About Rei Iwakura
Rei Iwakura is a Japanese yo-yo competitor and performer who began playing in the fall of 1997 during Japan’s yo-yo popularity boom, purchasing a red Imperial after watching friends demonstrate tricks at an elementary school festival. He gravitated to the 4A (offstring) discipline after entering university, training under mentor Eiji Okuyama, and has described 4A as “very approachable” given his background in juggling and diabolo. He went on to win the 4A division at the World YoYo Contest six times — in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2019 — making him the most decorated 4A world champion in the contest’s history.
Iwakura is widely recognized for two defining innovations: his flawless competitive routines and his mastery of Soloham, a technique involving two offstring yo-yos thrown and caught simultaneously. He delivered drop-free performances at the 2014, 2016, and 2017 World Championships — a feat unmatched by any other 4A world champion. His signature yo-yo series with C3yoyodesign, the Flawless, takes its name directly from this achievement. He joined Team C3yoyodesign in 2015 after his earlier career as a member of Team YoYoJam, for whom he produced his first signature model, the Rextreme (2011). Across both sponsors he designed five distinct signature or collaboration models.
Beyond competition, Iwakura has built a parallel career as a performer, judge, and educator. He is a member of SPIN stAr, a performance team composed of World YoYo Champions, and serves as Head Judge and Official Demonstrator for the Japan Yo-Yo Federation as well as an official judge for the International Yo-Yo Federation. In October 2022 he joined Yo-Yo Company Inc. (REWIND) as International Marketing Director. He performed his final 4A competitive freestyle at the 2023 World YoYo Contest in Osaka, placing 2nd, describing the moment as “very emotional to receive such a big cheer from the audience.” (Source: Yo-Yo Store REWIND, September 2023.) He subsequently competed in the non-competitive Artistic Performance division, winning the Grand Prix and Entertainment Award at WYYC 2025 in Prague.
Over more than 25 years of involvement in the yo-yo community, Iwakura accumulated more than 40 championship titles at international and national levels, including eight Japan National 4A titles. He has described the sport as having “given me so many precious things in my life.” (Source: REWIND announcement, October 2022.)
In Their Own Words
From a July 2015 interview with YoYoNews following the 2015 World YoYo Contest:
On winning the world championship: “The happiness of reaching my absolute best possible result was huge.”
On choosing 4A: “[4A] was very approachable [for me].”
From the REWIND announcement, October 2022:
“Yo-yo has given me so many precious things in my life.”
On his final 4A competitive routine, WYYC 2023 Osaka (Source: REWIND, September 2023):
“It was my last performance as a 4A competitor, and it was very emotional to receive such a big cheer from the audience.”
