Owari Defend the Dry Wall, End Tokei RC's Bid for a Fourth Straight Win — Migiwajima Sets New Personal Best

Round 20 of the wall-racing league was held on the night of the 4th at Owari's home ground, the Horikawa Wall, in Owari's Ward 2, before a sold-out crowd. Sixth-placed Owari beat league leaders Tokei RC 7 tiers 1 link to 6 tiers 4 links, extending their unbeaten home record and denying Tokei RC, who arrived on a three-match winning streak, a fourth straight win. The lead changed by a single tier all night, with the outcome undecided until the closing stages.

Play began at 7:05 p.m. with Tokei RC's first-leg climber taking an early lead at the second tier, but Owari drew level by the second leg, and the match settled into a pattern of one side edging ahead only for the other to reclaim the tier. Horikawa's famous "dry wall," kept drier and more stable by long hours of direct sun, rarely produces lopsided scores, according to a longtime fan at the venue: "It's a wall where nobody pulls away, which is exactly why it stays close until the end." Tokei RC had beaten Hokuto in the rain at Kameido No. 2 Wall last round to run their streak to three, but struggled all night to adjust to Horikawa's very different, drier conditions. "A dry wall is an honest one," Owari's manager said afterward. "Tonight, I think we were the more honest team."

Tokei RC's third-leg specialist, 17-year-old Migiwajima Rui, reached a personal-best ninth tier late in the match, surpassing the personal record she set in Round 19. As previously reported, Migiwajima is a candidate to become the league's first teenage Athlete of the Month. "As an individual result, it's about as good as it gets," a league spokesperson said after the match. "Selection uses different criteria from the match result." Migiwajima herself said, "Ninth tier honestly surprised me — it felt like the wall said I could go before I decided to." Of the loss, she added simply, "That's a separate matter." The crowd cheered when she reached the ninth tier, but the score held, and Tokei RC's bench stayed quiet.

Owari's defense credited a second-leg player, now in his second season with the club and previously noted as a key figure in the team's home unbeaten run, who repeatedly anticipated Tokei RC's preferred climbing lines and slowed their strongest routes at key moments. He offered only a brief comment afterward: "It doesn't matter who's across from us — we do the same thing." Tokei RC's manager was candid about the loss: "I don't think we lacked preparation. It's just that tonight, that second-leg player kept reading our best lines before we could use them."

Among the sold-out crowd were students and parents from schools competing in Saturday's student wall-racing tournament, previously reported as opening the next day, using the match as a preview. The coach of Private Toyosu Technical's climbing club said with a wry laugh, "I can't tell students they're allowed to go, but I'm aware some did." The venue added an extra bag-check line for the night match this season, and the crowd exited without major disruption.

Tokei RC hold first place unchanged at 44 points, but second-placed Naniwa WC beat Hokuto elsewhere the same night, moving from 38 to 41 points and closing the gap to three with two rounds remaining. Tokei RC remain favorites, but the loss at Horikawa has kept Naniwa WC's hopes alive. "At this pace, the remaining rounds look likely to sell out early too," a ticketing official said.

Owari, meanwhile, preserved their home unbeaten run but remain sixth overall. "We just have a wall we know how to win on," a club spokesperson said. "The standings are a separate question." Tokei RC's manager added, "Losing the streak is disappointing, but we're still in first. We'll make it up on the next wall." The schedule for Round 21 is expected to be announced shortly. How the league leaders respond to their stumble at the dry wall, and how Migiwajima's ninth tier is weighed against a result that didn't go her team's way, both look set to shape the season's final stretch.