Blogpost Special – Judging Points for Iaido and Jodo

Just between me finishing off the 3-part (or possibly more) article I am writing at the moment on the Suio Ryu Taikai I thought I would quickly bash off a short posting on judging points for iaido and jodo. Considering the emphasis that Ishido Sensei has given to these at recent event I think they can be considered to be useful points to concentrate on whether one is training for a taikai, towards a grading or simply deepening their training experience. The points are taken from a section in each art’s judging rules and comes as a list of items to consider in no particular order of emphasis. I have translated specialist words where necessary if they happen to be terms which the exponent might want to learn (I have omitted well-known words such as chiburi where if the reader doesn’t know them then they need to learn fast).

It is slightly interesting that both iaido and jodo essentially require the same criteria albeit there are one or two specific to the art.

I hope you find these useful…

Jodo Shiai – Refereeing Rules (Originally Published 1^st July 1997)

1. Fullness of spirit.
2. Correct posture.
3. Correct balance of strength and softness of strikes and thrusts.
4. Ma (timing) and ma’ai (distance).
5. Metsuke.
6. Zanshin.
7. Reiho.
8. Ki-jo-tai no ittsu (Spirit-jo-body as one).
9. Whether it is logical as budo.
10. Accordance with the ZNKR Technical Manual – special points for consideration for examinations and taikai.

Iaido Shiai – Refereeing Rules (Originally Published 1^st October 1996)

1. Depth of practice.
2. Reigi (correct behaviour and etiquette).
3. Technique:
   1. Correct nukitsuke and kiritsuke (drawing and cutting).
   2. Correct sayabanare and hasuji (release of sword and blade angle).
   3. Correct chiburi with angle.
   4. Correct noto.
4. Kokorogamae (preparedness, readiness):
   1. Calmness.
   2. Metsuke.
   3. Kihaku (spirit, vigour), zanshin, ma (timing) and ma’ai (distance).
5. Ki-ken-tai no ittsu (Spirit-sword-body as one).
6. Whether it is logical as budo.
7. Accordance with the ZNKR Technical Manual – special points for consideration for examinations and taikai.