After a while, finally the board appeared. It is the beginning of the lottery. Only the names of Ms. Izumi Kobayashi and Mr. Keigo Yamashita, the champion last year, have been already filled in. Since it is the champion pair last time, they can participate in the next tournament as the same pair by rules. The way to lot is that each man and woman picks up a ball in the box. An initial have been marked on all the balls. For the player who is not at the site, the relevant personnel pick up a ball on behalf.

Mr. Masaki Takemiya, Mr. Naoki Hane, Mr. Yoshio Ishida and Ms. Kana Manba went up on the stage one after another and picked up a ball. Seeing the initial on the ball that Ms. Manba picked up, Mr. Takemiya shouted with a regretful voice "Oh, that is not my ball." Although the balls were picked up one after another, any pair could not decided easily. Under such a situation, Ms. Ogawa & Mr. Cho Chikun pair was decided at first. When Ms. Ogawa covered her face involuntarily, Ms. Takanishi quickly asked her "Ms. Ogawa, please tell me the true reason for that action later", followed by a hearty laughing from everybody. Suddenly, Mr. Takemiya again raised an enviable voice "I feel envious", toward Ms. Kana Mannami & Mr. Shinji Takao pair.

The pairs were decided one after another. Finally, the following pairs were born. Ms. Izumi Kobayashi Woman’s Hon-in-bo & Mr. Keigo Yamashita 9-dan, pair Ms. Hyunjung Kim 3-dan & Mr. Naoki Hane Kisei, pair Ms. Tomoko Kato 5-dan & Mr. Noriki Yoda Meijin, pair Ms. Isoko Ashida 6-dan & Mr. Cho Hon-in-bo, pair Ms. Keiko Kato 4-dan & Mr. Oh Rissei 10-dan, pair Ms. Seiko Ogawa 6-dan & Mr. Cho Chikun 25-Hon-in-bo, pair Ms. Kumiko Yashiro 5-dan & Mr. Koichi Kobayashi 9-dan, pair Ms. Kazuko Konishi 8-dan & Mr. Yoshio IShida 9-dan, pair Ms. Yoko Inori 5-dan & Mr. Masao Kato 9-dan, pair Ms. Yumiko Okada 6-dan & Mr. Masaki Takemiya 9-dan, pair Ms. Yukari Umezawa 5-dan & Mr. Oh Meien 9-dan, pair Ms. Narumi Osawa 3rd dan & Mr. Toshiya Imamura 9-dan, pair Ms. Kaori Chinen 3rd dan & Mr. Shigeaki Yokota 9-dan, pair Ms. Kikuyo Aoki 8-dan & Mr. Tomoyasu Mimura 9-dan, pair Ms. Ayumi Suzuki Woman’s Sai-kyo-i & Mr. Ryu Chikun 9-dan, pair Ms. Kana Mannami Woman’s Kisei & Mr. Shinji Takao 8-dan, pair After all of the pairs were decided, forecasting comment was made as usual. Mr. Shigeo Otake always takes himself to volunteer for forecasting; however, both Mr. Takemiya and Mr. Ishida took the posts this year.