2023 Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic

The 2023 Hokkaido Bank Curling Classic was held from August 3 to 6 at the Hokkaido Bank Curling Stadium in Sapporo, Japan.[1] It was the second tour event of the 2023–24 curling season and the first event of the Hokkaido Curling Tour. The total purse for the event was ¥ 1,700,000 on both the men's and women's sides.[2][3]

In the men's final, Team Kohsuke Hirata of Kitami downed the newly crowned Korean champions Team Park Jong-duk of Gangwon 8–2. Team Hirata, with third Shingo Usui, second Ryota Meguro, lead Yoshiya Miura and alternate Kosuke Aita finished 3–1 through the round robin to qualify for the playoff round. Team Park also went 3–1 in Pool A, however, Team Hirata earned first place in the pool with a 4–2 head-to-head victory. From Pool B, the defending Japanese champions Team Riku Yanagisawa finished 3–1 while Hayato Sato also qualified at 2–2. In the semifinals, Hirata won 6–3 over Sato while Park stole a 6–5 win from Yanagisawa. The Japanese champions went on to win 7–3 in the third-place game over Sato's Sapporo University rink. Earlier in the year, Team Hirata lost the final of the 2023 national championship to Team Yanagisawa 6–2.

In the women's final, Yuna Kotani led the Sayaka Yoshimura rink to their second consecutive Hokkaido Bank title with a perfect 6–0 record. With Yoshimura on maternity leave, Kotani, Kaho Onodera, Anna Ohmiya and Mina Kobayashi each moved up the lineup a position with Yoshimura on the bench. The team went 4–0 through the round robin, topping Pool B. Ikue Kitazawa also went undefeated through Pool A to qualify for the playoffs, with Miori Nakamura and Momoha Tabata rounding out the final four. In the playoffs, Tabata's Hokkaido Bank rink upset Kitazawa's Chubu Electric rink 6–5 while Yoshimura scored two in the eighth end to win 7–6 over Nakamura. Kitazawa went on to win the third-place game 6–0 over Nakamura while Yoshimura dominated the final to win 7–2 over Tabata.