In the TV program Purebato!! (Prebat!!), celebrities write haiku. The haiku teacher Natsui Itsuki rates each poem as sainō ari (talented), bonjin (ordinary) or sainō nashi (untalented). She also corrects each poem, cutting and changing words without mercy.
Stops and Flicks
On February 29, 2016, the Japanese Language Subcommittee of the Council for Cultural Affairs compiled a guideline on the shapes of the standard kanji, the Jōyō kanji. It says that if the framework of a handwritten character can be recognized, differences in detail should not be judged as errors.
A question-and-answer explanation of the guideline gives an example. The radical tehen, on the left side of many characters, is usually written with a flick at the end of its vertical stroke. Ending the stroke with a stop instead cannot be called an error.
Breaking the Form
Kata ga aru kara katayaburi, kata ga nakereba katanashi. Because there is a form, there can be form-breaking. Without a form, there is only formlessness. The saying plays on two words. Katayaburi, form-breaking, means unconventional. Katanashi, formless, means spoiled or ruined.
The saying is attributed to the kabuki actor Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII. Its wording varies. A school newsletter in Sapporo quotes the ending as tada no katanashi, mere formlessness. An original source for either version has not been found.
Starting from One Hundred
A Japanese driving school ends with a final driving test, the sotsugyō kentei. The examiner starts from 100 points and deducts points for each fault in the prescribed way of driving. The candidate needs 70 points to pass.
Scored Against the Melody
Seimitsu saiten, precise scoring, is the scoring system of the karaoke maker DAM. It rates the accuracy of pitch, expression, vibrato, long tones, stability and rhythm. The singer’s pitch is compared with the guide melody, which is made to follow the original song closely.
An explainer in ITmedia passes on the advice that where the guide melody differs from the original recording, following the guide melody raises the score.
Brush and Model
Under Japan’s national curriculum, pupils learn shosha, writing practice, with a brush in every grade from the third year of elementary school, with about 30 class hours a year.
In calligraphy, the student copies an otehon, a model. The teacher writes corrections and advice on each sheet in vermilion, shuhitsu. A calligraphy correspondence course of the company U-CAN returns every submission this way and sends the student models of his or her own name.
A Correct Shot Hits
Seisha hitchū (正射必中): a correct shot always hits. A maxim of kyūdō, Japanese archery. A publication of Chuo University explains it: an arrow released with the correct shooting form will surely hit.
Points Off for the Ruler
In February 2026, Shūeisha Online reported on elementary school tests that had drawn anger on social media. On a Japanese test, a pupil had matched three characters correctly with the games they wanted, but lost one point for each line, with the red-pen note “use a ruler.” On a science test, the answer “It lights up” lost points because it had no full stop.
An elementary school teacher in the Kanto region, in their thirties, explained the practice: “If something we mention in ordinary lessons is not done, we mark it with a triangle and a deduction, or with a cross.” The tests also teach the basics of working life: “Write carefully what others will look at, and use what you have learned.”
Kata
In the karate event kata, a competitor performs a fixed sequence of techniques against an imagined opponent. Before the Tokyo Olympics, nippon.com explained the scoring. Seven judges each rate a performance out of 10 points, in steps of 0.2. They assess the precision of the techniques, power, speed, rhythm and balance.
A performance scores higher when the judges can sense the imagined opponent and see that he has been defeated. Every punch and kick must be strong enough to shatter the opponent’s body if it landed.