On 4 August a public post in the Facebook group KARATE SHOTOKAN JKA MEDEA-ALGERIA, signed LyesJka Shotokan, put two arena photographs on the circuit. The caption said the 68th All Japan Junior Karate Championships — “the largest Japanese karate tournament for children” — had been held on 1–2 August in Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture. There were no results. The pictures travelled. The names did not.
The official record is on the JKA site, not on that wall.
The official weekend
The event is the 文部科学大臣杯 第68回小学生・中学生全国空手道選手権大会. The JKA English calendar lists it as the 68th Junior JKA All Japan Karate Championship, 1–2 August 2026 (Saturday–Sunday), at Miyagi Sports Park (グランディ・21 / Grande 21), Sekisui Heim Super Arena (セキスイハイムスーパーアリーナ), Miyagi.
The Japan Karate Association — a public-interest incorporated association — organised it. National JKA championships carry the Prime Minister’s Cup and the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Cup. This junior meeting sits under the MEXT Cup.
JKFan, on 4 August, put the field at about 2,700 athletes from across Japan. The official kata and kumite sheets confirm the density: 145 entries in sixth-grade boys kata, 145 in sixth-grade boys kumite, 51 teams in junior-high boys team kumite. JKA YouTube livestreamed parts of the two days.
Saturday: individual kata for elementary and junior-high, individual kumite for elementary. Sunday: individual kumite for junior-high, then team kata and team kumite for both school bands.
This is not the 68th JKA All Japan for seniors. That meeting was 4–5 July at Keio Arena TOKYO. It is also not the JKF 全少 — the 26th All Japan Youth Championships — which ran 13–15 August at the same Tokyo arena. Two different governing lines. Two different fields. Sendai was JKA juniors.
The midday demonstration
At midday on day one, HQ instructors Kurihara Hidemoto and Akiyama Kyoko demonstrated. A month earlier, on 4–5 July at Keio Arena TOKYO, they had taken the overall titles at the senior 68th JKA All Japan (Prime Minister’s Cup): Kurihara the men’s overall, Akiyama the women’s overall. JKFan recorded that on 6 July. The junior recap, on 4 August, says the elementary and junior-high field watched the demonstration closely. It does not name the kata. Neither do we.
Miyagi, on home mats
The headline the host prefecture wanted is on the kumite PDF. Miyagi HQ won junior-high boys team kumite. Fifty-one teams. Home mats. JKFan called it the result of the weekend: the local honbu climbed the tournament and took the title.
Miyagi HQ also won elementary upper-grade boys team kumite. In individual kumite, Nakasuga Yuto (中須賀 柚人, Miyagi) won the first-year junior-high boys class. The host prefecture’s weekend was a kumite weekend.
Junior-high girls team kumite went to Niigata HQ. Miyagi HQ took silver there. The home side left with one junior-high team gold, not two.
Saitama’s sixth, by a point
The prefecture standings sit at the foot of the kumite sheet. Overall (総合 / 都道府県対抗): Saitama 141 points, Fukuoka 140, Shizuoka 98.
Saitama HQ won the overall team title. Sixth consecutive overall championship. One point. Fukuoka was a single mark behind after two days and every individual and team class.
Saitama’s individual golds in the headline grades include Hayafune Miyu (早船 心結, Saitama) in sixth-grade girls kata and Shinozaki Shin (篠﨑 森, Saitama) in second-year junior-high boys kata. In team kata, Saitama HQ won the elementary lower-grade girls title; Kawagoe Branch (Saitama) won elementary upper-grade girls.
The overall is a prefecture score, not a single final. The one-point gap is the story the sheet tells.
Fukuoka’s kata
Fukuoka HQ won both junior-high team kata titles — boys and girls. On the individual kata sheet the same honbu took first-year boys (Maeda Ryuji, 前田 龍二), first-year girls (Mizuta Honami, 水田 帆南), second-year girls (Koyama Yura, 小山 ゆら) and third-year girls (Tsuneyoshi Sakura, 恒吉 咲来).
That is four of the six junior-high individual kata golds, plus both junior-high team kata golds. The overall still went to Saitama. Kata did not close the point.
Individual golds — oldest elementary and junior-high
The official PDFs list every school year from third grade through third-year junior-high. Below is a short cut: sixth grade, the oldest elementary class, and the three junior-high years. Names as printed, with standard Hepburn. No match scores. No athlete quotes.
Sixth-grade kata. Boys: Komori Yuto (小森 悠翔, Gifu). Girls: Hayafune Miyu (早船 心結, Saitama).
Sixth-grade kumite. Boys: Kato Yuito (加藤 結翔, Shizuoka). Girls: Shimizu Natsuki (清水 夏希, Shizuoka).
Junior-high kata. First-year boys: Maeda Ryuji (前田 龍二, Fukuoka). First-year girls: Mizuta Honami (水田 帆南, Fukuoka). Second-year boys: Shinozaki Shin (篠﨑 森, Saitama). Second-year girls: Koyama Yura (小山 ゆら, Fukuoka). Third-year boys: Higashitani Seinosuke (東谷 晴之助, Tokyo). Third-year girls: Tsuneyoshi Sakura (恒吉 咲来, Fukuoka).
Junior-high kumite. First-year boys: Nakasuga Yuto (中須賀 柚人, Miyagi). First-year girls: Abe Masaki (阿部 雅姫, Tochigi). Second-year boys: Maeda Yuto (前田 悠斗, Aomori). Second-year girls: Hayashi Airi (林 愛莉, Gunma). Third-year boys: Araoka Soma (荒岡 壮真, Osaka). Third-year girls: Kanezaki Nanase (金崎 ななせ, Aomori).
Third- through fifth-grade individual titles are on the same PDFs. They are not listed here.
Team titles
Team kata. Elementary lower-grade boys: Tokyo HQ. Elementary lower-grade girls: Saitama HQ. Elementary upper-grade boys: Ishige Branch (Ibaraki). Elementary upper-grade girls: Kawagoe Branch (Saitama). Junior-high boys: Fukuoka HQ. Junior-high girls: Fukuoka HQ.
Team kumite. Elementary lower-grade boys: Tochigi HQ. Elementary lower-grade girls: Tokyo HQ. Elementary upper-grade boys: Miyagi HQ. Elementary upper-grade girls: Hokuso Branch (Chiba). Junior-high boys: Miyagi HQ. Junior-high girls: Niigata HQ.
After Sendai
JKFan will run the official photograph set in the October issue, on sale 21 August. The JKA result page already has the two PDFs. The Facebook post that put the arena on an Algerian wall remains what it was on 4 August: two pictures, no names.
The juniors closed in Miyagi on 2 August. The seniors had already closed in Tokyo on 5 July. The JKF youth championships closed in Tokyo on 15 August. Three August-adjacent meetings, three files. This one is Sendai — Grande 21 — and the sheet that has Saitama on 141 and Miyagi on the junior-high boys team kumite gold.
