eigo Iwasaki retained his Japan Open title on March 22, 2026. He won three of the first four hanchan in the final before Koichi Itakura took the fifth. Iwasaki finished first, ahead of Itakura, Tomomi Okumura, and Ryo Ishikawa. Second place was decided by 1.5 points.
Three wins created the gap
The final brought together four players. Keigo Iwasaki, second in the semifinal, joined Koichi Itakura, Tomomi Okumura, and semifinal leader Ryo Ishikawa. The defending champion did not receive a direct seat in the final and followed the same qualification route.
Iwasaki won the opening hanchan and two more of the next three. After four games, he had three first-place finishes. The official report records a 103.3-point lead over Tomomi Okumura before the final hanchan.
The final hanchan became a fight for second
Before the fifth hanchan, Tomomi Okumura was second, 103.3 points behind Iwasaki. Koichi Itakura was another 81.4 points behind Okumura. Iwasaki finished fourth at the final table, which Itakura won.
Itakura’s win at the final table moved him into second in the combined standings, 1.5 points ahead of Okumura. Ryo Ishikawa finished fourth.
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The third successful title defense in tournament history
Iwasaki had already won the 21st edition. By taking the 22nd, he joins Satoshi Fujisaki and Masaki Iida among the players who have retained the Japan Open. The official winners list contains no three-peat.
Qualifiers open to professionals and amateurs
The Nihon Pro Mahjong Association describes the Japan Open as its largest title event mixing professionals and amateurs. Its event page cites more than 1,000 live participants and 2,500 players in online qualifying. Those figures describe the tournament in general rather than the 2026 edition alone, but they show the scale of the selection process before the final.
The route runs through amateur and professional qualifiers, two main-event days, a semifinal, and a five-hanchan final. Official rules include ippatsu and uradora, with 10-30 uma and oka. This is not the M.League ruleset. Our guide to Japanese professional circuits maps the main organizations and helps keep those formats distinct.