[Machater]

Let's get some terms straight. Fumikomi is the technique where you raise the foot off the ground and land on it again in sync with the cut. We call the footwork fumikomi-ashi and the technique tobikomi-men or fumikomi-men (or -whatever point). I don't know what to call the sound that results from that other than the "stomp". So there's two interpretations to the question. 1. Do I need to use fumikomi-ashi to score a point and 2. If I use fumikomi-ashi do I need to have a stomp sound.

The answer to both questions is no. For 1, the judges are looking for ki-ken-tai-ichi and you can demonstrate this with fumikomi-ashi or suri-ashi or ayumi-ashi. For 2, the sound is a side effect of the technique. So long as your body and your sword are together, you're OK by me.

Caveat for answer #1 - if you're a beginner (< 3 dan) then you should work on getting your fumikomi-ashi right before trying other footwork. Also the reality of judging is that if they hear that stomp and that thwack together, the flag is more likely to go up.

Caveat for answer #2 - if you don't have a sound then your fumikomi-ashi is probably wrong, or you are quite a light person.

Also I disagree that you need to raise your foot high to get good distance. If your foot is more than a few inches off the floor, it's too high, fix it. Goose-stepping kendo is always wrong and jumping kendo is high school stuff. Most of us here need proper adult kendo technique.