Rugby union in Japan

Rugby union in Japan is a moderately popular sport. It is regarded as the third-largest team sport in the country, behind baseball and football. The sport was introduced into the country in the 19th century and has since led to Japan being a powerhouse of rugby in Asia. Japan has the fourth-largest population of rugby union players in the world at around 126,000, as well as 3,631 official rugby clubs. The Japan national team has qualified for every Rugby World Cup (RWC) since its inception in 1987, and, until 2027, was the only Asian team to have qualified for the tournament. The Japan men's national team achieved their highest World Rugby Ranking of 7th at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, for which they were the host nation, the first-ever Asian hosts of a Rugby World Cup.

History

Before the arrival of rugby, Japan was home to a game known as kemari (), which in some ways was a parallel development to association football, and to a lesser extent rugby football. It is said that kemari was introduced to Japan from China in about 600 AD, during the Asuka period, and was based upon the Chinese sport of cuju. The object of Kemari is to keep one ball in the air, with all players cooperating to do so. The ball, known as a mari, is made of deerskin with the hair facing inside and the hide on the outside. Kemari has been revived in modern times, and the players still wear the traditional costumes for the game.

Early history Like many Western customs, rugby footballJapanese rugby predates the split between rugby union and rugby league. League is the smaller code – for which see rugby league in Japan first reached Japan when gunboat diplomacy deployed by the United States and European powers ended the country's period of self-imposed isolation in 1854.

The first recorded instance of a team being established and rugby being played in Japan was in 1866 with the founding of the Yokohama Foot Ball Club. The rules committee of the club consisted of notable Rugby School, Radley and Winchester College alumni including Capt. Charles Rochefort and Capt. Robert Blount of the 20th (The East Devonshire) Regiment of Foot and Royal Navy Lieutenant Lord Walter Kerr. Other Rugby School alumni soon followed including George Hamilton who became captain of the Yokohama team. Games, mainly between service personnel, were played on the Garrison Parade Ground in Yamate, Yokohama.

In 1874 records also illustrate British sailors staging a game in Yokohama.Bath p70The Ultimate Encyclopaedia of RugbyRichards, p99 Other games were played at other treaty ports such as Kobe between teams of long-term foreign residents and visiting ships' crews, garrisons etc., but they rarely involved indigenous Japanese people.

The date of local Japanese participation in the sport is most frequently cited as 1899, when students at Keio University were introduced to the game by Professor Edward Bramwell Clarke (who was born in Yokohama) and Ginnosuke Tanaka (田中 銀之助). Both Clarke and Tanaka were graduates of Cambridge University. Japanese rugby only started to grow in the 1920s.Cotton, Fran (Ed.) (1984) The Book of Rugby Disasters & Bizarre Records. Compiled by Chris Rhys. London. Century Publishing. Clarke taught English and coached rugby union at Keio from 1899 to 1910, after which an injury to his right leg forced him to give up playing.

Clarke said that he wanted to give his students something constructive to do, as they "seemed to have nothing to occupy them out of doors in the after-summer and after-winter days. Winter baseball had not yet come in, and the young fellows loitered around wasting the hours and the lovely outdoor weather."Nish, Alison

Early 20th century

In 1901, Keio University played "Yokohama Foreigners" losing 35–5, but the game demonstrated that the racial barriers in the sport were breaking down. Prof. Clarke played in this game, taking the conversion, after a student called Shiyoda scored a try. From Keio, Japanese rugby swept to the other universities of Japan, and to this day, the private universities remain a stronghold of the Japanese game. Doshisha and Waseda played their first inter-university game in 1923.Richards, p130 The Keio and Waseda match, a long running rivalry between two of Tokyo's most prominent universities, has been played annually since 1924.

The growth of Japanese rugby in the early 20th century at the height of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was rapid; by the 1920s, there were nearly 1,500 rugby clubs, and more than 60,000 registered players, which meant that its resources were larger than those of Scotland, Wales and Ireland combined. Despite these extremely impressive figures, Japanese rugby was still isolated, and to an extent insular – the first rugby tours to Japan did not occur until the 1930s.

The JRFU published a pamphlet about the same time called The Land of the Rising Scrum. (a pun on the country's Japanese name, "Nihon", meaning "Land of the Rising Sun"), and the Japanese Royal Family have been keen supporters of the game for many decades.

Japan and Canada had the first tour outside the main "traditional" rugby playing nations. Japan toured British Columbia in 1930, and Canada went on a tour of Japan in 1932.Richards, p143 Canada won 5/6 of their first matches in Japan, before being defeated 38–5 by the Japanese national team, in front of a crowd of 25,000 on 31 January 1932. The Canadian team had been brought over by a trade delegation.

The Canadians ascribed their defeat to, "excessive entertaining, too many games in a short period, and the inspired play of the Japanese in front of the assembled nobility of Japan."

In 1934, an Australian Universities side toured Japan, and lost to Keio and Waseda, in front of crowds of more than 20,000.

Prince Chichibu

After World War II, Prince Chichibu was honorary head of many athletic organizations, and was nicknamed the "sporting Prince" due to his efforts to promote skiing, rugby union and other sports.

