EKF News Special

Referee seminar Brussels 11/12 February 2001

Mrs. Akemi van Acht-Kaneda has been so kind to translate the transcript of Goto sensei:

Foreword

Nowadays it is a big problem about the "disordered Kendo (Kendo no midare)". This means that the highest doctrine of Kendo is considered thus "winning". It is of course also important to win by competitions. However, it is a very serious question "how to win correctly".

To put it concretely, there are two questions for these problems: how to defend and how to do "tsuba-zeriai". It is conspicuous that many people lift up the left fist easily, so that the posture must be disordered. It seems that the competitors, who are studied and analysed how to win, have develop these questions in behalf of winning. However, we have to think that the way of Kendo is not a "technique (jyutsu)" but a "moral doctrine (dô/ michi)". Thus you should practice Kendo "heart by heart".

About 1850, a great swordsman Toranosuke Simada taught, "The sword is like the heart, if the heart is rightly the sword should be rightly, that's why you have to learn about the heart before to learn about the sword (Ken wa kokoro nari, kokoro tadashi karazareba ken mata tadashi karazu, ken wo manaban to hossuru monoha mazu kokoro wo manabubeshi)". There are the Kendo ideas: to correct the heart, to correct oneself, to correct the attitude, to correct behaviour. These ideas are connected with the character formation (ningen keisei).

I (Mr.Gotô sensei) was taught that my left fist was like my heart, when I began to learn Kendo. My teacher strictly said that I could win against opponents if my left fist was stable. Besides this, there are "four ills" or "shikai" in the heart: surprise, anxiety (fright), doubt and hesitation. If one of these ills comes up in your heart, you loose the "heijyôshin (stability or balance of the heart)" so that you cannot correctly judge or decide what you have to do. Mr. Gotô sensei believes that the disordered position of the left fist should cause these problems.

Everyone has to know that the situation "tsuba-zeriai" must be a unique circumstance in Kendo, because the most main situation of Kendo is basically the keeping and studying the distance to control the "kensen" to capture the centre line and to apply the techniques.

However, many people spend too much time for the "tsuba-zeriai" in the whole competition. The "tsuba-zeriai" will be the main occurring situation, but it is absolutely not correct. The "tsuba-zeriai" is a circumstance to make a chance to the next attack, not to rest or not to draw out time.

The ultimate purpose of the shiai (competition) is not winning. The shiai, literally in Japanese, means, "to attempt each other". The real purpose of the Kendo competition (shiai) is to obtain the teachings for the future. Unfortunately it is easier to say than to understand in current Kendo.

Kendo should just not be known as a sport, if you hope that Kendo should be propagated and developed, as the Japanese traditional culture in the world. That's why the leading role of instructors and referees should be more important than the competitors themselves.

The flourishing growth or the chaotic decay of Kendo depends on the suitability of the judgement in competitions. A person, who has an easygoing way of thinking, will never be allowed as a referee. Every referee must strictly realize that de destiny of Kendo depends on each judgement. It seems to be a little bit exaggerated, but it is true.

The referee's duty

The referee's duty is the correct judgement of victory or defeat. Especially the success of judgement about the "yûkô datotsu (valid strike)" is very important to decide the direction of Kendo, so that everyone has to read and understand well the whole regulations.

The referee's qualification

Mental side:

1.	To be a fair and disinterested person. It means that you are not emotional and not conscious of relations. And you do not use your discretion.
2.	To be a cool-headed, decisive, faithful person. The work of the referee means quick judgement. Therefore you should have a cool-headed mentality and should decide clearly as soon as possible. That is why you must be a person who has absolutely faith in yourself, to give a correct point.
3.	To be a consistent person. The criteria of the judgement must be consistently. You never judge case by case.

Technical side:

1.	Person who understands accurate knowledge about Kendo theories en logic. By judgement, the given point must be a 'struck' point, not just a 'hit' point. That is why you have to know the Kendo ideas and regulations to do judge correctly.
2.	Person who understands the whole regulations. The competitions are run by the regulations. As a referee you must know the regulations, like the policeman, who works with traffic regulations. The policeman cannot work if he does not know the traffic regulations. Otherwise it is very dangerous. If you understand the regulations you can solve all problems quickly.
3.	Person who practices well and has ample experience. It is difficult to apply your knowledge about the regulations in real situations. That is why you have to train again and again to gather useful experience.

