The Karuizawa International Curling Championship is a curling

Curling

Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...

 bonspiel held annually since the Olympic Games in Nagano

1998 Winter Olympics

The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...

 at the SCAP Karuizawa Arena in Kariuzawa, Japan

Karuizawa, Nagano

is a town located in Kitasaku District, Nagano, Japan.As of January 1, 2008, the town has an estimated population of 17,833 and has a total area of ....

. The bonspiel is held to commemorate the curling event

Curling at the 1998 Winter Olympics

Curling at the 1998 Winter Olympics took place at Karuizawa, who had hosted the equestrian events at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The 1998 Nagano Olympics marked the first time that curling was held as an official Olympic sport...

 at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, the first official curling event in the Olympic programme since the 1924 Winter Olympics

1924 Winter Olympics

The 1924 Winter Olympics, officially known as the I Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was held in 1924 in Chamonix, France...

. It is also held to help promote curling throughout Japan.

Teams & Round Play

A total of 16 teams (8 men's and 8 women's teams) are invited each year to participate in the championship. Five teams of each gender are chosen from foreign nations based on performances at the most recent World Curling Championships

World Curling Championships

The World Curling Championships are annual curling events which showcase the world's best curlers, organized by the World Curling Federation. There are men's, women's and mixed championships. The men's championship started in 1959, while the women's in 1979...

, while three teams are chosen from within Japan. The teams are chosen as follows:

Men's	Women's
5 Foreign Teams
National Team
Selection Team
Nagano Prefecture Selection Team

• Selection teams recommended by Japan Curling Association

The eight teams of each gender play a round robin tournament with games of eight ends, and the top four teams of each gender play ten-end games in the final round.

Past Champions

Year	Winning team	Runner up team
1998–2009	No data available
2010	(Chris Busby)	(Yusuke Morozumi Yusuke Morozumi Yusuke Morozumi is a Japanese curler from the Karuizawa Curling Club.In 2008, by finishing 2nd at the Pacific Curling Championships he and his team qualified for the 2009 World Men's Curling Championships.- Teams :... )
	(Hollie Nicol)	(Stina Viktorsson Stina Viktorsson Stina Viktorsson is a Swedish curler from Umeå. She is a skip.Viktorsson had an accomplished Junior career in Sweden winning a bronze medal at the 2004 World Junior Curling Championships and a silver at the 2005 Juniors... )
2011 2011 Karuizawa International Curling Championship The 2011 Karuizawa International Curling Championship was held from January 26-30 at the SCAP Karuizawa Arena in Karuizawa, Japan. The bonspiel featured eight men's and women's teams playing in a round robin format...	(Yusuke Morozumi Yusuke Morozumi Yusuke Morozumi is a Japanese curler from the Karuizawa Curling Club.In 2008, by finishing 2nd at the Pacific Curling Championships he and his team qualified for the 2009 World Men's Curling Championships.- Teams :... )	(Tyler George Tyler George Tyler George is an American curler. He was a member of the defending American national championship team.... )
	(Jennifer Jones Jennifer Jones (curler) Jennifer Jones is a Canadian curler from East St. Paul, Manitoba. Jones, a lawyer, is corporate counsel for Wellington West Capital and a Windsor Park Collegiate graduate.-Early success:... )	(Satsuki Fujisawa)