Women's Meijin

(女流名人戦) This is the female-only equivalent of the Japanese Meijin title. Time control is 3 hours each. The winner's prize is JPY 7,000,000.

The format of final stages changed many times:

• 1st & 2nd editions: 8-player four round Swiss determined the winner.
• 3rd to 20th, 30th and 31st: 16-player double elimination tournament determined the challenger to the titleholder.
• 21st to 29th, 32nd to present: 7-player round robin league determines the challenger.

Sponsored by Fuji Evening Newspaper up to the 20th edition. From the 21st edition, the sponsor changed to Sankei newspaper. At the same time, for the first time in female event in Japan, league system (7-player) to decide the challenger was introduced. This is still the only female tournament in Japan using a league system.

After the 31st edition, the Sankei newspaper quit as the sponsor for financial reasons. The Nihon Ki-in managed to find a substitute sponsor, Kamachi Group, only at the cost of a recently created tournament, Hakata Kamachi Cup.

Winners and Runner-ups

The challenge match is best of three, usually contested in April.

Old Women's Meijin

Previously there was another female tournament named Women's Meijin, sponsored by NTV television.