Judo Terminology

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Reading this glossary

Judo terminology connects people, places, practice methods, technique families and contest decisions. Use the glossary to find the Japanese spelling, kana reading, romanisation, meaning and usual setting of each term. Long vowels are shown with macrons; unaccented searches work as well.

Writing and pronunciation

Judo is written 柔道 and is romanised jūdō. The macrons mark long vowels; they are often omitted in ordinary English, producing the familiar spelling judo. The first character, jū, is commonly rendered as gentleness, flexibility, or yielding, while dō means a way or path.

Compound terms are normally written in lower case when used as common nouns. The IJF recommends a hyphen in many compounds, including nage-waza and katame-waza. English publications and organisations do not apply every convention identically, so variant spellings do not necessarily indicate different techniques.

Using the terms

Japanese names allow practitioners from different countries to identify the same technical reference, but pronunciation and English translation vary. A term should therefore be connected to its classification, movement, and context rather than learned as an isolated label.

The Judo page provides the broader historical and educational setting, while the IJF technique list supplies the standard names used in international competition.

Sources

• International Judo Federation, How to Write Judo.
• International Judo Federation, Judo Techniques.
• Tokyo Judo Federation, English Guide.
• British Judo, IJF and Kodokan Classification of Judo.
• Nippon Budokan, Introduction of Budō Disciplines.

IJF Sport and Organisation Rules, 14 August 2026; Judo Canada, Judo Lexicon.