Sport in Japan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sumo wrestling is a popular spectator sport in Japan that dates back hundreds of years. The object of the sport is to push the opponent out of the ring, or touch the mat below his knees.

Playing and watching sports are popular activities in Japan whether it is a traditional sport like judo, a team sport like baseball, a new sport like BMX or one of the many motorsports series.

1 History
2 School and Sport
3 Popular Sport by Categories
4 External links

[edit] History

The earliest sports in Japan were most likely archery and hunting. Kemari is known to have been played in Asuka period and sumo may be even older, perhaps used to settle disputes between villages. Falconry also began in the Asuka period, heavily influenced by Mongolian practices.

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 were done as a 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. Kyudo 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.

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. Kyudo 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 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 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, soccer, rugby, 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.^[1] 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 amateur 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.

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 TV 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.

[edit] School and Sport

There are opportunities to play sports for every age groups and a 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 let its student join school sponsored sports clubs and teams. Like the United States, it is rare for a professional athlete to become a pro after graduating from a high school. Most advance to a university often with a scholarship and become a pro after graduation.

Prefectural level contests and tournaments are held every winter and summer if not more often and for those sports that does not have a professional league, this seasonal contest is the necessary step for eventually competing in an Olympic Games

[edit] Popular Sport by Categories

Most traditional sports are for the development of skills and only few sports even have an opponent. An element of team sporting, a match between two group, is limited to a collection of individual games. 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. Go is also widely popular in the country.

Each year, Japan observes the second Monday in October as Health and Sports Day. The date, originally October 10, commemorates the opening day of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Other major sporting events that Japan has hosted include the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo and the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano. It also co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup with South Korea.