Driven by a shared aspiration
20th anniversary of the partnership between Jun Mizutani & Butterfly

A unique versatile playing style,
tremendous efforts sacrificing everything to his sport, and courage in raising issues.

Jun Mizutani has sometimes been viewed as unorthodox.
For him, however, it was simply a search for a straight path.

Only he must have been able to see where his path would lead him to.

Jun’s demands for equipment were often different from those of other players.

He was also rarely completely satisfied with the equipment he used.

Because he pursued it more thoroughly than anyone else,
and he could tell “something different” that mechanical measurement could not capture.

So what did he need from his equipment to achieve a higher level?

To find the answer, Butterfly was always together with Jun,

whenever he achieved rapid growth, won titles, or even lost his fighting spirit.

After all the ups and downs of his journey, with the goal of his career approaching,

he found his perfect racket that he could not have asked for more from.

And finally, he reached the throne everyone longed for, yet thought it a miracle.

There is no royal road to becoming a king. Carve it out yourself.

After showing this fact to the next generation of players with his career,
Jun is now making great strides in his off-court activities and opening a new world.

Butterfly is proud to have been able to support Jun during his turbulent yet glorious days as an athlete. 
Butterfly is delighted to share the vision with the legend who works hard to develop our sport further on a new frontier. 
Twenty years with Jun Mizutani. We, who share common aspirations, will never stop moving forward.

Jun Mizutani’s 20 years with Butterfly

    1. 1998

      Hermoso Light-ST / Sriver FX / Sriver FX
      He used the five-layer plywood blade with moderate bounce, combining an ease-of-use rubber with a softer sponge when he won the 3rd prize in the All Japan U10 Championships. After a while, he chose the Spinart, a five-layer plywood blade with more bounce than the Hermoso Light.

    2. 1999

      10 years old. Jun won the All Japan U10 Championships.

    3. 2001

      12 years old. Jun won the All Japan U12 Championships.

    4. 2003

      Timo Boll Spark-ST / Bryce FX / Bryce FX
      14 years old. Jun won the 2nd prize at the All Japan Junior high school tournament. He started using the Timo Boll Spark, a blade with Arylate, and the Bryce FX, a High-tension rubber, after using the Sriver EL.

    1. 2003

      Butterfly signed with Jun on September 21.
      The partnership between Butterfly and the promising all-round player with an excellent ball touch has begun.

    2. Jun started participating in the 3rd German Bundesliga while training in a prestigious club, Borussia Düsseldorf.

    3. 2004

      Maze-ST / Bryce FX / Srive EL
      Jun switched his blade to the Maze on advice from his coach, Mario Amizic when he trained in Germany. He also changed his backhand rubber from the Bryce FX to the Sriver EL to seek the feeling of imparting spins on the ball in the process of his improvement in backhand technique.
      “Actually, I liked the Timo Boll Spark very much. But Mario told me to use a blade with more bounce. So I changed it to the one with Arylate-Carbon.”

    4. Jun became the youngest-ever All Japan Junior champion when he was 14.

    5. 15 years old. Jun won the the All Japan Junior high-school tournament.

    6. 2007

      Maze-ST / Bryce FX / Bryce FX

    7. Jun won the first title of men's singles at the All Japan Championships. Winning at the age of 17 years and 7 months was the youngest record at that time.

    8. Jun's signature model, Mizutani Jun released.
      Equipping ZL-Carbon with more bounce compared to Arylate-Carbon brought a high reaction to the blade despite its thinner plywood composition. Jun gradually changed his blades to harder ones with more bounce, such as plywood -> Arylate -> Arylate-Carbon -> ZL-Carbon.

    9. Mizutani Jun-ST / Bryce FX / Tackifire C
      “Influenced by Chinese players utilizing tacky rubbers and creating decisive shots, I tried the Tackifire C, which was the most similar line-up from Butterfly to the rubbers Chinese players use.”

    10. Jun won the the All Japan high school tournament ("Inter-High").

    11. 2008

      Mizutani Jun-ST / Bryce Speed FX / Bryce Speed FX
      Jun chose the Bryce Speed FX for the preparation for domestic tournaments in Japan, where the speed glue ban had been applied ahead of other countries.

