During this study, a survey of awareness regarding judging technique by foreign kendo teachers (especially German kendoka) was conducted with the goal of collecting foundational data. The focus group naturally had to have judging experience, and from this data we attempted to ascertain what kind of instruction they personally received and what kind of process awareness they had. In order to determine what kind of characteristic patterns existed in the data, a chisquared test analysis was undertaken.
1. Survey participants said that the goal in kendo is the pursuit of internal personal growth. Simultaneously, many agreed that external judgements must be conducted by someone with a deep understanding of the technical elements of kendo.
2. Competition and tournaments are necessary in kendo as it is the location wherein one can confirm one's own growth.
3. During tournaments judges are crucial, and similarly, correct judging is a necessity. Furthermore, most of those people who understand the fundamentals of tournaments and judging are able to judge with confidence. Those with experience in tournaments and with judging similarly understand these critical roles played by judges in such circumstances.
4. During kendo judging, the results suggested a number of people with high experience levels are required. Additionally, that high level of required experience cannot be successfully utilized without the judge being an active kendo practitioner who continually polishes his or her skills.
5. In recent years, both the foreign kendo population and number of regional competitions have increased in Germany. The data is suggestive of a trend that has necessitated the learning of judgement skills even by low- ranking kendo practitioners from judges. Additionally, there is a trend that the longer the kendo history of a practitioner, the proportionally greater the amount of judging experience they tended to have. One cannot escape judging duties when abroad if one is experienced.
6. Most people learn how to judge by attending seminars designed to pass on such kendo-specific knowledge, and thus it can be assumed that such seminars are greatly helping the dissemination of judging knowledge. However, the increased accumulation of judging experience regarding match management, the identification of yukodatotsu standards and fouls, the flow of movement, and similar topics in both practice and actual matches remains critically important.

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