Top 5 athletes
by season
Athlete rankings & points
How points
are awarded
At every Shoto Cup event, athletes compete in their respective divisions. Points are awarded based on final placement in each division. These points accumulate across all events within a season and across all seasons to build the overall rankings.
Awarded to the athlete who places first in their division at any sanctioned Shoto Cup event.
Awarded to the athlete who places second in their division at any sanctioned Shoto Cup event.
Awarded to the athlete who places third in their division at any sanctioned Shoto Cup event.
The highest single-event point award, earned exclusively through the Combine championship round.
Points at a glance
The Combine
Championship
The Combine is an elite bonus round held at select Shoto Cup events. It is not a standard division — it is an invitation-only championship that pits the very best athletes against each other in a head-to-head showdown.
Who qualifies? The Combine is open exclusively to the Gold Medal winners from the Kata and Kobudo divisions at that event. Only athletes who have already proven themselves by winning their individual division are eligible to enter the Combine round.
How it works: The Kata champion and the Kobudo champion go head-to-head in a single combined performance round. Judges evaluate both athletes on a unified scoring criteria, and the winner of this showdown is crowned the Combine Champion — earning a massive 30-point bonus on top of the 15 points already earned for their Gold Medal placement.
Why 30 points? The Combine represents the pinnacle of performance at any given event. An athlete who wins both their division and the Combine in a single event can earn up to 45 points (15 for Gold + 30 for Combine) — making it the single biggest points opportunity in the entire Shoto Cup season.
Compete in Your Division
Athletes compete in their standard Kata or Kobudo division and must place 1st (Gold) to qualify for the Combine.
Earn Your Gold
The Gold Medal winner from Kata and the Gold Medal winner from Kobudo are automatically entered into the Combine round.
Head-to-Head Showdown
The two Gold medalists perform in a head-to-head Combine round judged on a unified criteria combining elements of both disciplines.
Combine Champion Crowned
The winner of the Combine earns 30 bonus points — the highest single-event points award in the Shoto Cup system.
How the rankings are built
Points earned at every sanctioned Shoto Cup event are cumulative. An athlete's total points are the sum of all placements — Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Combine wins — across every event they have competed in throughout all seasons. The rankings table reflects this full cumulative total, while the Top 5 Podium can be filtered by individual season to see who dominated each year.