Japan National Team member Yuhi Shinbata of Tokyo prefecture and Kimie Takebe of Osaka emerged as men’s and women’s Masters champions in the MEXT (Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology) Cup All Japan Bowling Championships.

The 54th edition of the prestigious event was held from March 17-20 at Inazawa Grand Bowl in Inazawa-Shi, Aichi-Ken, the biggest bowling center in the world with 116 lanes on one floor. The Championships drew 519 bowlers, 315 men and 204 women, from 50 local associations.

Pictured above: L-R Masters champions Yuhi Shinbata and Kimie Takebe. All photos courtesy of Japan Bowling Congress.

Men and women competed in separate division for national titles in Doubles, Trios, six-player Team event (six games each) and All Events (18-game total). The top 26 bowlers in the men’s division and the top 20 women in All Events qualified for Masters finals, where they played 12 games scratch for the title.

Shinbata averaged 236.75 to win the men’s Masters title with 2841 pinfall total, 69 pins ahead of Shusaku Asato of Aichi, who was second with 2772. Katsuhito Nakano of Fukuoka was third with 2736.

On the women’s side, Takebe led three-time winner Misaki Mukotani of Chiba by 52 pins to claim the women’s Masters title with 2725 and an average of 227.08. Mukotani had to settle for second place with 2673. Yoko Sugawara of Iwate rounded out the top 3 with 2643.

For the eighth time in the history of the Championships and the seventh consecutive year, the men’s Minister’s Cup went to the prefecture of Aichi. Chiba edged Osaka by total pins to receive the women’s Minister’s Cup for the third time.

54th All Japan Bowling Championships – Men’s Division

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Men’s Masters
Top 6 with 12-game pinfall total

1. Yuhi Shinbata (Tokyo) 2841
2. Shusaku Asato (Aichi) 2772
3. Katsuhito Nakano (Fukuoka) 2736
4. Shogo Wada (Wakayama) 2668
5. Kazune Obama (Hokkaido) 2627
6. Ryota Kawasaki (Okayama) 2624

Men’s six-player Teams
Top 6 with 36-game pinfall

1. Aichi B, 7793
Yutaro Yamada, Yuta Kondo, Kosuke Shirai,
Takuma Echigo, Hiroya Tamura, Hisamitsu Nonoyama
2. Ehime A, 7408
Kohei Oshita, Manabu Imai, Takayuki Torao,
Kodai Takahashi, Kazuki Tamanoi, Kazuo Takagi
3. IBAJ, 7403
Ryota Yakuwa, Daiki Yamamoto, Kenta Yoshida,
Ryo Kawakami, Ryoji Kawabe, Yugo Imakita
4. Hiroshima A, 7310
Atsushi Higashiyama, Tatoru Osaki, Akio Ooka,
So Hoshikawa, Tomoya Yamamoto, Yasuo Nabae
5. Okayama A, 7308
Shinji Kawanami, Takumi Shinsha, Jun Mizutani,
Ryota Kawasaki, Kazuhiro Otsuki, Junpei Iino
6. Osaka A, 7298
Naruto Yamada, Akihiro Mimura, Tsuneo Hamada,
Yuto Moriya, Norio Kitada, Masaaki Takemoto

Men’s Trios
Top 6 with 18-game pinfall

1. Osaka A, 4074
Masaaki Takemoto, Yuto Moriya, Tsuneo Hamada
2. Aichi A, 4057
Sayato Takahira, Yu Yoshida, Shusaku Asato
3. Kanagawa A, 3910
Tomoyuki Sasaki, Osamu Kikuchi, Masami Tanaka
4. Gunma A, 3894
Takahito Fukuda, Yuta Ishikawa, Takuya Miyazawa
5. Aichi B, 3869
Mitsuhiro Otsuki, Masahiro Hibi, Seiji Watanabe
6. Oita A, 3861
Ryo Oaki, Takayuki Susumu, Tadashi Ogata

Men’s Doubles
Top 6 with 12-game pinfall

1. Kanagawa B, 3000
Yuta Saito, Koichi Kawada
2. Osaka A, 2806
Masaaki Takemoto, Tsuneo Hamada
3. Okayama C, 2765
Ryota Kawasaki, Kazuhiro Otsuki
4. Shizuoka B, 2759
Takashi Fujimura, Masashi Yamamoto
5. Aichi D, 2731
Hiroya Tamura, Hisamitsu Nonoyama
6. IBAJ A, 2724
Yugo Imakita, Kenta Yoshida

