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Tameshigiri
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Taikai (Sword Tournament)

These guides are for students and instructors at the Konjaku Kioi dojo and any spectators / competitors at taikai sponsored by the dojo.  All competitors and seminar participants are required to read and understand the rules.  Spectators may want to understand the competition better by reading these guides.

• Taikai Rules
  • General Dojo Rules
  • Seminar Rules
  • Competition Rules
• Judging Guide
  • Acting As A Judge (Shinpan) 
  • Acting As A Witness (Tachiainin) 
  • Judgment of Tameshigiri 
  • Standard Cutting Patterns
  • Judgment of Kata

Toyama Ryu Batto Jutsu is not a sport. It is a discipline, an educational process for training the mind, body and spirit. We must try to think of the competition area as a dojo no matter where it is located. Please help maintain this environment by keeping down the noise level and refraining from flash photography. The competitors will be using real swords that are dangerous enough without distractions. 
In addition to the opening and closing ceremonies, you will be seeing three types of events. The first are demonstrations of skill. These are performed by top ranked martial artists. They show aspects of the martial arts represented by the judges and competitors.

There will be two type of competitions following the demonstrations.  The first type are predetermined exercises called kata.  Kata involve a single person performing a series of blocks and attacks against opponents only existing in the imagination of the practitioner. Japanese Kata are not long flashy shows with twirling blades and gymnastics.  They are short and focused.  They teach the student the essentials of movement and timing.  The second type of events are competitions of cutting skill. Competitors will perform a series of cuts on rolled-up Japanese tatami mat targets.  These events include Tameshigiri (long sword / katana cutting), Wakizashi Tameshigiri (short sword cutting), Team Tameshigiri (three person teams executing cuts on a single target), and Dodan (test of cutting power on a large stack of targets).   Cutting exercises teach students how effectively apply the cutting power of the Japanese sword.

Most of the competitions will be single elimination. The single elimination tournament may seem harsh to us. One mistake and you are out of the competition. It is not easy to deal with being eliminated in the first round. We must put the competition in the proper perspective of Japanese Swordsmanship. When two opponents face each other, only one moves on to the next fight. The winner is the last person standing. The officiating team will have 3 or 5 judges. They will each raise a red or white flag to indicate the winner. They will raise both flags crossed to indicate that both competitors should been disqualified. The result of the round is the ruling of the majority of judges. A competition may have up to seven rounds. Multiple events may be occurring at the same time. Don't worry about missing something important. The finals for events are scheduled separately so everyone can watch.