Herrera 1

Alexander Herrera
HST 4452.0
Professor Lewis
8 May 2020

Nihon no Shoki no Yakyū no Rekishi (The History of Early Japanese Baseball)

Baseball has been coined as America’s national pastime since 1850.1 Though it is

America’s pastime, Japan has also developed a culture surrounding the sport, which is led to the

creation of the Greater Japan Tokyo Baseball Club and then The Nippon League.2 Japan’s

baseball history started when the during the Meiji era when the United States opened Japan to

foreigners once more.3 An American, Horace Wilson, to introduced the sport of Baseball in

Japan through the Kaisei Academy.4 The sport transformed culture within Japan and led to a

historical battle between the Yokohama Athletic Club and Tokyo's Ichikō High School, which

featured a famous win over an American team and Japanese.5 As baseball, became popular in

Japan, it led to historians asking the questions: why was baseball adopted and how did it make a

cultural impact in Japan?

Donald Roden, an associate professor of history at Rutgers University, in 1980, wrote the

article, “Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan,” in The American

Historical Review, in which he argued that the promotion of baseball in Japan was originally

about getting exercise, but moved toward a new cultural staple due to many associating it with

traditional Bushidō codes. Roden believed that the Japanese saw a need for sports but wanted to

1
Bryan Curtis, “Debating America's Pastime(s),” New York Times, February 1, 2009,
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/sports/01iht-01curtis.19835372.html)
2
“B-R Bullpen,” BR Bullpen, May 23, 2013, https://www.baseball-
reference.com/bullpen/History_of_baseball_in_Japan)
3
Allen Guttmann and Lee Thompson, Japanese Sports a History (Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 2001),
82.
4
Donald Roden, “Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan,” The American Historical Review 85,
no. 3 (June 1980), 518.
5
“Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan,” 518.
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the connection to traditions to ensure its success and usefulness. Roden wrote, “Primary School

Ordinance of 1886 required physical education that included "military calisthenics" (heishiki

taiso), exercises in rank and file to not only to build stronger bodies but also to instill the virtues

of unquestioning obedience to the state.”6 Roden argued that this was a set up for the adoption of

western sports like baseball. Roden saw baseball as a move towards a new cultural staple due its

connections to those beliefs and new traditions that were made by the local high schools. Roden

argued that the Japanese drew connections between Bushido tradition of loyalty, honor, and

courage and baseball and concluded that the Japanese saw baseball as a source of national and

traditional pride, which culminated in Ichikō High School.7 Baseball connected the dedication to

loyalty that the country’s government wanted and thus was in their interest to promote it as a

national pride symbol. Roden further researched to what extent did the Japanese connect

traditions and baseball, by highlighting the Ichikō High School’s dedication. Roden wrote the

Ichikō High School players beat and even may have stabbed Reverend Imbrie for trying to hop

their school fence on to their sacred field and argued it was a breach of their etiquette.8 Roden

implied that, that act was proof of the traditional dedication and pride for the field, and baseball,

similar to that of Bushidō. The Japanese, according to Roden, adopted baseball as a means of

maintaining national and cultural pride within a time where all traditions were being uprooted by

foreigners and the country wanted more dedication to the state.

Allen Guttmann in his book, Japanese Sports: A History, published in 2001, argued

baseball, counter to how Roden argued, was not connected to Bushidō and the argument made

for it was loosely due to its aide for the elite who wanted to assimilate into larger global culture

6
“Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan,” 515-516.
7
“Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan,” 520.
8
“Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan,” 521.
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and the real cultural impact was made at the grass roots level. Guttmann argued that baseball, in

Japan, was not cultural staple because of the connections made by Ichikō High School and

bushido. Guttman wrote, Kuku Koichi, a member of the school cited the Ichikō High School’s

reference to Bushido, in their school song, to explain their success, then Guttmann cited Undō

Sekai magazine, when he argued that the Bushidō was a invented tradition of the nineteenth-

century and was a presentation of the school’s players desire to assimilate foreign and domestic

affairs.9 While Roden argued players played for national pride, Guttmann argued teams like

Ichikō High School played to show their ability to assimilate to American culture. Baseball,

Guttmann suggested did not become a cultural staple until the local citizens began to associate

themselves as fans with their local teams. Guttmann wrote, “[Local] spectators changed into

passionate fans who rooted for their representatives on the field. In the mid-1870s, Kanō Jigorō,

was known as captain of the hecklers, earning his reputation by furious jeering during practice

games between Kaisei Gakkō and foreign teams from the settlements in Yokohama and

Tsukichi.”10 The locals who saw the high school play created a culture surrounding the game

rather than the top down cultural impact. Guttmann in his book argued that it was the local pride

connection that the Japanese made over the national pride connection that was made by Roden.