Healthy side:

1.	Person who is healthily and has physical strength. It is said that the mental fatigue of the referee will be extremely high because of the extremely tension he/she uses. Therefore the referee needs an accurate physical strength. People, who do not have a good health and a good condition, need to refuse to be the referee.
2.	Person who can correctly see and hear. By the judgement the referee decides a point with the sense of sight, the sense of hearing and the sixth sense on the basic of experience. People, who miss one of those factors, should refuse to be the referee, because it is possible they cannot quickly react at all.
3.	Person who can speak articulately. The referee does not express a point only to raise the flag, but also to produce a sound with his/her faith for a same moment. The referee must clearly give a message both to the competitors and the audience, that a point has been given.

These are the minimal criteria for the referees. There are many matters you need to learn. I hope that you can further study hard.

Important matters in the Referee Method

You have to have a thorough knowledge of the Kendo competition referee regulations and its detailed regulations, and correctly have to understand the essential points of management. On the basis of it, you endeavour to activate competitions.

4 points;

1.	You endeavour to promote the correct and good competition on the basis of the relating the teaching method to it and the understanding plans and important matters.
2.	You endeavour to acquire a higher referee technique, and to develop the authority and dignity as a referee.
3.	You strictly have to ascertain the valid strike.
4.	You strictly have to ascertain the foul in the regulations. In the first place, it is the applying the unreasonable "tsuba-zeriai" and "wakare". And the unreasonable demanding calling off, in the second place.

The explanation of important matters in the Referee Method

Today, I want to explain about the important matters. After that I want to answer the questions about problems in connection with the regulations.

About 6 years ago the current regulations came into force. Since then, I understand that many people have studied about them. However I believe that you have realized that it is not good enough to judge correctly. Therefore you realize that you need enough experience.

We often hear that somebody says, "I cannot practice, but I can do the referee". This is the profanity to the work of the referee and all competitors.

The competitors do their best to survive to live. Their death or life depends on the judgement by the referee, so that the referee has a heavy responsibility to decide it. If you do not practice any more for so long, you should refuse to do that.

The Japanese characters "shimpan (referee)" mean that you have to judge clearly. Therefore you judge to apply the Referee Regulations on the basic of the ideas of Kendo. You never have to take it so easy. That's why you accurately study and understand all the regulations. If you have problems, you should solve them to think about the basic of Kendo.

Next, I will explain about 4 important matters. However this does not mean that you only have to know about them. These are especially the most important matters you must know.

1. You endeavour to promote the correct and good competition on the basis of relating the teaching method to it and understanding the plans and important matters.

Kendo is originally developed from Kenjutsu as an actual battle in the past. In the course of time, Kendo is systematized and developed to the changing societies. The original character of Kendo as the actual battle has changed to the educational character "the character formation" in the modern Kendo.

Therefore, the way of thinking, the technical system and the practice method in Kendo are firmly reflected in the educational method for the character formation. It is also obliviously if you understand the whole regulations.

However, according to the current competition it is not educational for which we have to strive. There are many problems. It is possible that we change the regulations by means of appending more prohibitions. Then, we may loose the real character of Kendo because of these too much prohibitions. The victory of defeat will depend on the quantities of prohibitions and fouls.

To apply a right competition, it is very important to teach the right Kendo and Nippon Kendo Kata. That's why you have to endeavour to relate the way of competitions to the teaching method. Thus the correct competition depends on how correctly you can teach.

2. You endeavour to acquire a higher referee technique, and to develop the authority and dignity as a referee.

You can never judge with the authority and dignity if you do not know the whole regulations, completely. This is like a policeman who does not know the traffic rules. He cannot work well and causes the chaos and dangerous situations.

This is the same thing. If you do not know the regulations you cannot be the referee. Without the understanding of the regulations you never have a capacity to solve any problems and cannot judge, simply said.

By the judgement of Kendo, you have to distinguish between a "touching" and "correct strike". For that you understand the theory and principle of Kendo and its logic. You should never be carried away by your feelings. And you do not consider your family relations if you are a referee. You must be fair and constantly.

The judgment occurs momently. You need an absolute faith in yourself to decide. By middle of the accurate training and experience, you can develop the authority and dignity as a referee.

3. You strictly have to ascertain the valid strike.

The valid strike contains the strike with the "kikentai icchi" (Read article 12) as the basis.

By other sports, people attach importance to win. However there are important things in Kendo about the strength of strike, the technical variation and the different morphological action (to thrust and to strike).

The referee synthetically judges a whole process from the beginning of attack, momentarily to the "zanshin" as the end of the action.

The judgement of the accurate spirit and the right posture depends on the knowledge and experience of the referee, so that each referee needs to study hard.

Especially, the referee has caused the changing of Kendo from "budo" to "sport", because many referees only attend to a momently action. They do not judge synthetically.

This case may be connected with the attention of audience. You do not want to be criticized by the audience, if you do not give a point. And you want to give the audience a good impression.

