Japan Sevens

The Japan Sevens, also known as the Tokyo Sevens, is an annual rugby sevens tournament held at the Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. It was a part of the Sevens World Series from 2000 to 2001 and from 2012 to 2015.

History


The first Tokyo Sevens was held in 1993, with a number of Japan's top university teams and company teams competing. Meiji University won the cup in the first year, and Suntory the following year, 1994.

In 1995, the international tournament was added. Initially sponsored as the Canterbury Japan International Sevens by sportswear manufacturer Canterbury of New Zealand, the national teams from and  were the finalists on all five occasions, with Fiji winning the first three cups and New Zealand the next two.

The international tournament was incorporated into IRB Sevens World Series as the Tokyo International Sevens in 2000 and 2001. A further cup win each to Fiji and New Zealand, respectively, was recorded in those two years. The Tokyo Sevens was then effectively replaced by the Singapore Sevens on the world circuit for the 2002 season.

A decade passed before Tokyo was included in the World Sevens Series again, hosting four events from 2012 to 2015. A preparatory international sevens tournament had been planned for Tokyo in 2011 but this had to be cancelled due to the earthquake and tsunami aftermath that year.

Results
Key: Blue border on the left indicates tournaments included in the World Rugby Sevens Series.