Complete guide to managing Ashihara karate tournaments with Tatami.
Tatami is a tournament management system for Ashihara karate (knockdown / Sabaki rules). It handles the full tournament workflow: fighter registration, category management, bracket generation, live scoring, and real-time public displays.
Full access. Create tournaments, manage categories, fighters, entries, brackets, scoring, user accounts — everything.
Can access the scoring interface on tatamis. Typically the person sitting at each tatami running the scores on a tablet.
Can access tournament pages to check in fighters. Cannot score matches or manage users.
These pages are meant for TVs and spectator phones — no login needed:
Go to Tournaments
Click Tournaments in the top navigation bar. You'll see a list of all existing tournaments.
Create a New Tournament
Click Create Tournament. Fill in the name, date (dd/mm/yyyy), and location. Click Create.
Tournament Overview
After creating, you'll land on the tournament overview page. From here, you can navigate to Categories, Entries, Tatamis, and Brackets using the clickable cards.
Edit Tournament Details
On the overview page, click Edit to change the name, date, location, or status (Draft / Active / Completed).
Categories define the divisions fighters compete in. Each category has gender, age range, weight range, bracket type, and fight settings.
Open Categories
From the tournament overview, click the Categories card.
Add a Category
Click Add Category and fill in the form:
💡 Tip
For small groups (4-5 fighters), Round Robin is ideal — every fighter gets to fight. For larger groups (6+), Single Elimination is faster. Round Robin groups are automatically split into pools of up to 5 fighters.
ℹ About Regulation vs Extension Rounds
Ashihara matches typically run 1 regulation round. If the score is tied at the end, an extension round is awarded automatically. Set Regulation Rounds = 1 and Extension Rounds = 1 for the standard format. The scoring panel handles this automatically — see section 8.
Drag categories to reorder them (the display order is used in brackets and exports). Click Edit on any category to change settings, or Delete to remove it. Click a category name to expand and see assigned fighters.
Fighters are stored globally — they can enter multiple tournaments. Register them once, then assign them to tournament categories.
Go to Fighters
Click Fighters in the top navigation. You'll see a searchable list of all registered fighters.
Add a Fighter
Click Add Fighter and fill in:
Search Fighters
Use the search box to find fighters by name or club (minimum 2 characters).
Once fighters are registered and categories are created, you assign fighters to categories for this specific tournament.
Open Entries
From the tournament overview, click the Entries card.
Add an Entry
Click Add Entry. Search for an existing fighter by name, select them, then choose which category they'll fight in. Optionally record their weigh-in weight.
Weigh-In
The Measured Weight field is where you record the fighter's official weigh-in weight. It defaults to the fighter's registered weight but can be changed.
Check-In
On tournament day, click the Checked In badge next to each fighter to toggle their check-in status. Only checked-in fighters will be included when generating brackets.
⚠ Important
Only fighters marked as Checked In will appear in the generated brackets. If a fighter doesn't show up, leave them unchecked — they'll be excluded automatically.
Tatamis are the fighting areas. Each tatami gets its own scoring interface, scoreboard display, and match queue.
Open Tatamis
From the tournament overview, click the Tatamis card.
Add a Tatami
Click Add Tatami and give it a name (e.g. "Tatami 1", "Main Ring"). Create one for each physical tatami area you'll have.
Quick Links
Each tatami card shows buttons to open the Scoreboard and Queue pages directly — use these to set up the TVs.
After check-in is complete, generate the brackets. This creates all match pairings.
Open Brackets
From the tournament overview, click the Brackets card.
Generate per Category
Each category row has a Generate button. Click it to create the match pairings. For Round Robin categories, fighters are split into pools of up to 5 with all pairings created. For Single Elimination, a seeded bracket is created with automatic BYEs if needed.
Assign Categories to Tatamis
Use the Tatami dropdown next to each category and click Assign. This links all matches of that category to the chosen tatami. You can assign multiple categories to the same tatami — they'll be queued in order.
View Brackets
Click on a category name to expand its bracket view. Round Robin shows a table of all matches per pool. Single Elimination shows matches grouped by round (Round 1, Semi-Final, Final).
For Round Robin pools, a Pool Standings table is shown above the pool matches. It updates as completed matches come in and ranks fighters by wins, then point difference, then points scored. The header also shows progress (e.g. 4/6 matches) and whether standings are Live or Final.
Regenerate
If you made a mistake or a fighter withdrew, you can click Regenerate to recreate the bracket. This deletes all existing matches for that category and generates new ones.
Export Rankings PDF
Use Export Pool Rankings PDF on the Brackets page to download a full snapshot of the current standings for all Round Robin pools in the tournament. You can export this at any time during the event.
💡 Tip
Generate brackets only after all fighters have checked in. If someone checks in late, you'll need to regenerate the affected category's brackets.
