2023 Emperor's Cup

As only J1 and J2 League clubs qualify directly for the first round, teams from outside of it who want to qualify to the Emperor's Cup (exception being made to the JFA-seeded team), had to, as usual, undergo a prefectural qualification, with regulations and schedules varying from one association to another. In total, there are 47 prefectural cup qualifications, with the winners of each prefectural cup having earned their right to play in the Emperor's Cup, with all of them assigned to start the competition in the first round. ==Participating clubs==

===J1 League=== All 18 teams playing in the 2023 J1 League entered in the second round. ===J2 League=== All 22 teams playing in the 2023 J2 League entered in the second round. Amateur designated team One team selected from the Japan Football League. It entered in the first round. Prefectural tournaments All the 47 prefectural tournaments winners. They all entered in the first round. • Note: In the sections below, club tiers (league levels) are presented as follows: • National: (1): J1 League; (2): J2 League; (3): J3 League; (4): Japan Football League • Regional (senior): (5): Regional Leagues 1st Divs.; (6): Regional Leagues 2nd Divs. • Prefectural (senior): (7): Prefectural Leagues 1st Divs. • Regional (university): (UL): University Regional Leagues • Others (?): Below the cited club tiers, unknown or not affiliated with any league. ==Calendar==

The schedule from the first round to the quarter-finals was announced on 20 December 2022. The semi-finals and the final did not have its dates released by the Japan Football Association, as uncertainties around the schedule of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup left doubts about possible reschedule of one or more rounds of the Emperor's Cup. The decision was also made to avoid schedule conflict for teams whose squads would have one or more players participating in the competition. ==Schedule==

First round The match pairings was decided on 22 March 2023. Except for Honda FC, who was granted a bye from prefectural qualifications due to their "amateur designated team" status, no other club had yet qualified to the tournament when the draw was conducted. Second round All the 2023 J1 and J2 League clubs enter the competition in this round. Most of these professional clubs hosted their matches in their own prefecture. However, as the number of teams from these leagues combined does not match the amount of host teams required, some of these teams had to play their matches away from home. These specific away teams either finished between the 15th to 20th place on last season's J2 or got promoted from the J3 League for the 2023 season, and played their ties against teams that finished between the 7th and 14th place on last season's J2. Third round Round of 16 Quarter-finals Semi-finals Final ==Top scorers==