Japan Games 2026 in Aomori: 80 editions of Japan's national games and a canoe sprint K1 final won by 0.058 s

Published

2026-10-16T13:32:15+00:00

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PaddleStats

The Japan Games, Japan's national multi-sport festival, reached its 80th edition in Aomori in 2026, and canoe sprint finished its 500 m programme on 16 October with a 0.058 s men's K1 final. Haruyuki Tomitsuka, racing for Wakayama, won it in 1:55.127 ahead of Taishi Tanada of Miyazaki, who had taken Asian Games K2 silver three weeks earlier.

The festival is called 国民スポーツ大会 (Kokumin Sports Taikai, "Kokusupo" for short) and, until 2023, 国民体育大会, the Kokutai. Outside Japan it is barely known. Inside Japan it is the one event where every prefecture sends a team, from Hokkaido to Okinawa, and where national-team paddlers race for the prefecture that registered them rather than for the flag.

Overview: Miyazaki, Gifu and Aomori lead after 500 m

Canoe at the Japan Games is scored like every other sport: places one to eight earn 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points, and every prefecture that takes part gets 10 points for entering. After the 500 m sprint finals and the September slalom and wildwater races, the provisional canoe standings for the Emperor's Cup, the men's and women's combined trophy, read as follows.

The host leads the canoe table for the Empress's Cup, the women's trophy, with 46 points to Miyazaki's 44.5 and Gifu's 33. Part of that came in September on the Iwaki River in Nishimeya village, where Aomori's 佐藤友香 won the women's 1,500 m wildwater race in 4:50.82. The men's race went to 西澤悠成, also of Aomori, in 4:19.80. On 16 October Rin Fukuda added the women's K1 500 m title on Tsugaru Shirakami Lake.

The 200 m programme still decides a lot. Heats and semi-finals are on 17 October, and all eleven 200 m finals follow on the morning of 18 October, between 10:00 and 10:50 local time.

A festival born in 1946

The first edition was held in 1946 in the Keihanshin region, centred on Kyoto, which had escaped war damage. The Aomori organisers describe its purpose plainly: to give the public "hope and courage" in the chaos after the war. The Ministry of Education has co-organised it since the 5th edition in 1950, and host prefectures since the 10th in 1955. Today the festival is organised jointly by the Japan Sport Association (JSPO), the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the host prefecture, and it is written into Article 26 of Japan's Basic Act on Sport.

The feature that defines it arrived in 1948, at the 3rd edition in Fukuoka. From then on, prefectures competed against each other in a points table, and the Emperor's Cup and the Empress's Cup were created for the winners.

The name changed by law. The Diet passed the amendment on 13 June 2018 and it took effect on 1 January 2023, replacing 国民体育大会 (National Physical Education Festival) with 国民スポーツ大会 (National Sports Festival). The 2023 event in Kagoshima, postponed from 2020 because of the pandemic, was still held as a "special" Kokutai. The first edition under the new name was the 78th, SAGA2024, and the English name became JAPAN GAMES.

Host rotation and who can race

Hosting rotates between three regions: East (Hokkaido, Tohoku and Kanto), Central and West. The second full rotation began with Kyoto in 1988, and hosts are already fixed up to Mie in 2035, the last edition of that cycle. A prefecture applies six years ahead; JSPO gives provisional approval five years ahead and confirms the host three years ahead.

Every sport runs qualifiers at prefectural level and, where needed, regional block events across nine blocks. Athletes from the host prefecture may skip the block qualifier. Adults (成年, seinen) must be 18 or older on 1 April of the event year; the youth category (少年, shōnen) covers athletes aged 15 to 17 on that date, which in practice means high school students.

An athlete can represent the prefecture where they live, work or study. Since 2004 adults may also use the ふるさと (furusato, hometown) rule and race for the prefecture of their elementary, junior high or high school. It can be used at most twice, each time for at least two years in a row.

Points from every official sport add up to the overall table. Since 1964 the host has almost always won the Emperor's Cup. Iwate in 2016 and Ehime in 2017 were exceptions, and in 2024 Tokyo won both trophies with 2,472 points to host Saga's 2,332. After 16 October 2026, Tokyo led the provisional Emperor's Cup with 1,762 points and Aomori was fifth with 1,322.5.