Thomas Blackwood, in his article, “Bushidō Baseball? Three 'Fathers' and the Invention

of a Tradition, in the Social Science Japan Journal, in 2008, argued, like Allen Guttmann, that

the Bushidō being connected to baseball in Japan was not the same traditional belief as the

eighteenth century and its popularity was greatly influenced by foreigners. Blackwood also

focused on the misinterpretation of Ichikō High School’s usage of Bushidō traditions.

Blackwood wrote baseball in Japan was often represented as being connected to the Samurai, but

9
Japanese Sports: A History, 87.
10
Japanese Sports: A History, 83.
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it wrong because it more resembled the new culture of Social Darwinism brought by the

Americans and English that manifested in Ichikō High School rhetoric of their school.11

Blackwood showed that he believed culture baseball in Japan was greatly influenced by the

American and English. Blackwood furthered his argument by arguing that Social Darwinism was

the key to the popularity of baseball in Japan. Blackwood argued, Ichikō High School, in their

match against the American Yokohama athletic club, Bushidō to represent Japanese culture

against American culture and sought to show that the superior way to be is the Japanese way thus

connected to Social Darwinism.12 This showed that Blackwater’s argument that the Bushidō that

Ichikō High School used to promote baseball in Japan was not that of the tradition. Black water

agreed that baseball was connected to the Japanese national, but Blackwater built on the

argument when he suggested the national pride being produced was Japanese racial superiority

Historians have been asking the question about why baseball became popular in Japan

and to what extent did foreign countries influence the cultural impact. Roden, in 1980, argued

Japanese baseball was a form of tradition expression and national pride to keep citizens orderly.

Guttmann countered, in 2001, with his argument that the Japanese adopted baseball as a form of

local pride rather than an expression of tradition. Blackwater linked both arguments and agreed

with Guttmann that Japanese baseball was not an expression of traditions and agreed with

Roden’s argument that it was a form of national pride. Blackwater further argued that the belief

of a tradition was a weapon used during a racial cultural battle between the Japanese and

Americans.

11
Thomas Blackwood, “Bushido Baseball? Three Fathers and the Invention of a Tradition,” Social Science Japan
Journal 11, no. 2 (19, 2008), 225.
12
“Bushido Baseball? Three Fathers and the Invention of a Tradition,” 227-228.
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Baseball, in Japan, from 1870-1910 has been argued by Roden and Blackwater as having

had a cultural impact that produced national pride and Japanese racial superiority over

foreigners. Allen Guttmann created a counter argument that baseball, in Japan, from 1870-1910

made a cultural impact at the local level, the community. In Japan, from 1870-1910, baseball

made a cultural impact on an individual level and with the support of the community baseball

created national pride centered on individual and community dedication.

Baseball made a direct impact on the young individual Japanese because it gave them the

opportunity to be dedicated to something. The Japanese high school students may not have

known how to play according to American rules, but they were dedicated to the game. In the

Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, on published July 22nd, 1886, the American reporter and

friends played against Japanese school boys, after a hit the reporter, went to run to second base

he dodged the baseman and ran into the neighboring field the baseman chased and tagged him,

the umpire followed and called him out. 13 The Japanese children did not know that once a player

is off the baseline they are out, but the point is not that they were ignorant but the dedication that

the schoolboy had to the game that he was willing to chase and tackle the runner, similarly so did

the umpire. This dedication to the sport by individuals and students grew further and created

conflict due to their individual pride. In the Daily Inter Ocean, June 29th, 1890, the reporter in an

angry tone described an event where an American Reverend Dr. William Imbrie was attacked by

college students near Tokyo because they said Dr. Imbrie had “Crossed the fence,” during their

game.14 The Japanese students showed that they were dedicated to the honor of the game and

their individual dedication to the game and willing to show their dedication even the in the face

of the Americans. This showed that the Japanese students adopted baseball on an individual level

13
“Baseball in Japan,” Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, July 22, 1886
14
“Excitement in Japan,” Daily Inter Ocean, June 29, 1890.
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and push it further than the Americans expectation, they took it on themselves to play the game

and find different meaning for themselves.

Baseball, from the schools, defused into the community and made an impact on

surrounding the community. The communities that surround the baseball clubs organized events

to increase the number of spectators. In the Japan Weekly Mail, on October 16th, 1897, two local

communities, of Yokohama and Kobe, created a festival surrounding the games of the rival

baseball teams, reportedly the town band had shown up, the women brought many "flowers and

foliage" for the spectators, and the stands were full.15 The community supported the event

showed that the impact of baseball on the local community's culture. This growth in cultural

impact on the local community also grew into school leagues supported by the community by

their dedication to the viewership. In the Japan Weekly Mail, on July 11, 1908, in the second

game of the season between Yokohama commercial school and Nobles school the reporter wrote,

“ A large crowd gathered to witness this match the grand stand being filled to overflowing with

Japanese men and women, while the boundaries of the field were massed with Japanese.”16 The

students had individual pride while the community supported that pride through their creation of

events and their dedicated viewership. The cultural impact of baseball can be measured by the

impact it made on the communities and the willingness for that community to support the school

baseball leagues and events.

