Sports in Japan: Traditional and Modern Athletics

By John Arndt, David Azaria, Harrison Newman, and Patrick Senat

Every culture in the history of the world has had, in some form, a means of physical discharge, often through athletic competition. Through our visit to Japan, one of the primary lessons that we learned about Japanese society is that the cultural values play an enormous role in nearly everything people do. This is no different in the field of soprts, where traditional as well as contemporary views hold a major impact. As the economy of Japan continues to grow, there is an ever increasing market for western sports such as baseball, soccer and golf. However, even with this infusion of new major market sports, the traditional competitions of sumo, kendo and the martial arts remain a vital part of the culture and an ever popular form of entertainment for nearly all Japanese.

The popularity of sports in Japan became apparent immediately after entering the country. We had read of the growing popularity of baseball, but were still surprised to see advertisements, merchandise and media coverage of this sport on virtually every major street. We were fortunate enough to be in Japan during the time of one of the sumo tournaments, and found the media to be saturated with coverage of the tournament. It was the small things that keyed us into the profound influence of sports on Japanese society. You couldn’t turn on a television at night without finding a sumo match on, or the sports-center highlight equivalent. Harrison made the effort to count the number of driving ranges we saw while traveling throughout the country, which would eventually total seventeen, more than the number of black people we saw during our entire trip, including Patrick. Many of our home stay families were sports enthusiasts. As a group, we even got a chance to meet Japan’s first baseball player. His name is Koji-san, and it seems that he was the first person in Japan to learn how to play baseball after the US occupation of Japan at the end of WWII.

It cannot be said that we had a tremendous amount of sports related experiences, but the one very significant occurrence happened in Takayama, on our way back to the hotel from the local temples. It was then that we came across a field full of young children having soccer practice. Watching and even interacting with these kids taught us all a lot, perhaps about Japan itself. Respectful and dedicated to their teacher and the game, the kids remained behind after practice to clean and rake the entire field before going home. This seems almost unimaginable in the U.S., where most kids take their facilities for granted.

Things that we learned about Japanese culture, particularly the customs and values, really came into focus when we did our research on the traditional sports. Each of these athletic competitions seems to incorporate some of the traditional values into their practice. For instance, the sumo wrestling community has a very complex hierarchy that is based upon seniority and merit, not only for the wrestlers or rikishi, but for the referees or gyoji. The title that a rikishi holds affects everything from what rituals he is allowed to perform to his status in society outside of sumo. One very interesting fact that we found out about the rituals of this sport is that the gyoji still carry a symbolic dagger on their belts, because in the past, they were expected to disembowel themselves if they blew a call. This is very similar to the bushido codes calling for ritualistic suicide or seppuku. After watching several matches on television, it appears that the preparation and rituals can take longer than the actual match, which lasts for only a few explosive moments. Another of the traditional sports that we came into contact with while in Japan is the martial arts. Each style, as we learned, is unique in its fundamentals and governing principle, and these fundamentals seem to reflect the Japanese values themselves. For instance, one proverb associated with Judo is “Seiryoku zenyo”, meaning “maximum effect with minimum effort.” This is known as the efficiency principle of judo. This seems to reflect some of the modern business and service policies that we encountered in Japan as well, with an emphasis on the efficiency and quality of the job being done. Through our extensive lessons on Japanese religion, it seems that maintaining an inner balance is something that the Japanese value. This is true of the martial art, Aikido, of which the governing principle is to use your opponent’s own momentum to create an imbalance in his center of gravity. These martial arts have their roots in the history of Japan, as the earliest of these, Jujitsu, was created by the samurai during the times of feudal wars and disunity on the island.

The explosion of more modern sports in Japan is somewhat of a marketing phenomenon. Baseball is now arguably the most popular sport in Japan and is clearly more alive with the fans than in the U. S., where ticket sales are dismal. There are, however, several distinct differences with how the Japanese play the game, as opposed to the U.S. style. One example of this is the Japanese batting stance, which relies more on placement of the ball and hitting to a variety of fields, as opposed to the U.S. stance which seems to shift more and more towards power every season. The Japanese game is not a power match, but more so a game of skill and mechanics, what is known in the U.S. as “small ball,” or earning runs through a variety of well executed techniques with a very flexible strategy. Another noticeable difference is the demeanor of the players themselves. It is not uncommon to see a U.S. athlete “lose it” and confront or even yell at an official, such a referee or umpire. In Japan this is unheard of, where even a bad call is not challenged and disrespect is never shown to officials. Golf has become an ever popular sport in Japan and retains the same social elite playing circles as in the U.S. It is the privileged man’s sport, and the majority of business negotiations take place on the golf course, as opposed to in the conference room. This may relate to the relatively long time that it takes Japanese business men to negotiate in general. The modern sports have been received with great enthusiasm in Japan and, like much of their modern society, has been adopted from others and adapted to suit the Japanese people.

Though we did not get to experience a sporting event while in Japan, it was impossible to not notice the incredible popularity of sports. The people that we met were very enthusiastic about American baseball, particularly their own Japanese players. This common ground provided for some very interesting conversations with local people of all ages. The popularity of sports like soccer and golf was made known to us by several of the people we met in Japan as well as our tour guides. Other than sumo, the traditional sports did not seem to be much of a media target or noticeable market; however, we did encounter some martial arts enthusiasts while in Japan. The sports scene in Japan seems to be in a current state of growth with a growing emphasis on making sports accessible to the average person.