A festival under review

The future of the festival has been debated openly since 2024. On 8 April 2024 Yoshihiro Murai, governor of Miyagi and chair of the National Governors' Association, told his regular press conference that abolition was "one way of thinking", stressing it was his personal view. He pointed to the cost for host prefectures and to top athletes who do not take part. In March 2025 a JSPO expert panel backed keeping the festival and proposed spreading competitions across the year. In April 2026 the JSPO board decided to start that in 2032 with dance sport and fencing, which will still count towards the Emperor's Cup. On 1 October 2026 a JSPO working group proposed choosing future hosts by candidacy rather than by rotation.

Three canoe disciplines, sprint on a dam lake

Three canoe disciplines are official: sprint, slalom and wildwater. Canoe polo is not on the programme. Sprint is raced over 500 m and 200 m. Slalom has two separate events for each boat, one on a 25-gate course and one on a 15-gate course, and wildwater has a 1,500 m race and a sprint. Slalom and wildwater are for adults only. Canoe has 453 participants in total, and the youth K4 alternates each year between boys and girls; in 2026 it was a boys' event.

The slalom and wildwater races ran from 4 to 7 September on the Iwaki River in the Meya gorge. Mie's 齋藤康祐 won the men's K1 on both courses, 90.27 on 25 gates and 78.21 on 15. Chiba's 中嶋学人 won both men's C1 events, and Mie's 藤井南帆 both women's C1 events. Aomori's 矢澤一輝 (Kazuki Yazawa), who raced slalom K1 at the Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics, was fourth on 25 gates and fifth on 15. The women's K1 had two different winners: 長洲百香 of Chiba on 25 gates and 瀧口みなみ of Miyazaki on 15.

Sprint is held on Tsugaru Shirakami Lake, the reservoir of the Tsugaru Dam in the same village. All four categories, adult men, adult women, boys and girls, race there from 15 to 18 October.

Star athletes: Asian Games paddlers racing for their prefectures

Three weeks before Aomori, Japan hosted the canoe sprint events of the Asian Games 2026 in Miyoshi, Aichi. Many of Japan's Asian Games paddlers lined up again on Tsugaru Shirakami Lake, this time in prefectural colours.

Tanada took silver in the men's K2 500 m at the Asian Games with Masaya Tanaka, in 1:32.17, and finished fifth in the K1 500 m in 1:45.38. In Aomori he lost the K1 500 m by 0.058 s. Tomitsuka's 1:55.127 against Tanada's 1:55.185 was the closest of the eleven sprint finals on 16 October. Mizuki Aoki of Fukushima took bronze in 1:56.857, Tanaka was fourth in 1:57.349 and Keiji Mizumoto of Nagasaki, a Tokyo 2020 Olympian in the K4 500 m, fifth. Ryuji Matsushiro, who won Asian Games K4 bronze with Tanaka, Akihiro Inoue and Yuito Sakai, was sixth for Aichi. South Korea won that K4 final in 1:22.58.

The men's C1 500 m went to Ryo Naganuma of Miyagi, fifth in the C1 500 m at the Asian Games. He won in 2:16.663, 2.686 s ahead of Hikaru Sato of Saga. At the Asian Games Sato and Shungo Yoshida raced together in the C2 500 m and finished fifth. In Aomori they raced each other for different prefectures: Sato took silver, Yoshida finished fourth for Iwate. Kaito Nagai of Kochi was third in 2:20.587.

The women's K1 500 m gave the host its first sprint title. Fukuda, who took Asian Games bronze in the mixed K2 500 m with Inoue, won for Aomori in 2:21.873. Two of her teammates from the Asian Games K4, which finished fifth in Miyoshi with Haruna Kobayashi also in the boat, followed her: Juri Urada of Toyama, 0.782 s back, and Maya Hosomi of Nagano, 0.866 s back. Gifu's Mimori Fukao won the women's C1 500 m in 2:59.906, ahead of Teruko Kiriake of Fukuoka and Mio Kobayashi of Wakayama, entered in Aomori under the surname 熊井. Kiriake and Kobayashi had raced together in the Asian Games C2 500 m and finished sixth.