Baseball, fueled by the dedication of the high schools and supported by the community,

made a cultural impact because it created a greater Japanese national pride. Baseball in Japan

became nationalized and fully ingrained in Japanese culture. In the Japan Weekly Mail, in

November 28th, 1908, “The game has been eagerly taken up by the students of the public middle
15
“The Interport Festival,” Japan Weekly Mail, October 16, 1897. 
16
“Baseball,” The Japan Weekly Mail, July 11, 1908.
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schools and other young men, so that is now played, not only in Tokyo neighborhoods, but all

over the empire.”17 The middle schools and high schools having taken up the game on their own

shows that the students had the individual want to belong to something and with the community

support for leagues spread the sport to a national level which became a source of pride. With the

greater Japanese empire being consumed by the sport of baseball, a national pride for the sport of

baseball and country was found by the Mikado club when played abroad in the United Sates. In

the Japan Times, on September 15, 1908, Mikado club organized in 1905 in Japan would give a

piece of stationary as to those organizations that wanted to play with them that informed and

celebrated that they, Mikado club, were all full blooded Japanese, the top of the 265 middles

schools and thirty-five universities , and would under no circumstances throw a game.18 The

reference to their superiority in japan and pride for their Japanese heritage showed they were

both dedicated to the game and their country. The reference to the schools also showed that they

wanted to be dedicated to showing how great those schools were. Baseball, in Japan, became

community-based game that became nationalized then exported as their own cultural influence.

From 1870-1910, baseball, in Japan, started it’s cultural impact at the individual level,

spread to the community local level when that community supported it with events and

viewership, then finally created a broader Japanese national pride without the belief of Japanese

racial superiority. Baseball was largely used for the young to express themselves and be a part of

something. As the community began getting involved with the schools, they supported the

creation of school and club leagues. The creation of the leagues across Japan with the middle

schools and clubs spread a greater Japanese national pride for their community and their country.

17
“Baseball,” Japan Weekly Mail, November 28, 1908.
18
“Japanese and the Baseball,” The Japan Times, September 15, 1908.
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Works Cited:
Secondary Sources

Blackwood, Thomas. “Bushido Baseball? Three Fathers and the Invention of a Tradition.” Social
Science Japan Journal 11, no. 2 (19, 2008): 223–40. https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyn032.

Curtis, Bryan “Debating America's Pastime(s).” New York Times, February 1, 2009.

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/01/sports/01iht-01curtis.19835372.html.

Guttmann, Allen, and Lee Thompson. Japanese Sports a History. Honolulu, HI: University of
Hawaii Press, 2001.

“Nippon League History,” BR Bullpen, May 23, 2013. https://www.baseball-

reference.com/bullpen/History_of_baseball_in_Japan.

Roden, Donald. “Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan.” The American
Historical Review 85, no. 3 (June 1980): 511–34. https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/85.3.511.

Primary

“Baseball in Japan.” Bangor Daily Whig and Courier, July 22, 1886. https://go-gale-
com.proxy.library.cpp.edu/ps/retrieve.do?
tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&se
archType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE|
GT3007452040&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZCEN-
MOD1&prodId=NCNP&contentSet=GALE|
GT3007452040&searchId=R1&userGroupName=los53368&inPS=true.

“Baseball,” Japan Weekly Mail. November 28, 1908. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?

id=coo.31924057369245&view=1up&seq=1192

“Baseball.” The Japan Weekly Mail, July 11, 1908. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?

id=coo.31924057369245&view=1up&seq=737.

Corkill, Edan. “Japanese and the Baseball.” The Japan Times, September 15, 1908.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2008/09/21/national/history/baseball-brothels-and-
unwelcome-photographs/#.XpnQE8hKiUk.

“Excitement in Japan.” Daily Inter Ocean, June 29, 1890. https://go-gale-

com.proxy.library.cpp.edu/ps/retrieve.do?
tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&se
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archType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=1&docId=GALE|
GT3001399736&docType=Article&sort=Relevance&contentSegment=ZCEN-
MOD1&prodId=NCNP&contentSet=GALE|
GT3001399736&searchId=R2&userGroupName=los53368&inPS=true.

“The Interport Festival,” Japan Weekly Mail. October 16, 1897.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924057369112&view=1up&seq=415.