The Japan Open is one of the main 72-hole stroke play events on the Japan Golf Tour, which was established in 1973, though the competition is almost fifty years older than this professional circuit. The winner is extended an invitation to participate in the following year’s Open championship in the British Isles.

The first Open was held in 1927 at Hodogaya Country Club in Yokohama, three years after the formation of the Japan Golf Association. Amateur golfer Rokuro Akaboshi won the inaugural title, beating his nearest rival by ten shots, but his prowess as a player was never fully realized.

Instead, Akaboshi, along with his brother Shiro, is best known for his contribution to golf course architecture in Japan. Together, the brothers did their utmost to put into practice many of C. H. Alison’s design philosophies on golf layouts where they were working during the 1930s, including the East course at Kasumigaseki Country Club.

Fourteen editions of the tournament were held until World War II stopped play for eight years in 1942 and during that pre-war period Tomekichi Miyamoto won a record six times, starting on the East course at Ibaraki Country Club in 1929 and ending on the former Asaka course at Tokyo Golf Club in 1940.

Miyamoto also captured three national PGA Championships (in 1929, 1934 and 1936) so he can certainly be thought of as the first Japanese golfing superstar. Torakichi Nakamura was the next big-name player to shine in the Open as he won three of these events, starting in 1952 on the Fuji course at the Kawana Resort.

Nakamura also represented his country in the World Cup six times and it was in the second of those appearances at Kasumigaseki Country Club that he teamed up with Koichi Ono to win the competition, finishing nine shots ahead of the United States. He also claimed the individual best score of 14-under par, seven shots better than Gary Player, Sam Snead and Dave Thomas.

The first non-Asian champion was Seve Ballesteros in 1977 at Narashino Country Club and he returned to successfully defend his title the following year on the West course at Yokohama Country Club, beating Graham Marsh from Australia with a birdie on the first playoff hole. These were two of the five victories Seve had in the Land of the Rising Sun before his last one at The Crowns tournament in 1991.

From the mid-1980s to mid-1990s, Tsuneyuki (“Tommy”) Nakajima and Masashi (“Joe”) Ozaki each lifted the Japan Open Trophy four times. It’s reckoned 48 of Tommy’s 52 professional wins occurred on the Japan Golf Tour, while Joe’s record was 32 from 38 by the same measurement.

Kiwi Craig Parry’s win at Koga Golf Club in 1997 heralded a little spate of Antipodean success in the competition over the following decade. Fellow New Zealander David Smail followed on at Simonoseki Golf Club in 2002 then Australia’s Paul Sheehan got his name etched on the trophy with a 3-stroke win in 2006, his third title on the Japanese professional circuit in two years.

In 2019, Chan Kim became only the second golfer representing the United States to triumph in the Japan Open. Singapore-based Peter Teravainen, originally from Plymouth, Massachusetts, led the way in 1996 with a 2-stroke win before South Korean-born Kim followed on twenty-three years later at Koga with his fourth win on the Japan Golf Tour.

You’ll not find courses below at the following clubs as they are currently not included in our Japanese listings: Arima Royal, Biwako, Central, Fujisawa, Higashi Nagoya, Hino, Hodogaya, Kasagai, Naha, Narashino, Nihon Line, Otone, Ranzan, Sayama, Sodegaura, Sohbu, Takarazuka, Totsuka, Yokkaichi.