The 2026 Lead Japan Cup is the 39th edition of the annual competition lead climbing event organised by the Japan Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Association (JMSCA), held in DMG MORI Arena, Mie.
LJC is the sole selection event for Japan's national lead team. Athletes who place highly at the LJC are eligible to compete in the Lead World Cups, subject to JMSCA's prevailing selection criteria. LJC 2026 was the first domestic lead competition of the 2026 season. 54 men and 50 women competed, with Neo Suzuki and Ai Mori winning the men's and women's titles respectively. Neo Suzuki won his first LJC and Ai Mori secured her seventh consecutive LJC title.
Finals Men The men's lead finals took place on 8 March 2026. Rank Name Final 1 Neo Suzuki34+2 Shion Omata34+ 3 Sorato Anraku33 4 Zento Murashita28 5 Ao Yurikusa26+ 6 Hiroto Nishio22+ 7 Manato Kurashiki22 8 Ryusei Hamada5
Women The women's lead finals took place on 8 March 2026. Rank Name Final 1 Ai Mori48+2 Miho Nonaka39+ 3 Hana Koike39 4 Natsumi Oda35+ 5 Ryu Nakagawa27+ 6 Mia Aoyagi27+ 7 Yuno Harigae27+ 8 Mei Kotake27+
Semifinals Men The men's lead semifinals took place on 8 March 2026. Rank Name Semifinal Notes 1 Sorato Anraku40+ 2 Neo Suzuki39+ 3 Shion Omata35+ 4 Ryusei Hamada34+ 5 Ao Yurikusa34+ 6 Manato Kurashiki34+ 7 Zento Murashita32+ 8 Hiroto Nishio31+ 9 Haru Funaki30+ 10 Rikuto Inohana29+ 11 Hiroto Shimizu28 12 Taisei Homma26+ 13 Hareru Nagamori26+ 14 Kokoro Fujii25+ 15 Satoki Tanaka25+ 16 Masahiro Higuchi25+ 17 Ryota Toda25+ 18 Satone Yoshida25 19 Rei Sasaki24+ 20 Hidemasa Nishida24+ 21 Yusuke Sugimoto24+ 22 Genbu Uehara24+ 23 Kaede Fujita22+ 24 Yuta Imaizumi17+
Women The women's lead semifinals took place on 8 March 2026. Rank Name Semifinal Notes 1 Ai Mori39+ 2 Ryu Nakagawa38+ 3 Hana Koike36+ 4 Natsumi Oda35 5 Mia Aoyagi29+ 6 Yuno Harigae28+ 7 Mei Kotake28+ Miho Nonaka28+ 9 Mai Kobayashi28+ 10 Kohana Mugishima27+ 11 Hirano Natsumi26+ Natsuki Tanii26+ 13 Tomona Takao26+ 14 Miu Kakizaki26+ 15 Moka Mochizuki25+ 16 Towako Nakata25+ 17 Risa Ota25+ 18 Nanako Kura25+ 19 Shiori Murasugi22+ 20 Karino Nagi22+ 21 Manami Yama21+ 22 Serika Okawachi21 23 Karin Yokomichi20 24 Ai Takeuchi20
Qualifications Men The men's lead qualifications took place on 7 March 2026. Rank NameQualificationNotesRoute ARoute BPointsScoreRankScoreRank 1 Neo Suzuki35+1TOP11.41 2 Sorato Anraku 33+3TOP13.32 Shion Omata33+3TOP13.32 4 Hiroto Shimizu34234+74.36 5 Ryusei Hamada33+335+55.50 6 Ao Yurikusa32+935+67.04 7 Zento Murashita33+334+77.23 Hiroto Nishio33+334+77.23 Yuta Imaizumi33+334+77.23 10 Manato Kurashiki27+1836+48.94 11 Kokoro Fujii28+1434+712.13 12 Taisei Homma311032+1512.55 13 Satoki Tanaka311031+1613.75 14 Satone Yoshida28+14341314.47 15 Hareru Nagamori291331+1615.30 16 Haru Funaki29+1229+2116.25 17 Rei Sasaki27+18341316.43 18 Rikuto Inohana223334+718.10 19 Masahiro