The Women's Japan Ice Hockey League (Japanese: 女子日本アイスホッケーリーグ, Hepburn: Joshi Nihon Aisu Hokkē Rīgu) or WJIHL is the premier women's ice hockey league in Japan. Officially nicknamed the Smile Japan League,[1] it is also known as the Smile League (Japanese: スマイルリーグ). The league was founded in 2012 by the Japan Ice Hockey Federation and is contested in addition to the All-Japan Women's Ice Hockey Championship tournament. Twelve teams participated in the 2023–24 season, of which eight were based in the northern island-province of Hokkaido, two in the Tokyo Metropolis, and two were junior teams comprising youth players from across Japan.
The league’s most successful team, the Seibu Princess Rabbits, won the first eight league titles and have been WJIHL Champions a total of nine times. DK Peregrine claimed second place in seven of the first eight league finals and won the league championship in 2021. Daishin IHC are the only other team to have played in the finals, finishing second in 2014 and winning their first league title in 2023.
The first season of the JWIHL, 2012–13, was played in two stages: a placement tournament and a final tournament. In the first stage, held during 5 to 8 October 2012, the ten participating teams were divided into two groups of five and each group played a single round-robin of ten games.[2] The top two teams from each group and the third ranked team with the higher point total from the first stage qualified for the top league and the remaining five teams competed in the lower league of the second stage tournament. The second stage was also played as a single round-robin and was held during 22 to 25 November 2012. The first champions of the WJIHL were the Seibu Princess Rabbits.[3]