Boys' and girls' finals

In the youth races most crews come from a single high school, and a few prefectures send a selection. Toyama's K4 from Toyama Hokubu High School won the boys' race in 1:41.618, 0.216 s ahead of Kumamoto. Kagawa won the boys' K2 in 1:53.704, Shimane the boys' C2 in 2:11.557 and Kyoto the girls' K2 in 2:26.315.

The single boats gave three different prefectures a title. Fuki Osawa of Kumamoto won the boys' K1 500 m in 2:07.309. Kakeru Mizuno of Aichi took the boys' C1 in 2:23.553, and Yurara Hanaoka of Saga won the girls' K1 in 2:35.573, 0.260 s ahead of Yamagata's 佐藤和佳. Two finals had a capsize: a crew from Gunma in the boys' C2 and a paddler from Kumamoto in the girls' K1.

What's Next: 200 m finals on Sunday morning

The canoe programme ends on 18 October with the 200 m finals; those results will settle the final canoe standings. The Japan Games themselves close on 20 October at Maeda Arena in Aomori city, where the opening ceremony took place on 10 October. From 23 to 26 October Aomori then hosts the 25th National Sports Festival for People with Disabilities.

For the international picture, the Asian Games 2026 results remain the reference point for the paddlers who raced in Aomori: China won 8 of the 12 sprint events in Miyoshi, and Japan left with one silver and two bronze medals.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Japan Games (Kokusupo)?

It is Japan's national multi-sport festival, held every year since 1946, in which the 47 prefectures compete for the Emperor's Cup and the Empress's Cup. It was called the National Sports Festival (Kokutai) until 2023 and became the Japan Games from the Saga edition in 2024.

Where and when is canoe sprint raced at Aomori 2026?

On Tsugaru Shirakami Lake, the reservoir of the Tsugaru Dam in Nishimeya village, from 15 to 18 October 2026. The 500 m races were held on 15 and 16 October, and the 200 m races on 17 and 18 October.

Who won the men's K1 500 m at the Japan Games 2026?

Haruyuki Tomitsuka of Wakayama won in 1:55.127. Taishi Tanada of Miyazaki was second in 1:55.185, 0.058 s behind, and Mizuki Aoki of Fukushima third in 1:56.857.

How are points scored in canoe at the Japan Games?

Each event awards 8 points for first place down to 1 point for eighth, and each prefecture gets 10 participation points for entering the sport. Canoe points count towards the overall Emperor's Cup and, for women's events, the Empress's Cup.

Is canoe polo part of the Japan Games?

No. The official canoe programme covers sprint, slalom and wildwater only.

Will Aomori win the canoe Empress's Cup at home?

Aomori leads the provisional canoe table for the Empress's Cup with 46 points, 1.5 ahead of Miyazaki, but the women's and girls' 200 m races are still to come on 17 and 18 October. One final can overturn a margin like that: a win is worth 8 points and third place 6, so the 200 m finals will decide it.

Can the host still win the overall Emperor's Cup?

Hosts have almost always won it since 1964, but not every time: Iwate in 2016, Ehime in 2017 and Saga in 2024 did not. After 16 October Aomori was fifth with 1,322.5 points, 439.5 behind Tokyo, with the festival running until 20 October.

Is the Japan Games going to be abolished?

No decision of that kind has been made. Miyagi governor Yoshihiro Murai called abolition "one way of thinking" in 2024, but a JSPO expert panel backed keeping and reforming the festival in 2025: year-round scheduling for some sports from 2032 and, under a proposal of 1 October 2026, hosts chosen by candidacy.

Rin Fukuda's win on 16 October gave Aomori its first sprint title of 2026. The prefecture last hosted the festival 49 years ago, at the 1977 "Asunaro Kokutai", and won the Emperor's Cup that year. The 200 m finals on 18 October will decide whether the host keeps the lead in the canoe Empress's Cup.

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