The Tennō Shō (天皇賞) is a horse race held twice a year in Japan, once in the spring and once in the autumn. "Tenno" means "Emperor of Japan". The races are both International Grade I races. Prior to the 2007 races, both Tenno Sho races were Japanese domestic Grade I races.

Spring

The Spring Tenno Sho is held at Kyoto Racecourse, in late April or early May. It is run over a distance of 3200 m, making it the longest Grade I race in Japan. Deep Impact won the 2006 version of the race setting the world record for a 3200 metre race with a time of 3:13.4. beating the World Record set in the 1988 Wellington Cup by Daria’s Fun, held for almost 20 years of 3:15.59, the closest time run in The Melbourne Cup is 3:16.3. Deep Impact's record stood until Kitasan Black won in 3:12.5 in 2017. The average time 1990-2018 of the Tenno Sho is 3:16.7, the Melbourne Cup 3:21.1, a difference of 4.4 seconds.

Winners since 1990

The 1994 race was contested at Hanshin Racecourse. The 2021 and 2022 races were contested at Hanshin Racecourse, due to construction at Kyoto Racecourse.

Earlier winners

Autumn

The Autumn Tenno Sho is held at Tokyo Racecourse, in late October. It is run over a distance of 2000 m. It is considered the first leg of the Japanese Autumn Triple Crown (the other two are the Japan Cup and the Arima Kinen). Originally, the Autumn Tenno Sho was run over a distance of 3200 m, but was shortened to its current distance to promote middle-distance horses and to promote 3-year-old horses as a shorter-distance alternative to the Kikuka Sho, the Japanese St. Leger, which is 3000 m.

Winners since 1990

Earlier winners

Multiple winners

Prior to 1980, a horse winning a Tennō Shō races was not allowed to participate in future editions of the race but this ban was lifted in 1981. Only two horses won the prize three times: Apart from Kitasan Black and T M Opera O, four horses to date have won consecutive runnings, either by winning both the Spring and Autumn races in the same year or by winning the Autumn race, and following year's Spring race. Five horses have won two non-consecutive runnings.