“Baseball and the Quest for
National Dignity in Meiji Japan” by D. Roden
T. Roosevelt linked
sport to the ideal social character of governing elite and to the strength of a nation, “True national greatness”. Japan’s early years,
athletics was the center of the male-dominated social and recreational life of the foreign community.
Participation in athletics became a moral imperative. Absence of sport was signal of
cultural weakness and racial inferiority, say England/U.S. It was assumed that only the fittest nations could survive, and that athletics, patriotism, and the ideology of manliness were inseparable.
A cultural disparity b/w “the rough and aggressive Anglo-Saxons” and “a
Nation who manifested effeminate customs. Japan’s stereotype was ‘essentially feeble’.
The development of a strong constitutional gov’t and the triumph of the Sino-Jap War made Japan’s old stereotype untenable. Japan was now seen as a “competitor”, in war, diplomacy, commerce, and baseball.
Baseball represented national vigor and swept the nation in 1890’s. Athletics and baseball sought national dignity. The playing field was used for very real political and social ends.
Meiji educators were hesitant of the importance of athletics. But “frequency of sickness among
student and their delicate physique demanded more attention to exercise. Tokyo quickly emerged as the most formidable of the teams.
Japan began focusing on its development and building of physical character in its Principles of Primary School Instruction: To build stronger bodies and instill Japanese children with the virtues of obedience to the state; interlocking body, mind, and state.
Baseball was suited to the American character: Courage, confidence, combativeness, discipline, determination, American energy, enthusiasm, vigor; also mental abilities and manly qualities. Baseball was the sport that won the hearts of the Japanese students. Cultural relativism supplied the last defense for ensuring the nat’l integrity of the sport
Universities began organizing athletic clubs and intercollegiate competition that required total commitment. Japan’s new “national game” would symbolize the collectivist ideal and fighting spirit of the nation.
Baseball broke down cultural barriers. First official baseball game between America and Japan was on May 23, 1896 at the Yokohama Athletic Club. Japan believed though America has the advantage of “form”, they had the advantage of “spirit”. Japan won: “their superiority is now self-evident”.
Baseball was an instrument for the rectification of the national image. Beating the foreigners at their own game elicited respect. Thus, baseball was heralded for accelerating Japan’s rise to equal status among the world powers.
The sight of the Japanese playing baseball made Japan seem less “strange” to the American visitor. By the turn of the century, Japan student-athletes were expounding the Victorian ideology of manliness.
The Ichiko-Yokohama series, the famous baseball competition b/w student athletes and sporting elites of Japan contributed to the interrelated quest for national dignity and social status among student athletes. “Baseball stands especially high/ With its spirit of honor that refuses to die”.
More summaries about the Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Mieji Japan