Karate words · Intermediate

The words that make the commentary make sense. They build on the beginner words.

I · Intermediate · 22 words · Step 2 of 2

Checked 8 October 2026

Karate terms

Gyaku zuki

A reverse punch thrown from the rear hand, a fundamental scoring technique in karate sparring.

Mawashi geri

The Japanese term for a roundhouse kick.

Zanshin

Awareness of the opponent maintained during and after a technique. For a kumite score the technique must be delivered with it, and a competitor who turns away or falls after a technique does not score.

Kumite scoring and decisions

Jodan and chudan

The two scoring areas. Jodan is the area above the collarbone and chudan the body above the pelvis up to and including the collarbone, but not the shoulders. Gedan, the lower body, is not a scoring area, and attacks to the legs, groin and joints are prohibited.

Also called: gedan

Scoring criteria

A technique scores if it could have been effective had it not been controlled, and has six qualities: good form, sporting attitude, vigorous application, awareness of the opponent, good timing and correct distance. Only the first correct technique of an exchange scores, except in a combination, where the highest counts.

Control and skin touch

Techniques must be controlled. To the chudan they may land with controlled impact. To the jodan they score when stopped within 5 cm of the target for a kick and 2 cm for a hand technique (10 cm and 5 cm for cadets and under-14s), or with a light touch of the skin, but there must be no contact to the throat. Skin touch is defined as touching the target without passing energy into the head or helmet. From 2026 it is allowed in all age categories.

Video review

A request by a coach for the Video Review Judge to check for a score the judges missed or scored too low. Where coaches have the electronic equipment, the coach asks for a yuko, waza-ari or ippon and the Video Review Judge looks only for that score. The last six seconds before the stop are always reviewed, and the decision must come within 30 seconds. A coach whose request fails cannot ask again in that bout.

The ruleHow does video review work in karate?

Kumite penalties

Chui and hansoku chui

The official warnings. Chui is given up to three times for smaller infractions. Hansoku chui is a warning of disqualification, for a more serious infraction, or for any further infraction after three chui.

Hansoku and shikkaku

Hansoku is disqualification from the bout, for a very serious infraction or after hansoku chui. Shikkaku is disqualification from the whole tournament, for example for disobeying the referee or acting maliciously.

See also: Bout, Penalty, Disqualification, Referee

Kiken

Disqualification from a category when a competitor fails to appear when called, abandons a bout, cannot continue, or is withdrawn on the doctor's order. It does not affect other categories.

Prohibited behaviour

Includes excessive contact or contact to the throat, attacks to the arms, legs, groin, joints or instep, open-hand attacks to the face, dangerous throws, feigning injury, leaving the area, mubobi, avoiding combat, passivity, clinching and wrestling, grabbing, and attacks with the head, knees or elbows.

Jogai

Stepping out of the competition area with a foot or any part of the body. It is penalised unless the competitor was pushed or thrown out. From 2026 a competitor who scores and then leaves before the referee stops the bout, or who is outside when an opponent still inside scores, is not penalised.

Mubobi

Self-endangerment: being hit or hurt through one's own fault, for example by turning the back, attacking with no regard for the counter, dropping the guard or failing to block.

Passivity and avoiding combat

Passivity is not trying to score when behind or when the opponent leads by senshu. It cannot be given in the first or last 15 seconds, or to a competitor who is ahead. Avoiding combat is time-wasting such as constant retreating, clinching or leaving the area, and in the last 15 seconds costs at least hansoku chui and any senshu.

Kumite procedure

Ato shibaraku

The last 15 seconds of a kumite bout, signalled by a short buzzer. Special rules apply: no passivity penalty and no tsuzukete, and avoiding combat is penalised more heavily.

Kata

Bunkai

The meaning of the movements of a kata, shown as a demonstration of how they are used against an opponent. In team kata medal bouts the bunkai follows the kata with no bow between, and counts as much as the kata.

Official kata list

Only kata on the WKF list may be performed. Athletes and teams must perform a different kata in each round, up to five different ones, cannot repeat one twice in a row, and perform none more than twice.

Kata scoring

Each judge scores each performance from 5.0 to 10.0 in tenths, where 5.0 is the lowest for a kata that is accepted as performed and 0.0 means disqualification. From 2026 the scores are not added up: each judge's scores only decide which athlete that judge votes for, and the winner is the one with the most votes.

Kata criteria

Judges look at ten things: stances, techniques, transitional movements, timing and synchronisation, correct breathing, focus (kime), conformance to the basics (kihon), strength, speed and balance.

Kiai

The shout at the moment of a technique. It must be short and concentrated and made with the technique. From 2026 athletes must also announce the kata's name clearly and may be disqualified for repeated theatrics such as stamping or slapping the chest.

Kata faults and disqualification

Judges weigh faults such as minor loss of balance, an incomplete movement, asynchronous movement, an incorrect kiai, theatrics and time wasting. Disqualification follows from, among others, a wrong or unannounced kata, no bow, a distinct pause, omitting or adding movements, a fall, a belt falling off, or exceeding 5 minutes for kata and bunkai.

See also: Belt, Kata, Disqualification, Bunkai, Kiai

Team kata

A team of three or four athletes of one gender, of whom three perform together, in the same direction and in unison. In medal bouts they follow the kata with the bunkai.