The scoring page is the main interface used during the tournament. One person (admin or supervisor) operates it per tatami, typically on a tablet or laptop.
URL: /tatami/{id}/scoring — requires login as Admin or Supervisor.
When you open the scoring page, it automatically selects the first pending match on that tatami. You'll see both fighter names displayed.
Click the large green START MATCH button to begin. The match status changes to "In Progress" and the scoreboard updates live.
The screen splits into two sides — Fighter 1 (left/blue) and Fighter 2 (right/red):
Fighter 1 (Blue)
+1, +2, +3 — Award points
-1 — Remove a point (correction)
+Penalty — Add a penalty (foul)
Reset — Clear penalties for this round
Fighter 2 (Red)
+1, +2, +3 — Award points
-1 — Remove a point (correction)
+Penalty — Add a penalty (foul)
Reset — Clear penalties for this round
Points are saved instantly — every tap updates the scoreboard in real-time.
Once the match is started, a large countdown timer appears in the dark bar. Controls:
When the timer hits 00:00 it auto-pauses. The timer is shared with the public scoreboard — spectators see the same countdown live.
By default a fight has 1 regulation round. The round tabs at the top of the scoring area show only the rounds that are unlocked. Extension rounds appear automatically only if a tie forces them.
Use END ROUND (amber button at the bottom) when the round timer ends. The system then:
You can also click any unlocked tab to manually review or edit the score of a previous round.
Below the scoring area, each judge has two buttons — one for each fighter. Click to record which fighter the judge voted for. This is used when the result method is Decision.
Most of the time you'll let END ROUND handle submission. Use SUBMIT RESULT directly when you need to force-close a match early, e.g. for an ippon or withdrawal.
Choose the Result Method:
Click SUBMIT RESULT. You'll be asked to confirm. After submission:
The bottom of the scoring page shows Upcoming Matches and Recent Results. Click any upcoming match to switch to it (e.g. if you need to score matches out of order).
URL: /tournaments/{id}/match-order
After generating brackets and assigning categories to tatamis, open Match Order from the tournament overview to fine-tune the run order on each tatami.
URL: /tatami/{id}/scoreboard — no login needed.
This is the main TV display for each tatami. Open it in full-screen mode on a TV or large monitor placed behind or beside the tatami area.
tatami.danaila.me/tatami/1/scoreboard (replace 1 with the tatami ID).💡 Tip
You can find the tatami ID by going to the Tatamis page in the admin panel. The ID is visible in the URLs of the Scoreboard/Queue buttons, or check the Tatamis card on the tournament overview.
URL: /tatami/{id}/queue — no login needed.
Shows the list of upcoming matches for a tatami. Put this on a second TV or monitor near the tatami so fighters know when to prepare.
Set it up the same way as the scoreboard — open in browser, go full-screen with F11.
URL: /tournament/{id}/live — no login needed.
This is the page you share with spectators. It's mobile-friendly and shows all tatamis at once in a grid.
💡 Tip
Share the live URL with parents, coaches, and spectators. They can follow the tournament from anywhere — even from home if the server is accessible on the internet.
Categories PDF
From the Categories page of a tournament, click Export PDF to download a printable list of all categories with their assigned fighters — useful for the registration desk and judges.
Fighters PDF
From the Fighters page, click Export PDF to download the full fighter directory with names, clubs, gender, age, weight and rank.
Public Fighters Table
URL: /fighters/public — no login. A read-only searchable list of all registered fighters that you can share with clubs to verify their members.
Admin only. Go to Users in the navigation.
Create Supervisor Accounts
For each person operating a tatami scoring tablet, create a Supervisor account. They only need to log in and access /tatami/{id}/scoring.
Create Check-in Staff Accounts
For the person handling weigh-in and check-in, create a Check-in Staff account. They can access the tournament entries page.
☐ All fighters registered in the system
☐ Categories created with correct settings
☐ Tatamis created (one per physical mat area)
☐ Supervisor accounts created for tatami operators
☐ TVs and tablets charged and ready
☐ Weigh-in: record measured weights on the Entries page
☐ Check-in: toggle "Checked In" for each fighter who showed up
☐ Set tournament status to Active
☐ Generate brackets for all categories
☐ Assign each category to a tatami
☐ Adjust run order on the Match Order page if needed
☐ Open scoreboard URL on each tatami's TV (full-screen)
☐ Open queue URL on the second monitor (if available)
☐ Open scoring URL on each tatami operator's tablet
☐ Share the live results URL with spectators
☐ Tatami operators: Start Match → Start Timer → Score → End Round (extension auto-unlocks if tied)
☐ Matches auto-advance to the next one
☐ Scoreboards & queues update automatically
☐ For Round Robin categories, monitor Pool Standings in Brackets to track live group ranking
☐ Set tournament status to Completed
☐ Review brackets for final standings