Arai sensei judging notes 2013

• Look at all 10 techniques in the test (5jo, 5tachi) look at the overall performance, don't concentrate on one or two mistakes, if one thing is bad and one thing is good, perhaps they even out. If it is generally a good performance for that rank, it should be a pass.
• Don't look critically at the performance, look at what is good. The challengers put a lot of work into their jo, it's up to us to recognize this and pass them. In Kendo the effort is apparent, in jo we have kata so we can look for more comprehension, in kendo there's one part to the performance, if they do well at that they pass. For jo we can look at more things more carefully, so we must keep this in mind. 
• We should look for ways to keep the students moving on in the ranks.
• At 4dan and above it is time to change our thinking on the challengers somewhat, if they miss the sword or lose their grip on a change it becomes a fail point so teach the upper grades not to miss or drop the weapon. 
• If the sword is stripped from the hands both sides come to osame, motono ichi and then bow and the tachi retrieves the sword. If it is the end of the kata move on to the next. If it happened in the middle, restart the kata. 
• If your partner is bad but not testing, or bad and testing (misses etc.) judges may restart the kata to give the other partner a chance. 
• Judges do not assign partners, the challenger must bring their own. Partners can be the same rank or one down (subject to availability).
• 6 to 8dan the partners are in a rotating system, and lined up by age similar to kendo, abcd, a tachi, b jo, then b tachi, c jo, c tachi, d jo, d tachi and a jo. 
• Time to grade is set, if you win a major tournament within one year of your test you may be allowed to grade early, the maximum early time is one year. 
• There are no juban in jodo
• Zekken for tournament, no zekken for gradings. Zekken must match the uniform, blue with white stitching for blue top. Writing on a hakama is fine, no need to cover. 
• Written tests: At 5dan and below, not for kyu in Tokyo, ie, 1-5dan. The test is given to the judges on the day of the test and they go through them then. In smaller areas they write the test on the day. You can fail for a bad test but usually you are asked to rewrite it. The written tests are read after the physical test is done. The test must be 100% sufficient for a pass. 
• Renshi: One year after 6dan, a written essay, you get one extra chance if you fail. 
• Location: up to 5dan is done locally, tests are sent to Tokyo and certificates issued from there. 6 and 7dan are two per year, one in Tokyo in January and one in August which moves around the 47 prefectures.
  
• Numbers: In Japan there are about 30,000 jo, 600,000 iai and 3 million kendo
• Judges, on the day do not speak to the challengers. Judges are separated physically from the challengers until the test. Once you enter the testing area the judges should not talk to each other. 
• There is usually a 30 minute seminar for the judges before the grading, this outlines what is happening in the grading and does NOT include things like how many people to pass etc.
• Tachi-ai speaks to the challengers and runs the grading, the judges simply judge. Dress for judges should be similar (suit and suit, keikogi and keikogi), in Japan ties can be any colour for a grading (red-orange for shiai).
• After the test the results are NOT discussed and the head judge will never reverse a decision. If a judge displays bad behaviour in marking etc, the head judge will talk to or remove the judge but his votes are never changed and the results stand. 
• Injuries are reported to tachi-ai and they are noted for the judges. 
• Pairs are lined up by age with youngest toward the judges and tachi on the judges right.