With more than 40 members coming from all faculties, the Cheerleading Squad of Tohoku University is one of the most popular clubs. The squad not only supports various Tohoku University sport teams, but also performs on their own at ceremonies to welcome new students and others. They also participate every year in an annual cheerleading meet where they perform along with the teams of other national universities in a friendly atmosphere. More surprisingly, you can come across them performing at Sendai Station every year at the end of February to welcome and encourage the third year high school students who will take the Tohoku University entrance examination. Members are quite busy training as well as performing at sports events every week from April to January. Membership in the squad is limited to 4 years.

Their performance is quite different from what you might expect from a cheerleading squad and witnessing them on stage is highly recommended. You will find a band in the background playing load music with a large traditional Japanese drum. Belonging to the band is attractive since new members can use the club to learn to play an instrument, whereas music-based clubs are reluctant to accept beginners. The squad also, of course, includes a group of pom-pom girls who tumble, dance, cheer, jump and do stunts while using either pom-poms or a purple flags, purple being the official color of Tohoku University. Finally, there are leaders whose original actions give the downbeat for the band and the choreography of the pom-pom girls. Now several of them perform on stage with their own powerful and vigorous choreography that not only gives the downbeat but is also part of the general performance. Witnessing their performance and attending their training camp make you realize that being a member of the cheerleading squad of Tohoku University might be a real sport after all, which might explain why some members run up and down the campuses to develop their endurance.