IJF Official Competition Series · 2026
The Art of Judo
An international circuit celebrating the mastery, tradition and philosophy of judo kata. Elite specialists from five continents compete in the most prestigious kata series organised by the International Judo Federation.
Featured Event
The North American debut of the Kata World Series — the final competitive stage before the World Championships in Sarajevo.
The Laval Kata World Series marks a historic first — the IJF Kata World Series arrives in North America. Hosted in the greater Montréal area, this landmark event brings the world's finest kata specialists to Canadian tatami for the very first time as part of the official IJF circuit.
Competitors will contest thirteen categories spanning Cadets through Seniors across all major disciplines including Nage-no-Kata, Katame-no-Kata, Kime-no-Kata, Ju-no-Kata, Kodokan Goshin-Jutsu, Koshiki-no-Kata and Itsutsu-no-Kata. Results count toward the IJF Kata World Rankings.
The 2026 Series
Four stages across three continents — each building toward the World Kata Championships. Results feed the IJF Kata World Rankings.
Season opener on the Bay of Biscay. A historic milestone — first IJF kata competition in Spain and first-ever cadet participation in an IJF kata event. 130 competitors from 10 countries. Spanish pairs dominated, closely challenged by Italy.
Record-breaking edition: 222 competitors from 16 countries across 3 continents. Eleven nations won medals. Italy led with 4 gold, Belgium earned 3 gold, Germany 2 gold. Organised by Judo Wallonie Bruxelles.
The North American debut of the series. Located just north of Montréal, Laval hosts this landmark event — the final stage before the World Championships. The ideal moment to secure ranking points and championship seeding before Sarajevo.
The pinnacle of kata competition. The IJF Kata World Championships bring together the world's top kata specialists seeded by the Kata World Series rankings. Only national delegations may compete.
Gallery
© IJF / Nicolas Messner · Official photos from Kata World Series 2026 — Gijón & Louvain-la-Neuve
The Discipline
Kata — literally meaning form — is one of the two fundamental pillars of judo alongside randori (free practice). In kata, two practitioners, Tori and Uke, perform a precise sequence of pre-arranged techniques in perfect synchrony, expressing the deepest principles of judo.
Founded by Jigoro Kano in the 1880s, kata embodies the philosophical depth of judo: precision, mutual respect, technical mastery, and the principle of seiryoku-zenyo — maximum efficiency with minimum effort.
"The idea is to create a world kata circuit that will allow us to determine a ranking list and seed players for the world championships. Our goal is to have 6 tournaments per year spread across five continents."Jean-Luc Rougé, 10th Dan · Chair, IJF Kata Commission
Nage-no-Kata · Kodokan Official Instructional Film
youtube.com/watch?v=m3XzJFuWwss
IJF Kata World Championships
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIvNtUFjthI
Partnerships
Associate your brand with the most prestigious kata competition circuit in the world. Local presence in Laval, international reach through the IJF's global network and JudoTV broadcast.
Resources
IJF.orgInternational Judo Federation — official governing body
Laval 2026Official IJF page — next stage, Canada
Louvain 2026Stage 2 — results and information
Gijón 2026Stage 1 — results and information
JudoTVOfficial broadcast partner — live and on demand
Kodokan GlobalKata reference, history and educational resources
IJF AcademyEducation, kata videos and judge resources