All Japan Sleeper Throwing Contest x "Hot Blooded Hardcore Kuniokun" collaboration video is now available!

On April 26, 2021 (Mon.), Ito City released "Hot Blood Pillow Throwing in Ito City," a video explaining the rules of pillow throwing in collaboration with Arc System Works' game title "Nekketsu Kuniokun: Nekketsu Hard School Kuniokun Series! Makura-nage in Ito City" was released.

The video also features a conversation between Ito City Mayor Ito Ono, Arc System Works President Kidooka, and sleeper-throwing promotion advisor FACT Corporation CEO Sandera, who was involved in the planning and production of the project.

The "All Japan Makura-Throwing Tournament in Ito Hot Springs," which began in February 2013 based on an idea from local high school students, has become a major event that Ito City is proud of, with over 600 participants last year in 2020. However, due to the Corona disaster, the event had to be canceled after the last event in February 2020. In order to keep the "sleeper throw" from fading into oblivion, a new video explaining the rules was produced to increase awareness of the sport.

In order to make sleeper throw, which can be enjoyed by men and women of all ages, known to as many people as possible, we focused on a game that can be enjoyed by the whole family at home. The idea was to collaborate with the game of "dodgeball," which has similar rules and style of play. We approached Arc System Works, which owns the license for "Nekketsu High School Dodgeball Club" from the popular "Kuniookun" series, which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year, and they readily agreed to our proposal, making this dream collaboration a reality.

This rule explanation video "Hot Blood High School Dodgeball Club! Pillow Throwing in Ito City" is a completely original video explaining the rules of pillow throwing, in which the characters including Kuniokun, BGM, sound effects, etc. remain as they were, but the costumes are changed to yukata, the dodgeball to a pillow, and the dodgeball court to a 20-tatami mat.

In addition, a dialogue video is also being released at the same time, in which the mayor of Ito City, Mr. Ono, the president of Arc System Works, Mr. Kidooka, and the CEO of FACT, Inc. who worked on the planning and production of the video, talk about the background and their thoughts leading up to the birth of the video.

From May 2019, Ito City will continue to promote the sleeper throw event by creating a new concept website and video featuring former Japan rhythmic gymnastics team representative Airi Hatakeyama, and offering "MY YUKATA," an original yukata (Japanese summer kimono) order service that can be worn as a uniform for the sleeper throw event. The company has continued its activities to further increase awareness of the sleeper throw event and to promote its brand image. In order to allow more visitors to fully enjoy Ito even during periods when it is difficult to hold tournaments and events, the company plans to propose various ways to make sleeper throw, a sport that anyone can enjoy, a tourist attraction, in addition to hot springs and local products.

Video of Makura-nage rule explanation "Hot water! Makura-nage in Ito City" (Japanese only)

Video of a three-way conversation
The video is a three-way conversation between the mayor of Ito City, Mr. Kidooka, president of Arc System Works, and Mr. Sanji, CEO of FACT Corporation, which produced the video.
They also talk about Ito City's sleeper throw promotions to date and the possibility of sleeper throws becoming a game.

Makura-nage official website: https://まくら投げ in Ito-city.com/kuniokun/