He was "converted" to rugby after, JRFU president, Shigeru Kayama returned from a long sea voyage and was able to "market" the game to Prince Chichibu. He attended Oxford University, but was only there for one term, and had to return when his father, the Emperor Taishō died. In Japan, his interest was further strengthened when he saw Keio play Waseda. He became president of the JRFU himself in 1926.

After his death in 1953, the Tokyo Rugby Stadium in Kita-Aoyama 2-chome was renamed Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium (秩父宮ラグビー場 – Chichibunomiya Ragubī-jō). A statue of Prince Chichibu in a rugby uniform was erected there.

Tōjō Regime and Second World War In the later 1930s and early 1940s, the Fascistic Japanese regime tended to be hostile to the game, as it was seen as particularly foreign,Richards, p150 despite the fact that the Japanese royal family continued to support the game. As a result, rugby was rebranded tōkyū, meaning "fighting ball".

The consequences of World War II would leave many Japanese players dead, with bombing destroying much of its physical infrastructure. However, games continued during the Second World War until 1943, when military control of pitches, and the lack of available players took their toll.

Post-war period Japanese rugby made a surprisingly speedy recovery in the post-war period, despite massive damage to infrastructure, and the death of many players. In September 1945, less than a month after the end of the war, an advertisement for rugby players in Hokkaido managed to draw no less than fifty people to a meeting. On 23 September 1945, the first post-war schools match was held in Kyoto. Kobe Steel encouraged the game amongst its workers at the end of 1945, believing it would raise their morale, and set a precedent for the later heavy corporate involvement in Japanese rugby.

In the 1950s, Japan was toured by two of England's major university sides. Oxford University toured Japan in 1952, and 1956, and Cambridge University toured there in 1953.Richards, pp164, 165 In 1959, a combined Oxbridge side toured the country. The Junior All Blacks toured in 1958, winning the three "tests" against All Japan.Richards, p165

Japan beat the Junior All Blacks 23–19 in 1968. After losing the first four matches on a tour of New Zealand, they won the last five.

1970s In 1971, England toured Japan.Richards, p204 Shiggy Konno admitted that lack of height amongst the Japanese players was a problem, but said that it made it –

"easier to pick the ball up, pack down low in the scrum, and generally move around more quickly. This is where our strength is, and we have to play to it."

The Japanese (coached by Waseda University Professor Onishi Tetsunosuke) lost by just 3–6 to England in Tokyo on 29 September 1971 in the RFU's centenary year.

The first tour by Japan of Great Britain was in 1973.

Despite Japan's vast playing resources, it has a major problem in the lack of pitches, since Japan is highly urbanised and land is at a premium in the country. This sometimes results in a pitch being used for games from 6 am to late at night. Japan also has a praiseworthy lack of violence and thuggery in its rugby; according to legend, a game between army sides in 1975 got out of hand, resulting in both units being disbanded, the commanding officers sacked, and every player being banned sine die. Supposedly, there has been no problem since.

The Japanese team are known for their speed and resourcefulness, but have sometimes been at a disadvantage due to their smaller size compared to Southern Hemisphere and European players. This is changing, however.

Japan have not performed too well in the top ranks of the international game. 1990 was a high point – they beat a Scotland XV, which was the national side in all but name. They have qualified for every Rugby World Cup, and won nearly every Asian Championship, despite some strong challenges from South Korea, but they have hardly ever beaten the main teams. In the world cups, their first victory was over Zimbabwe, who had qualified partly as the African representative (South Africa was excluded due to their racist apartheid regime).

There is also a statue of a scrum capped rugby player outside the Olympic Stadium. Statues of sports people are relatively rare in Japan.

1980s Japan gave Wales a fright in losing by a slim five-point margin, 24–29, at Cardiff Arms Park on 2 October 1983.

On 28 May 1989 a strong Japan coached by Hiroaki Shukuzawa defeated an under-strength Scotland, missing nine British Lions on tour in Australia, for the first ever time at Chichibunomiya rugby stadium, 28–24. The Japan team included such Kobe Steel stalwarts as centre Seiji Hirao (captain), and locks Atsushi Oyagi and Toshiyuki Hayashi (38 Japan caps and a member of Oxford University's all-time best XV). Sinali Latu at No. 8 was then a fourth year student at Daito Bunka University, and speedy Yoshihito Yoshida on the wing (no. 14) was a third year at Meiji University. Scotland missed an incredible seven penalties and refused the kicking tee which was generously offered – as a surviving video of the game shows. It was almost the same Japanese team which defeated Zimbabwe in the 1991 Rugby Union World Cup.

Accusations of "shamateurism" and foreign players The Japanese have traditionally been strong proponents of amateurism in rugby union, but traditionally many of their teams have been run by major corporations, and that the players as employees of these companies were guilty of a form of "shamateurism". In the 1970s, large numbers of foreign players started playing in Japan in corporate teams.Richards, p218Richards, p237 However, Japanese rugby was by no means alone in this regard in the pre-professional era.