The typical matter of Kendo in relation to other sports, the judgement depends on an essential factor of the high level of the valid strike. The contents and process are important.

I concretely want to explain what is the "valid strike". For one purpose, the coherence between the physical movement and "shinai" handling is showed while the opponent makes a physical and mental opportunity, with showing an intension to attack and a necessary and sufficiently striking.

Further it is also important that the physical movement and "shinai" handling must be finished in the natural and stable posture. Therefore you will strictly judge from A to Z.

It is very difficult to do that. But these difficulties characterize Kendo, which you have to know. And you may allow being a referee because you understand those difficulties, the ideas of Kendo and its logic. It is much more work than the competitors.
The ascertainment of the valid strike is the core of Kendo. I request that you do not miss it.

4. You strictly have to ascertain the foul in the regulations. In the first place, it is the applying the unreasonable "tsuba-zeriai" and "wakare". And the unreasonable demanding calling off, in the second place.

Especially I want to discuss about the applying the unreasonable "tsuba-zeriai" and "wakare", and the unreasonable demanding calling off.

The basic explanation for the correct "tsuba-zeriai" is written in the bundle for the junior Kendo teaching (published by ZKNR).

However, it happens any cases of the unreasonable "tsuba-zeriai" during the competition, so that sometimes, you cannot strictly apply to do the correct "tsuba-zeriai".

The judgment about the incidental unreasonable "tsuba-zeriai" or the real unreasonable "tsuba-zeriai" can be done on the basic of the idea in the bundle for the junior Kendo and the experience of the teachers.

The aim of the article 29.4 is promoting to apply the technique positively for the situation "tsuba-zeriai" and to prevent the real unreasonable "tsuba-zeriai". There must occur the technique between the competitors, to make the "hiki-waza" or the "separating on purpose".

However, everyone just stands in the position of the "tsuba-zeriai", without an effort to make the technique. Besides that, if you are going to separate you cross the "shinai" conversely and your posture is disordered because of the bowing. This must cause the decrease of motivation during the competitions.

The movement from the "tsuba-zeriai" must be finished at a stretch, not gradually. Therefore it should be interpreted as a foul if you are going to separate very gradually and if you still continue to do the "tsuba-zeriai" without the observation of your opponent. Because you have no intension of attack and it is a waste of time.

The right "tsuba-zeriai" is a very useful moment to apply the technique. And it leads to a good motivation during the competitions. The competitors have to know what is the "tsuba-zeriai" and need to understand it. The criteria for the "wakare" are thus based on those questions: to learn and to understand the right "tsuba-zeriai".

At last I want to say about unreasonably calling to stop.
In the current competitions you will see many cases to demand calling off from the competitors. The competitors unnecessary discontinue the competition. And the chief referee (shushin) permits it easily without checking what happens.

According to the article 11, the competitor may demand to discontinue the competition if he/she has an accident. The referee correctly has to judge whether it is necessary or not according to the article 29.5. If it is not necessary, you have to give a foul.

There are some cases of what are acceptable situations: a dangerous situation, an injured situation, and an impossible situation to handle the "shinai" and a disordered "shinai" and so on. The impossible situation to handle the "shinai" is a little bit complicated. If people do not their best to avoid or correct this situation, it is not acceptable to request to stop immediately.

The referee strictly has to ascertain what is a necessary demand or not. Otherwise everyone demands to stop for a time if his/her condition is not advantageous.

"Valid strike (yûkô datotsu)"

English transcription of the Schema below (If the transcription cannot be seen please send e-mail to: info@ekf-eu.com  it has been made on a try out basis)

According to the article 12 is provided that the "valid strike" is the strike, which you correctly strike with the correct place (monouchi) of the "shinai"(hasuji tadashiku) on the correct place (datotsu bui) of your opponent with an accurate spirit and in a correct posture, finally you finish with "zanshin". The article 10 in the detailed regulations explains about that "hasuji tadashiku". The term "hasuji tadashiku" is explained as being that the strike direction of "shinai" and the direction of the cutting edge must be the in the same direction.

Thus, the "yûkô datotsu" is similar to the "kikentai icchi no datotsu". "Ki" of the "kikentai" means the absolutory victory against opponents by means of complete physical and mental strength. " "Ken" of the "kikentai" means that it should be struck by the correct handling of the "shinai"(the ways of "hasuji tadashiku" and "monouchi") on the correct place "datotsu bui" with reasonable strength. "Tai" of the "kikentaii" means that there is a correct posture during each strike and the correct physical and mental posture after the strike. The "kikentai icchi" consists of the situation if those elements occurs a same moment.