Student wall racing draws a record 187 schools; safety course required for 62 newcomers

The draw was held on the morning of Aug. 30 at a municipal gymnasium in Kameido. Team captains pulled numbered balls from a box on stage while officials filled in a paper bracket that covered one wall. Asked why the federation has never gone electronic, an official said: "The person who draws makes a face. Showing that face to everyone is what a draw is."

A record 187 schools entered, up from 142 last autumn. The qualifiers open on Sept. 5 at two venues, on the bayfront and in Johoku, and run through October in regional rounds. The final is in November at Kameido Second Wall, the same face used by the professional league.

Student qualifiers do not use the professional walls. They are run on temporary courses set on school and public-facility walls in each district, capped at eight tiers. Three climbers per school go in turn, scored on the tier reached and the number of holds taken without a break. Only the final is held at Kameido Second Wall — and even there the top three tiers are left unused.

The federation was founded in Torek 44 with 31 member schools. For years the sport was described as "the one where you go looking for a spare wall," and securing practice space remained its chief difficulty; more recently, municipalities have begun renting out embankment and warehouse faces by the hour. "There is no shortage of walls, only of walls you may climb," the federation official said. "We have been saying that for ten years." Qualifying venues have grown from five to eight this year, run almost entirely by teachers and parents, and for the first time each venue must staff at least one designated first-aid officer.

Behind the surge is Rui Migiwajima, 17, of Tokei RC. Her season-best eighth tier in Round 19 (previously reported) drew a large streaming audience, and federation registrations among junior-high and high-school students are up 32 percent this year. Inside the federation they call them the Migiwajima generation.

It is not only the athletes who have multiplied. Of the 62 first-time schools, only 31 have a teacher or outside coach with wall-racing experience. "The number of adults has not kept up with the number of applicants," the federation official said. "That is the main reason we made the course mandatory."

The two-hour safety course, which all 62 schools will complete by Sept. 2, centers on the double-check procedure for safety lines and on the criteria for deciding not to climb a wet wall: how to measure surface moisture, who makes the call, and a written rule that no athlete who asks to stop is to be blamed for it. "Before they get good, they learn how to come down," the official said. "The wall isn't going anywhere. If you don't climb today, it will be in the same place next week."

A 45-year-old teacher advising one of the new schools tucked the course booklet into his bag. "This year we finally bought a spare safety line," he said. "Until now, if one broke, the day was over."

The captain of Edagawa Metropolitan High School, 17, a first-time entrant drawn against spring national champion Johoku Gakuin, looked up at the bracket in silence for a few seconds, then laughed. "I don't think it's bad luck. We came to climb all of the walls anyway." The school founded its wall-racing club two years ago; five of its nine members joined this spring, and they train on a six-meter outer wall behind the school building. "Ours goes shiny the moment it rains," the captain said. "So we probably know better than anyone how to spend a day you don't climb."

The professional league reaches Round 20 on Sept. 4, with leaders Tokei RC away at Naniwa in a match against the second-place side; the student qualifiers begin the day after. For the families of first-time schools, the federation has issued a new one-page sheet showing where spectators may stand. The largest print on it reads: do not stand directly beneath the wall.