without deciding the contest, but a third shido becomes a hansoku-make. A shido never adds a score to the opponent.
**Hansoku-make** β disqualification. It arrives either as a third shido or directly for a serious or dangerous act, and hands the opponent the win by ippon.
The IJF uses the Care System β a video-replay setup in which a referee commission reviews contentious actions and can correct the mat referee. Combined with a fixed camera array, it helps confirm marginal calls such as whether a throw landed for ippon or waza-ari, or whether a pin met the required time.
Judo β an Olympic sport decided by clean technique
Judo is a grappling martial art founded by Jigoro Kano, who opened the Kodokan in Tokyo in 1882. It became an Olympic sport for men at Tokyo 1964 and for women at Barcelona 1992, and is governed today by the International Judo Federation (IJF), formed in 1951.
A contest is won not on a running points total but on discrete scores a referee awards for throws, pins and submissions. The order is strict: ippon (the instant win), then waza-ari (the half score), then yuko (the lowest score, reinstated for the 2026β28 cycle).
Senior contests last four minutes and, if level on scores, are settled in golden score. Judges also manage penalties β shido and hansoku-make β that shape most tactical, low-scoring bouts.
The Biggest Judo Competitions
Judo's calendar runs from the four-yearly Olympics through an annual world title to a year-round international circuit.
Olympic Games
The Olympic judo tournament is the sport's pinnacle, contested across 14 individual weight categories plus the mixed team event. Men's judo has featured since Tokyo 1964 and women's since Barcelona 1992. The 2026β28 rules, including the reinstated yuko, run through the qualification period toward Los Angeles 2028.
World Judo Championships
Held since 1956 and now staged annually outside Olympic years, the World Judo Championships crown individual world champions in every weight category plus a mixed team title. They are the most important annual test of the world's best judoka.
World Judo Tour
The IJF World Judo Tour is the sport's season-long circuit of Grand Slam, Grand Prix and Masters events. It awards world-ranking points that decide Olympic qualification and seeding, and is where new refereeing rules β such as the reinstated yuko β are trialled and settled.
Continental Championships
Each continent stages its own annual championship β among them the European, Pan-American, African, Asian and Oceania titles. These events feed the world ranking and serve as key qualifiers and proving grounds on the road to the World Championships and the Olympics.
Judo Equipment
Judo needs little gear, but what there is matters for both grip and officiating. Competitors fight barefoot on a matted area, in a uniform designed to be gripped, thrown and held.
Judogi (Uniform)
The judogi is the heavy cotton uniform β jacket, trousers and belt β built to withstand constant gripping and throwing. In competition one athlete wears a blue judogi and the other white, so referees, judges and spectators can tell them apart instantly.
Belt (Obi)
The obi (belt) both closes the jacket and marks the judoka's grade, running through coloured kyu ranks up to the black-belt dan grades. In elite competition the belt's practical job is to keep the jacket secure through the pulls and throws of a contest.
Tatami (Mat)
Contests take place on a tatami β interlocking mats that cushion falls. The layout marks a square contest area where scoring happens, surrounded by a safety zone; stepping out intentionally is penalised with shido.
The History of Judo
Kano and the Kodokan (1882)
Judo was created by Jigoro Kano, who distilled the throws and grappling of traditional jujutsu into a safer, principle-based system and opened the Kodokan dojo in Tokyo in 1882. Kano's philosophy β maximum efficiency, mutual welfare β shaped both the techniques and the sport's culture of respect.
Into the Olympics (1964β1992)
Men's judo debuted at the Tokyo 1964 Olympics, and the International Judo Federation, founded in 1951, standardised its international rules. Women's judo was a demonstration at Seoul 1988 before becoming a full medal event at Barcelona 1992, completing the Olympic programme.
Modern Scoring (2017β2026)
In 2017 the IJF simplified scoring to just ippon and waza-ari, removing the yuko (the koka had already gone in 2009). Praised for clarity, the two-score system sent many close contests to golden score. For the 2026β28 cycle the IJF reinstated the yuko, restoring a tie-breaking layer beneath waza-ari.
Related Guides
Frequently Asked Questions About Judo
Primary Sources
- New Rules: What to Remember (IJF Technical Meeting) β International Judo Federation
- IJF Documents (Sport and Organisation Rules) β International Judo Federation
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