    12. Jun won two consecutive men's singles titles at the All Japan Championships.

    13. Mizutani Jun-ST / Bryce Speed FX / Tackifire C

    14. Jun took part in the Beijing Olympic Games.

    15. 2009

      Mizutani Jun-ST / Tenergy 64 / Tenergy 64
      Jun started using the Tenergy 64 on both sides after the speed glue ban all over the world on September 1, 2008.
      “Bounce and control are my priorities. My game sometimes relies on counter topspins from a distance from the table. That is why I use ‘64’ focusing on more speed than ‘05’.”

    16. Jun won three consecutive men’s singles titles at the All Japan Championships.

    17. Jun became the bronze medalist in the men's doubles at the World Championships in Yokohama.

    18. 2010

      Jun won four consecutive men's singles titles at the All Japan Championships.

    19. Jun won the men's singles event at the ITTF World Tour Grand Finals.

    20. 2011

      Jun secured five consecutive men's singles titles at the All Japan Championships.

    21. 2012

      Jun took part in the London Olympic Games.

    22. 2013

      Jun became the bronze medalist in the men's doubles at the World Championships in Paris.

    23. Jun took part in the Russian League, aiming for his new stage.

    24. 2014

      Jun won this 6th men's singles title at the All Japan Championship. This was the first time in the previous three years for him.

    25. Mizutani Jun Super ZLC-ST / Tenergy 64 / Tenergy 64
      Jun started using the brand-new artificial fiber Super ZLC at that time as he required more bounce to his blade after plastic balls were introduced.
      “It has excellent feedback to the ball. In our sport, the smaller the swing is, the better it is as long as you create the same amount of power. The Super ZLC enables enough impact on the ball despite the smaller swing.”

    26. Jun won the men's singles event at the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals.

    27. 2015

      Mizutani Jun ZLC-ST / Tenergy 64 / Tenergy 64
      Jun came back to a blade with ZL-Carbon for the ball touch of long dwell time, and to respond to the uneven circumstances due to the various tables used for each tournament.

    28. Jun won his 7th men's singles title at the All Japan Championship.

    29. Mizutani Jun ZLC-ST / Tenergy 80 / Tenergy 80
      After losing in the men's singles quarterfinals at the World Championships in Suzhou, he changed from the Tenergy 64 he had been using for many years to the Tenergy 80.
      “Modern table tennis requires counter shots close to the table. I have to do that, too. I have to enhance the quality of each shot by making my game more active.”

    30. 2016

      Jun won his 8th men's singles title at the All Japan Championship.

    31. Jun won the bronze medal in the men's singles and silver medal in the men's team at the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

    32. 2017

      Jun won his 9th men's singles title at the All Japan Championship.

    33. Custom Arylate-Carbon-ST / Tenergy 80 / Tenergy 80

    34. 2019

      Mizutani Jun ZLC-ST / Dignics 80 / Dignics 80
      Jun changed his rubber from the Tenergy 80 to the Dignics 80 after The Dignics series was introduced.
      “Safety in my shots has been improved as the Dignics creates a high trajectory. It also enables the balls to bounce deeper into the opponent's court”

    35. Jun secured his 10th men's singles title at the All Japan Championship.

    36. 2021

      Mizutani Jun ZLC-FL / Dignics 80 / Dignics 80
      Jun changed the choice of blade handle shape from ST, which he had been using since childhood, to FL.
      “I changed to an FL handle considering the ease of gripping for backhand techniques and switching fore- and back.”

    37. Jun won the gold medal in the mixed doubles and the bronze medal in the men's team at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

    38. Jun retired from all activities as a professional player.

    39. 2022

      Jun became the Butterfly Gold Medal Advisor.
      “I will work hard for the spread and development of table tennis making the most of my name Jun Mizutani, a gold medalist at the Olympic games.”

* Some equipment displayed on this page includes discontinued items, old packages, and images for illustrative purposes. The history of Jun Mizutani's equipment only mentions his major change. In reality, he experienced frequent minor changes or adjustments. As such, the descriptions may be different from the actual history. Your understanding will be appreciated.

Table Tennis Report collections

The Table Tennis Report issued by Butterfly used to be a monthly magazine. We have selected 20 books Jun appears on the cover.
You can view a gallery of nostalgic covers and some content. (In Japanese language only, but please enjoy the pictures which bring back your memories.)

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