Chapter 1  General 

Article 1 (Name)

This competition shall be called The Takamatsu International Piano Competition (hereinafter referred to as the “Competition”) and shall be abbreviated to TIPC.

Article 2 (Purpose)

The purpose of the Competition is to discover and foster outstanding pianists from all over the world. In addition, it aims to provide local young people with an excellent opportunity to nurture their dreams and goals for self-development, to expand the scope of international exchange through opportunities to meet world-class musicians, and to contribute to the development of music and culture in the local community.

Article 3 (Organizer and Office)

The Competition shall be held under the joint auspices of the Takamatsu International Piano Competition Organizing Committee (hereinafter referred to as the “Organizing Committee”) and the Takamatsu City Culture and Art Foundation.

The Office of the Competition shall be located at:
       6F Central Tamachi Bldg. 11-5 Tamachi, Takamatsu, Kagawa, JAPAN.

Article 4 (Eligibility)

Eligibility shall be given to any individual of the age of between 15 and 35 who are born during the period specified in the Application Guidelines.

Article 5 (Discipline, Structure, Venue and Period)

1. The discipline of the Competition shall be piano.
2. The Competition shall consist of the Preliminary Selection, the Preliminary rounds (Round 1, Round 2, Round 3) and the Final.
3. The Competition shall be held in Takamatsu City and the period shall be specified in the application guidelines.

Article 6 (Instrument)

The Organizer shall prepare instruments.

Article 7 (Jury members)

1. The Chairperson of the Managing Committee in the Organizing Committee (hereinafter referred to as the “Chairperson”) shall appoint jury members to judge the competition.
2. The jury members shall make an impartial evaluation at all times.
3. The jury members shall judge and evaluate all the performances of all the contestants in the judging stage for which they are responsible.
4. If a jury member is absent from any part of the performance, the evaluation of that particular jury for that particular round shall be invalid.
5. The jury members are prohibited from having any contact with the contestants during the Competition. This rule does not apply to any contestant who has been eliminated from the Competition at an earlier stage.
6. The jury members shall notify the Chairperson of Jury at the first meeting if they have personally instructed any contestant for more than one month within the past two years, or if any contestant is their relative. The jury members may not discuss such a contestant with any other jury members.

Article 8 (Jury)

1. The Jury shall consist of jury members.
2. The Jury may appoint a Chairperson of Jury and a Vice Chairperson of Jury. The Vice Chairperson of Jury shall assist the Chairperson of Jury and shall act on his or her behalf if he or she is unable to perform his/her duties.
3. The Preliminary Selection shall be conducted by a Jury for Preliminary Selection consisting of no less than three (3) and no more than six (6) jury members.
4. The Preliminary rounds and the Final shall be conducted by a Jury for the Performance Rounds consisting of no less than nine (9) and no more than eleven (11) jury members.
5. The Jury for the Performance Rounds shall consist of the members representing several countries, and the majority of them shall be foreign nationals.
6. The Jury for the Performance Rounds shall discuss the ranking of prizewinners stipulated in Article 15 and other matters related to the prizes of the Competition.
7. The evaluation of each jury member in the Final shall be publicly disclosed.
8. The proceedings of meetings of the Jury shall be closed to the public.
9. No person who attends a meeting of the Jury shall disclose any information discussed in the meeting.
10. In addition to those stipulated above, matters necessary for the organization and operation of the Jury shall be determined separately by the Chairperson of the Steering Committee.

Chapter 2  Application and Preliminary Selection

Article 9 (Application procedures)

1. Applications will only be accepted online and are detailed in the Application Guideline.
2. The Chairperson may, when he/she finds that there is a special reason, extend the date specified in the preceding clause upon hearing the opinion of the Chairperson of the Steering Committee.
3. Application which arrives by the due date specified by the Application Guideline (or the extended date if the due date is extended according to the preceding clause) only shall be accepted.

Article 10 (Preliminary Selection)

1. The Preliminary Selection will be conducted on the basis of the data, file, and a video data submitted by applicants.
2. The details are specified in the Application Guideline.

Article 11 (Registration)

1. The Contestants who participated in the Competition according to the preceding Article shall pay an entry fee to the Office by the date specified in the Application Guidelines to complete the registration.
2. The entry fee is not refundable regardless of the reasons.

Chapter 3  Competition

Article 12 (Preliminary rounds and Final)

1. Each round of the Competition shall be judged based on the performance of set pieces to be determined at each judging stage.
2. Each stage of judging shall be conducted by the performance of the pieces specified in the following items.
   • (1) Round 1 and Round 2: performance of solo pieces
   • (2) Round 3: performance of solo pieces, a commissioned piece and a piano quartet
   • (3) Final: piano concerto with orchestra
3. The details of performances are specified in the Application Guidelines.

Article 13 (Judging of the Competition)

1. The judging of the competition is based on the Judging Rules for Takamatsu International Piano Competition.
2. The number of successful contestants in each round of the Competition shall be not more than 40 for Round 1, not more than 20 for Round 2, not more than 10 for Round 3, and not more than 5 for the Final.

Article 14 (Practice time)

During the competition, the organizer shall provide the contestants in each round of the Competition with the following practice opportunities free of charge. The detail shall be stipulated in the Application Guidelines.

Chapter 4  Prizes

Article 15 (Decision of prizewinners)

The Jury shall determine the rankings of the prizewinners from first to fifth place for the finalists.

Article 16 (Commendations)

1. The Organizer shall award the cash prizes specified in the Application Guidelines to the prizewinners in accordance with their ranks.
2. In addition to the prizes stipulated in the preceding clause, the Chairperson may prescribe other awards.
3. In addition to the prizes stipulated in Clause 1, the Chairperson may award extra prizes provided by the organizations or individuals who agree with the purpose of the Competition.
4. The money shall be given after any taxes necessary under Japanese laws deducted from the amounts stated in this Article.

Article 17 (Additional prizes for the first-prize winner)

The Organizer shall arrange the opportunities to perform in Kagawa and with Japanese and overseas orchestras to the first-prize winner. The details are specified in the Application Guidelines.

Chapter 5  Miscellaneous

Article 18 (Subsidies for contestants)

Subsidies for participants' costs are specified in the application guidelines.

Article 19 (Neighboring Rights)

All rights for broadcasting, distributing, performing, audio and visual recording, publishing, photographing, sales, etc. concerning audio and visual recordings in the forms of video data, DVDs, video tapes, CDs, etc. and photographs of performance for all rounds of the Competition, the opening ceremony, awarding ceremony, and any related performances held after the conclusion of the Competition shall belong to the organizer.

Article 20 (Compliance to Japanese Laws)

Any issues arising in connection with the Competition shall be resolved in accordance with the laws of Japan.

Supplementary Provisions

(Effective date)
These Rules shall be effective on the date decided by the Managing Committee.

Establishment and Amendments:

Established on February 21, 2020
Amended February 21, 2025