Men’s All Events
Top 3 with 18-game pinfall

1. Yasuo Nabae (Hiroshima) 4105
2. Hisamitsu Nonoyama (Aichi) 4102
3. Takuya Miyazawa (Gunma) 4096

Men’s High Game and High Series
(pictured left to right)
High Game: 300 – Masaaki Takemoto (Osaka), Yuta Takagi (Mie),
Kazune Obama (Hokkaido) and Shinnosuke Naito (IBAJ)
High Series: 814 – Yuta Saito (Kanagawa)

52nd All Japan Bowling Championships – Women’s Division

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Women’s Masters
Top 6 with 12-game pinfall total

1. Kimie Takebe (Osaka) 2725
2. Misaki Mukotani (Chiba) 2673
3. Yoko Sugawara (Iwate) 2643
4. Hikaru Takekawa (Gifu) 2639
5. Mirai Ishimoto (IBAJ) 2566
6. Yuki Katakabe (Aichi) 2557
IBAJ: Intercollegiate Bowling Association of Japan

Women’s six-player Teams
Top 6 with 36-game pinfall

1. Aichi A, 7209
Ai Yamanouchi, Akiho Mizutani, Sara Watanabe,
Wakana Mizutani, Yuki Katakabe, Yuka Yopshida
2. Osaka A, 7141
Rika Yamamoto, Ayumi Yamazaki, Maki Nakano,
Tomoko Kyoi, Natsuki Obata, Kimie Takebe
3. Fukuoka A, 7071
Ami Fujita, Narumi Yamaguchi, Miwa Watanabe,
Kanae Furuta, Miyu Matsuda, Mitsuki Okamoto
4. Shizuoka A, 7029
Konomi Furuta, Mari Ozawa, Ikue Sasaki,
Haruna Nojima, Haru Suzuki, Mizuho Ono
5. Chiba A, 6947
Kana Shimoide, Mariko Ishii, Misaki Mukotani,
Yuna Mukotani, Miki Takayama, Ayako Ishii
6. Mie A, 6831
Mayumi Hamada, Ayaka Kushida, Tomoko Aranishi,
Rin Sakakura, Tomoko Yoshikawa, Honami Yanagawa

Women’s Trios
Top 6 with 18-game pinfall

1. Chiba A, 3922
Kana Shimoide, Mariko Ishii, Misaki Mukotani
2. Shizuoka B, 3884
Konomi Furuta, Haru Suzuki, Mari Ozawa
3. Osaka A, 3794
Maki Nakano, Rika Yamamoto, Kimie Takebe
4. Kumamoto A, 3772
Futaba Imai, Chika Shimobayashi, Akiko Nakagawa
5. Fukuoka A, 3759
Kanae Furuta, Miyu Matsuda, Mistuki Okamoto
6. Aichi C, 3663
Nichika Furubayashi, Miwa Natsume, Chisato Hayakawa

Women’s Doubles
Top 6 with 12-game pinfall

1. Fukuoka B, 2495
Miyu Matsuda, Ami Fujita
2. Fukushima A, 2463
Miki Okochi, Eiko Suzuki
3. Gifu A, 2462
Mirai Tanihara, Hikaru Takekawa
4. Chiba A, 2448
Kana Shimoide, Misaki Mukotani
5. Tokyo A, 2441
Megumi Kitamura, Ai Yoshida
6. Mie A, 2425
Mayumi Hamada, Rin Sakakura

Women’s All Events
Top 3 with 18-game pinfall

1. Mirai Ishimoto (IBAJ) 3940
2. Kana Shimoide (Chiba) 2890
3. Misaki Mukotani (Chiba) 3871

Women’s High Game and High Series
(pictured left to right)
High Game: 297 – Kozue Totsuka (Gunma)
High Series: 729 – Miwa Natsume (Aichi)

54th All-Japan Bowling Championships – MEXT Cup

The men’s and women’s overall team champions are determined on the points awarded for the top 6 in all events: 10 points for Champion: 7 points for first runner-up, 5 points for second runner-up, 3 points for fourth position, 2 points for fifth and 1 point for sixth. Click on the pictures to enlarge.

Men’s Ministers’ Cup Overall Team Championships
1. Aichi-ken, 28 points
2. Osaka-fu, 18 points
3. Kanagawa-ken, 15 points

Women’s Ministers’ Cup Overall Team Championships
Champion: Chiba-ken, 22 points (15990 pins)
2. Osaka-fu, 22 points (13660 pins)
3. Fukuoka-ken, 17 points

In case of a tie, the association with more total pins in the events in which the relevant associations earned the points is the higher ranked.