Fast, intricate footwork drew the crowd’s eyes to “the strip,” a narrow metallic runway, as second-year foilist Yukari Takamizawa lowered her stance, knees slightly bent. A black steel-mesh mask pressed against her face, and sweat ran along her jawline.
A purple stripe ran from her shoulder down her arm to the rubber-coated pistol grip clenched in her fist — a slender 35-inch sword, its sharp tip bobbing subtly, locked onto its target just inches away.
In a split second, Takamizawa’s right foot snapped back. Her body and blade lunged toward her opponent’s gray lamé at the torso, the foil’s target area. The scoring box flashed. The crowd erupted.
The touch marked Takamizawa’s first win of the day at the Schiller Duals, an annual meet hosted by the Wildcats at Ryan Fieldhouse on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.
Following that win, the Japanese national-team foil fencer won a silver medal at the 2026 Asian Junior and Cadet Fencing Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Feb. 25 — one of the sport’s top continental competitions for athletes born between 2006 and 2012.
She previously earned a bronze medal as part of Team Japan at the 2025 Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships and finished her first-year season with a 27-15 record, qualifying for the 2026 NCAA Championships taking place this March.
Takamizawa’s fencing journey began in 2016, when she stepped into the Golden State Fencing Academy in San Francisco, after watching the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
“I remember this thrilling sense that you get only at competitions — the adrenaline rush and the urge to want to win,” Takamizawa said.
This first try at the sport opened a new path for the then-9-year-old, whose parents encouraged her to explore beyond studies, from art classes to sports.
After growing up in San Francisco, she returned to Tokyo for middle school, then returned to the U.S. for college. Although neither of her parents was an athlete, she said they tried to understand the emotional pressure of competition.
“My mom is very strict, but I feel like she genuinely wants me to do well,” she said. “She’s been a really big part of my fencing life.”
Her father, more reserved, cheers for her in his own way, uploading recordings of her matches to his YouTube channel since her childhood. She said even when things did not go well, she knew their support was there.
Her biggest challenge in college, Takamizawa said, was shifting her focus from individual to team results. Getting to know her “second family” helped the foilist adopt a “we-win-as-a-team” mentality and learn to reset after tough losses by channeling her energy into cheering for others.
Fourth-year sabreist Megumi Oishi said her poised teammate often lifts the squad’s mood.
“Whenever we’re tired or down from a meet or a lot of travel, she’ll just pull out her phone and be like, ‘Does anyone want to do a TikTok with me?’” Oishi said. “That is one of the turning points for us mentality-wise.”
Takemasa Wada, Takamizawa’s longtime coach at her home club in Tokyo, said she blends the U.S. power and instinct with the Japanese focus on clean, precise actions.
“[Takamizawa] moves like a Japanese fencer, but not quite like one,” he said.
Takamizawa is just 5-foot-1, and often feels among the shortest on the international stage, she said. Yet, instead of relying on reach, she plays with distance, either getting out or closing in quickly when opponents attack, forcing them to miss.
“She’s super dynamic and unpredictable,” said fourth-year foilist Juliana Hung, who has known Takamizawa for almost a decade, tracing back to their days fencing together at their San Francisco club. “She’s good at explosive attacks, pushing you all the way down the strip.”
Takamizawa will compete at the 2026 Junior and Cadet Fencing World Championships in April.
Her goal: represent Japan at the Olympics, whether in Brisbane 2032 or Los Angeles 2028.
“2028 would be amazing because it’s in Los Angeles and I started [fencing] in California,” she said.
Editor’s note: March 8, 2026 at 7 p.m. A previous version of this article mistakenly identified Megumi Oishi as Megumi Oish. North by Northwestern regrets the error.
