Basic Judo - Scoring System

Maurice Allan: Hi, my name is Maurice Allan. I am a 7th degree Black Belt in judo, and we are going to do the basics of Judo and how points are scored and I am going to use Steve, my partner here.

I am just going to try to throw him down. I am just going to roll him on his back so that you see a lot more clear how points are scored. But if I throw Steve, either to the front or to the back and he ends up like that on his back, the referee at that point will signal ippon, right. An ippon is the end of the match, just like in a boxing match if somebody knocks somebody out, it is the end of the match. In this case, if he falls flat on his back, that is the end of the match. That can happen in the first second or the last second. Now if I throw him and he does not quite go into his back, he goes maybe onto his side like this, this would be a waza-ari, that's a half a point and the referee will signal by doing that, half point. If I throw him again and instead of going on his back for an ippon, instead of going on his side for a waza-ari, he lands right on his side like that, the referee would signal 'Yuko'. So the highest score is an ippon, that ends the match.

A waza-ari is a half a point. Yuko is the next highest score. Then if I knock him on his bum here and knock him down like that onto his bum, that would be signified by a 'Koka.

' So the highest score, ippon, end of the match. Waza-ari, half a point. Yuko, next score down, Koka' the lower score down.

When you go into ground work and you can maybe throw somebody for a Waza-ari, which would be indicated like that by the referee, I can follow him into ground work to trying another, an additional score. Now if I end up into his legs like this, no matter how tight I am holding him I can be, his back can be flat on the ground. That is nothing. If I compassed him and compassed his legs, like this and his legs crossed over mine, it does not count. I am going to dig in my leg over there. So when I hold him, what happens is, the referee will say 'Osaekomi' and he will indicate like this, that means I have got direct pressure on his chest on to the ground, alright. Now I can hold him in all different directions, but the main thing is kick through these legs. If you hold him for 25 seconds on the ground, that is as good as throwing him flat on his back. If I am holding Steve and Steve is, I am squeezing him so tight, he is uncomfortable, he will tap my back. I let him go. That is a universal sign for submission. Or his feet, if he taps his feet, that means stop. Most of the time it is done by the hands and most of the time it's when somebody is been choked or arm-locked. Occasionally, when somebody has been held down, if I am feeling they are losing their breath, they would tap, the referee will just indicate ippon, the end of the match.

In the next segment now let us do some basic judo throws.