The Early Days of Amateur Baseball in Japan

The Birth of America's Pastime in the Far East

May 20, 2009

Though baseball was not introduced until the late 19th century, it caught on quickly among students. Their enthusiasm for the sport still resonates today.

Baseball was reportedly first introduced to Japan in 1872 by Horace Wilson. Wilson, an American professor of English at Tokyo University, saw fit to use baseball as a means of physical activity for his students. As others like Wilson introduced Japanese locals to American baseball, its popularity spread.

According to Joseph A. Reaves in his book Taking In a Game the first baseball game was organized by Albert Bates, an American teacher at Kaitaku University in Tokyo, in 1873.

Japan's first proper baseball team was the Shimbashi Athletic Club, formed by Hiroshi Hiraoka following his return from the United States in 1878. A railroad engineer, he formed the organization with his co-workers, though the club eventually disbanded following his departure from the railroad in 1887.

Rise of Collegiate and Pre-Collegiate Baseball

Despite the formation of baseball clubs by the working class (like Hiraoka's), it was the students who made baseball a consistent fixture of Japan. Regularly scheduled intercollegiate games grew more common during the turn of the 20th century, and rivalries forged then still exist today. Most notable is the rivalry between Waseda University and Keio University established in 1904.

Japanese baseball prowess was defined in 1896 when Ichiko, a Tokyo middle school (equivalent to today's high schools), defeated the Yokohama Athletic Club, a team comprised of Americans, by a score of 29 to 4. They won two more rematches in similar fashion.

The Price of Admission

Remarkably, as the number of spectators for the more highly publicized events grew into the thousands, admission was never charged. Initially, at least from the Japanese culture's viewpoint, it did not seem acceptable to charge a fee for fans to watch athletes who themselves were not paid. Admission fees were first recorded in 1907 and 1908, though these matches were against international clubs. It is likely the gate receipts were used to finance the opponents' overseas travel costs.

Eventually, as Japanese baseball entered the modern era, it became too expensive and too competitive to warrant free admission. A collegiate league formed in 1914 used gate receipts to cover travel expenses incurred by both themselves and invited international teams, as well as the cost of gear and field maintenance.

Tournaments

In 1915 a nationwide tournament for Japanese middle schools was established. Smaller local tournaments existed up to that point, and they became qualifying rounds for the larger tournament. It is now called the National High School Baseball Championship and remains the largest baseball tournament in Japan. It is rivaled only by the National High School Invitational Tournament established in 1924. Both are played annually and are commonly referred to as the "Summer Koshien" and "Spring Koshien," respectively.

Guttman, Allen, and Lee Thompson Japanese Sports: A History. University of Hawaii Press, 2001

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