Sport in Japan

The most common sports in Japan include football, volleyball, kendo, baseball, and figure skating[1]. Some of the martial arts and karate are also known by many people. There is no legally official sport of Japan, but the Japan Sumo Association describes sumo as the national sport of Japan[2], with baseball as the most popular spectator sport of the country.

Contents

History

Pre-Edo period

Painting of an ancient Sumo competition, Heian or Kamakura period

Sumo shows an important side of traditional Japanese sport, a religious occasion as well as a sporting event. Many sumo rituals are closely associated with Shinto belief. It is believed that some of ancient sumo matches were a purely religious event with a predetermined outcome as an offering to kami. Some matches are done as divination. For example, if a fisherman and farmer held a match and the fisherman won, a good catch was predicted for the year.

The Kamakura period was a starting point for many martial arts. Kyūdō became popular as kyujutsu, literally bow skill, as a pastime for samurai. Yabusame also started as a sport in this period, but is now considered a sacred ceremony. Hunting also became a popular sport and dogs were used to aid a hunt. Hunting was also called Inuoimono, literally dog chasing

Edo period

In the Edo period, sports became a popular way to spend time. The only problem was that they were often accompanied by gambling. A notice to punish playing and betting on sumo without an authorization was repeatedly posted to little effect. Kyūdō was encouraged by shogun and daimyo as a pastime and contests as well as record making attempts were held. In April 26, 1686, a samurai named Wasa Daihachiro competing in the Tōshiya made an unsurpassed record of shooting 13,053 arrows and hitting the mark 8,133 times over a 24 hour period. This is even more remarkable when one considers the shooting range for this attempt, a 120 meter long corridor with a ceiling of only 2.2 meters. In the Olympic games, archers shoot over a distance of only 70 meters. Martial arts like jujutsu were popular but schools avoided inter-school matches and only internal matches were held.

After Meiji Restoration

Karate practices at Shuri Castle in 1938
Judoka in Okinawa

After the Meiji Restoration, various kinds of Western sports were introduced into Japan. Playing sports was adopted as a school activity and matches between universities became popular. During the 1870s, track and field events, baseball, football, rugby union, cricket and ice skating were introduced. In 1911, an Austrian gave skiing instruction to the Japanese army. In those days, Western sports were played by few people, but through the educational system they spread throughout the country. Western sports were initially stressed as a form of mental discipline, but Japanese have now come to enjoy them as recreational activities.[3] Professional sports, the most famous being baseball which continues even today, started in late 1920s but a persistent rumors of bribes and a general attitude that sports should be for players or as a hobby persisted. Until after World War II when airing of sporting event on radio and television became common, matches between schools attracted a larger crowd.

There were also some minor sports like pingpong and fencing. They are not national sports, but are also mildly popular. Baseball and professional wrestling were staples of early television, and boxing and sumo were aired periodically. Initially, running live sport games were viewed with skepticism as it was believed that fans would rather stay at home if they could watch for free. But, as it actually increased interest and sold more merchandise, airing of sports on television became popular.

Judo has been recognized as an official event in the Olympic Games since the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It is also one of the four main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally today. Keirin racing has also become an Olympic Games event since the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Motorsport has become quite popular in Japan especially during the latter third of the 20th century. Japanese car manufacturers use the many motorsports series as a form of marketing; the classic "race on Sunday sell on Monday" philosophy. Another factor that contributes to the popularity of motorsports is the use of cars as a form of personal expression. With cars costing less than homes in Japan, many youth spend a lot on their cars and consequently get involved in both amateur racing, both legal (on track) and illegal (street racing). Many Japanese racing drivers come from this background to find success in many racing series both in Japan and around the world. Drifting is a relatively new form of motorsport that is distinctly Japanese and is now being exported abroad.

Professional organizations

The most popular professional sports in Japan are baseball, football and Sumo.[4] Note that most practitioners in the martial arts are not professional, but played by amateurs.

Professional football game at Saitama Stadium in 2006
Favorite professional sport 2005 2007
Baseball (Nippon Professional Baseball) 51.7% 51.1%
Football (J. League) 22.8% 22.8%
Sumo 17.1% 18.3%
Golf (Japan Golf Tour) 16.9% 14.4%
Boxing 7.8% 9.3%
Motor racing 6.2% 8.1%
Puroresu 4.2% 6.0%
Others 8.0% 4.5%

School and sport

National High School Baseball Championship at Koshien Stadium

There are opportunities to play various sports for all age, and school plays an important role in community. Kindergarten and lower elementary school students can play in a private sport club that can be joined for a moderate fee. Most martial arts can be started as little as 4 or 5 years old. When a student starts 5th grade, school offers free after-school activities for its students to participate. Middle and high schools also encourage their students to join school sport clubs.

Prefectural and national-wide level contests and tournaments are held every winter and summer for all sports. Some of the tournaments, such as National High School Baseball Championship and High School Football tournament have an inordinate level of popularity among fans as much as professional sports.

Facilities

There are 239,660 facilities for various sport activities in Japan.[5] 62.2% of these facilities were built for under secondary education, 3.8% are university's and college's facilities, 23.6% are public facilities, 3.5% are built by private companies for their employees and 7.0% are other uses.

The most common facilities are gymnasium (21.8%), multipurpose sports stadium (20.7%), outdoor swimming pool (14.1%), outdoor tennis court (9.3%), baseball and softball ground (4.5%).

International competition

2006 Olympic Champion Shizuka Arakawa skates at the 2009 Japan Open.

The second Monday of October is a national holiday of Japan, Health and Sports Day. This date, originally October 10, commemorates the opening day of the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo. The event was documented in Tokyo Olympiad by filmmaker, Kon Ichikawa. Japan has hosted many international competitions including the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, 2002 FIFA World Cup, and the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic.

Japan's figure skating team at the 2009 World Team Trophy, including athletes from all disciplines of skating.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup, or 'RWC 2019' will be hosted by Japan. This was announced by RWCL Chairman Bernard Lapasett in Irish capital Dublin [6] at a special IRB meeting on 28 July 2009, along with the host of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, England.

Many major figure skating events are regularly held in Japan. The Grand Prix event, the NHK Trophy, has been held in various cities throughout Japan every year since 1979. Japan has also been host of the World Figure Skating Championships and ISU Grand Prix Final numerous times. In 2009, it held the first ISU World Team Trophy in Tokyo, a event set to take place every two years. Figure skating is also a commercial success in Japan, and made-for-television competitions and ice shows like the Japan Open are broadcast across the nation. Along with countries such as the United States, Canada, and Russia, Japan is widely considered to be a leading country in the sport.

Popular Sport by Categories

Many sports were imported and became popular. It is hard to find a sport that is not played in Japan. Some new sports were invented by changing elements of imported sports. Japanese board games include a form of chess, known as Shogi. A board game called Go is also widely popular in the country.

Martial arts or ways

Other

Motorsport

Original

References

  1. ↑ What Japan Thinks: "Baseball, skating and football top sports in Japan"
  2. ↑ Nihon Sumo Kyokai Official Grand Sumo Home Page
  3. ↑ Japan Fact Sheet Sprot, Web Japan
  4. ↑ Most popular sports surveillance, Central Research Services-CRS
  5. ↑ 体育・スポーツ施設現況調査の概要, MEXT, 2002
  6. ↑ "England will host 2015 World Cup". BBC. 2009-07-28. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8170488.stm. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 

External links