Higuchi28+1429+2118.47 20 Hidemasa Nishida27+1831+1618.97 21 Ryota Toda27+1827+2523.02 22 Kaede Fujita23+2931+1623.24 Yusuke Sugimoto23+2931+1623.24 24 Genbu Uehara252529+2123.45 25 Yuji Fujiwaki27+18272924.08 26 Akira Shimizu242828+2425.92 27 Taito Nakagami28+1421+4627.13 28 Kota Miyagawa24+2626+3028.20 Shuto Matsusawa23+2927+2528.20 30 Kaya Otaka24+26263128.89 31 Shuma Yamane26+2323+3328.97 32 Akira Tsunoda25+2423+3329.60 33 Rui Funakoshi223327+2530.24 34 Kento Yamaguchi233223+3334.18 35 Ryotaro Nakajima1839263135.27 36 Sora Harada223323+3335.49 37 Shoya Arakawa193823+3337.24 38 Ikken Uehara12+5127+2537.30 39 Keisetsu Onishi16+4223+3339.39 40 Takumi Tsujimoto15+4423+3340.30 41 Kosei Aoyama213721+4641.92 42 Mototaka Ishizu13+4823+3342.29 43 Miyake Soju17+4122+4342.47 44 Shuta Tanaka223311+5443.16 45 Yoshioka Tatsuhiro1839205044.44 46 Haryuoshi Morimoto154622+4344.99 47 Toku Higashiguchi13+48234145.09 48 Taisei Funaki14+4722+4345.48 49 Rinze Masuda12+51234146.68 50 Yuki Takayanagi16+4214+5247.01 51 Arata Sakamoto13+4821+4648.24 52 Yuichi Iwami15+4413+5348.56 53 Shintaro Takeshita12+5121+4649.94 54 Kaede Koga12+51155151.74
Women The women's lead qualifications took place on 7 March 2026. Rank NameQualificationNotesRoute ARoute BPointsScoreRankScoreRank 1 Ai MoriTOP1TOP11.22 2 Hana Koike 38+2TOP13.24 3 Yuno Harigae38+236+34.95 4 Natsumi Hirano38+235+57.94 Natsuki Tanii38+235+57.94 Shiori Murasugi38+235+57.94 Kohana Mugishima38+235+57.94 8 Mia Aoyagi37+1636+38.26 9 Moka Mochizuki38+234+1410.25 10 Natsumi Oda38+233+1710.91 11 Tomona Takao381335+511.22 Towako Nakata381335+511.22 13 Ryu Nakagawa38+2322212.83 Miu Kakizaki38+2322212.83 15 Mei Kotake37+1635+513.25 Nagi Karino37+1635+513.25 Miho Nonaka37+1635+513.25 18 Mai Kobayashi38+228+3114.73 19 Risa Ota37+1634+1417.10 20 Manami Yama372434+1418.97 21 Karin Yokomichi37+1632+1819.50 Nanako Kura37+1632+1819.50 23 Ai Takeuchi37+16322221.41 24 Serika Okawachi381325+3622.45 25 Mitsu Yamada342932+1823.78 26 Sora Kaneki36+2531+2626.50 Sawa Kakizaki36+2531+2626.50 Kiho Namba36+2531+2626.50 29 Miku Ishii254632+1829.95 30 Mashiro Kuzuu30+39322230.66 31 Chihiro Kaneko33+3026+3332.48 Akane Matsuura33+3026+3332.48 33 Yuri Horiuchi31+3829+3033.76 34 Kiki Matsuda32+34263534.75 35 Kana Watanabe33+3023+3834.82 Suzu Matoba33+3023+3834.82 37 Sarii Saito2643302935.31 38 Sumire Yamamoto35+2819+4836.85 39 Koko Masuda32+3421+4439.18 40 Ayaka Kaji3236224339.62 41 Rin Ninomiya215027+3240.00 42 Kazune Kobayashi30+3922+4240.99 43 Kokoro Takata323619+4842.07 44 Airi Sano204824+3742.14 45 Serina Koyama25+44234042.45 Yuka Higuchi25+44234042.45 47 Hina Sato30+3920+4642.90 48 Kawa Okawa29+4218+5045.83 49 Kazuki Hagiwara224921+4446.70 50 Suzu Hasegawa24+47204747.00
References
External links JMSCA Youtube channel Full Results (Archived) JMSCA (Japan Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Association)