All Japan Badminton Championships

The All Japan Badminton Championships was established shortly after the creation of the Nippon Badminton Association (NBA) in 1946. The inaugural All Japan Championship was held on 8–9 May 1948, at the Second Normal School Women's Department Gymnasium in Tokyo.^[3] The first champions were Junichi Oka (Kanagawa) in men's singles and Taki Nakamura (Kanagawa) in women's singles. Mixed doubles was included as a discipline from the very first tournament, with the pair of Hiroko Oka and Isamu Mori (Kanagawa) taking the title.^[1]

The tournament is traditionally held annually. However, the official edition numbering contains an anomaly dating back to 1962. To adjust the tournament schedule to align with the fiscal year, the association held two championships in a single calendar year: the 15th edition (for the 1961 fiscal year) and the 16th edition (for the 1962 fiscal year).^[1]

In May 2026, the BAJ changed the tournament's scoring format to a "3 games of 15 points" system. Following the Badminton World Federation's (BWF) decision to adopt this new system for international competitions beginning in January 2027, the BAJ implemented the rule a year early across its domestic Category 1 tournaments, which includes the All Japan Championships. The association stated that the accelerated timeline was intended to prepare players for the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympics qualification race, as well as to mitigate nationwide issues regarding lengthy match times.^[4]

Athletes who meet any of the following criteria are eligible to participate:^[5]

• Those who placed in the top 8 in the previous year's tournament.
• Those who placed in the top 16 at this year's All Japan Members Badminton Championships.
• Those who placed in the top 4 at this year's All Japan Teachers' Badminton Championship.
• Those who placed in the top 4 at this year's All Japan High School Badminton Championships.
• Those who placed in the top 4 at this year's All Japan Junior Badminton Championships.
• Those who are ranked within the top 16 in the Japan National Ranking announced after this year's Japan Ranking Circuit Tournament.
• Those nominated from each region (one person and one group for each event).
• Nippon Badminton Association recommenders.

The All Japan Championships serves as the primary selection event for the Japanese national team. Under the official criteria set by the Badminton Association of Japan (BAJ), first-place winners in all five disciplines automatically qualify as National Team candidates for the upcoming year.^[6]

The tournament confers prestigious government awards upon its winners^[7]:

• Prime Minister's Cup: Awarded to the winners of the men's and women's singles categories.
• MEXT Cup: The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Cup is awarded to the winners of the men's, women's, and mixed doubles categories.
• BAJ Chairman's Cup: Awarded to the winners of all categories.