Refereed, Japan Journal of Sport Sociology, Japan Society of Sport Sociology, Meiji Baseball from the Perspective of ‘Play’ and ‘Sacred’:: Amusement, Bushido and Shunrō Oshikawa, SUZUKI Koshi, The aim of this study is to re-examine the history of baseball in the Meiji era from the perspective of the categories, ‘Play’ and ‘Sacred’.
During the early Meiji era, baseball was introduced to Japan as a western amusement and adopted as part of physical education because it was regarded as an enjoyable pastime.
Hiroshi Haraoka, one of the people who introduced the sport to Japan, was a debauched pleasure seeker and, as a result, baseball was seen by some in the same light. When his type of excesses came to be frowned upon, the abstinence of ‘Play’ came into place. Shiki Masaoka is a good example. Masaoka explained that baseball was fun but did not mention any links with unwholesome debauchery. Thus, ‘Play’ came to be divided into two camps: wholesome and unwholesome.
The asceticism of ‘Play’ was introduced by First Higher School students who invented Bushido-Baseball. After enjoying the fun of baseball in Meiji 20s(1887-1896), Bushido-Baseball started in Meiji 30s(1897-1906). In this paper, I will show that Bushido Baseball came about as a result of a dispute about the school character in the First Higher School. Shintaro Suzuki(Kendo club member) advocated that Japanese traditional martial arts(including Japanese baseball) could raise the Bushido spirit. This was an example of when ‘Play’ was used as a form of ‘Sacred’ hard exercize.
Shunrō Oshikawa’s idea of Bushido-Baseball was very similar to that of the First Higher School. He argued that Japanese baseball must be a kind of martial art to cultivate the participants’ minds. However,his everyday practice of sports was far removed from ascetic hard exercise. He spent his time in playing for the moment, and embodied Bushi spirit by imitating Bushi practice. People’s bodies were an example of the
‘Playing’ body versus ‘Sacred’ Bushido-Baseball and its “inner-worldly asceticism”., 2016, 24, 2, 21, 39, 10.5987/jjsss.02-04