Shoeshine Championship 2024 Brift H. Takashi Araida wins! He is the first person in history to win two consecutive championships!

The "Shoeshine Championship" to determine the best shoeshiner in Japan was held in Osaka on November 10, and Brift H's Takashi Araida won the championship for the second year in a row, an unprecedented feat. Please take a look at the heated competition among the skilled craftsmen from all over Japan.

The "Shoeshine Championship" was held again this year to determine the best shoeshiner in Japan by gathering shoeshiners and shoeshine lovers from all over Japan. The 12 winners from the preliminary rounds in Fukuoka in August, Hokkaido in September, and Tokyo in October advanced to the final in Osaka on November 10.

The shoeshine competition originally started with the "World champion ship of shoeshine" held in London in 2017. Brift H's representative, Mr. Hasegawa, won the first competition, and after returning to Japan, he and Mr. Tashiro, who was in charge of men's shoes at Isetan Mitsukoshi at the time (now the producer of the shoeshine championship), decided to create a Japanese version of this competition, which is now known as the highest level shoeshine competition in the world.

The judging criteria are divided into two major categories: technical points and presentation points, and the overall ranking is determined by the total score of the two categories. The "technical points" are the points for shoeshine skills.

The "technical point" judging is for shoeshine skills, and is conducted by a panel of four judges including a shoeshiner, a dyeing professional, and a leather professional. The judges will evaluate the degree of perfection in terms of luster, beautiful gradation, left-right difference, scratches, and stains. In order to maintain fairness, the shoes are judged "blind," meaning that no one knows who polished them.

The "presentation points" are evaluated by judges who are well versed in fashion and culture, and are judged on their human appeal, which cannot be measured by shoe-shine technique. Shoeshine is a human activity and a service, so the judges will look at various aspects such as the way the shoes are polished and the persuasiveness of what is said during the presentation time, as well as the appearance of the shoes.

Eighty-six people from all over the country enter the competition, and the field is narrowed down to 12 in a preliminary round called the First Round. The competition is open to everyone, professionals and amateurs alike, regardless of gender or age, but most of the participants are professional shoe polishers, and they are all skilled craftsmen who are active throughout the country. The great thing about the shoeshine industry is that it is a very tight-knit, close-knit group. This competition is a part of that.

The presentation judges for the 2024 finals are BEAMS Creative Director Tatsuya Nakamura and Eisuke Yamashita, the charismatic editor and leader of "My Uncle". Both of them have one of the world's best aesthetic senses, and their judging gave off an aura that made the participants and the venue tense.

Usually, contestants polish one pair of the same shoes in 20 minutes before judging, but in this year's finals, they polished two different pairs of shoes. The intention was to measure "true shoeshine skills" and to measure the depth of skills and experience of the competitors. All the players are very serious about this competition, and the tension is very high.

After winning this tough competition, Takashi Araida, the absolute ace of Brift H, won an unprecedented two consecutive championships in 2024, following the 2023 championship. I believe that this is a true victory for him, as he overcame the pressure of being the reigning champion, and finally defeated himself by continuing to study and improve his skills in the ever-evolving Japanese shoeshine techniques.

Through this competition, we would like to convey the "charm of shoes," "the joy of nurturing things," and "the value of cherishing things for a long time" through shoeshine, and create a future where the feet of people all over the world will shine brightly. We hope to create a future where the feet of people around the world will shine brightly.

This shoeshine championship will end in 2024 and be reborn as the "SHOESHINE GRAND-PRIX" in 2025 to become a world-wide competition. What kind of competition it will be in the future...please keep your eyes on "Shoeshine"!

You can also watch the official competition on Youtube, so please subscribe to our channel and watch the competition. Let's all make our feet shine!