Sumo is a traditional Japanese sport that still enjoys immense popularity today. In sumo, two wrestlers face each other in a ring. The wrestler who brings his opponent down to the ground or pushes him out of the ring is the winner.
Yet another is aikido, a martial art of self-defense in which an attack with bare hands or with a weapon, such as a sword or spear, is repulsed by utilizing the strength of the attacker against him or her.
Judo, which is now part of the official sports program at the Olympic Games, is also a traditional sport. In judo, two wrestlers compete with various throwing and grappling techniques.
Other traditional sports include karate, which came to Japan from China; Japanese archery, or kyudo, in which standing archers shoot arrows at a target with a long Japanese-style bow; and mounted archery, in which archers shoot at stationary targets from atop galloping horses.
Baseball
Baseball is the most popular sport in Japan. It was introduced to Japan in 1872 by Horace Wilson, who taught at the Kaisei School in Tokyo. The first baseball team was called the Shimbashi Athletic Club and was established in 1878. Baseball has been a popular sport ever since. It is called 野球 (やきゅう; yakyū) in Japanese, combining the characters for field and ball
Hiroshi Hiraoka, who was in United States studying engineering, introduced the game to his co-workers at Japan's national railways in 1878. He and his co-workers created the first baseball team, the Shimbashi Athletic Club, and dominated other teams which popped up in Japan. However it wasn't until the team from Tokyo University started playing that the sport took hold in Japanese culture. In 1896 the team defeated an American team from the Yokohama Country and Athletic Club, 29 to 4. It was the first recorded international baseball game in Asia. After that victory, several other universities in Japan adopted the sport and it quickly spread throughout Japan. Since then teams from Japan have traveled to learn from their American counterparts. Waseda University was one of the first teams to cross the ocean to improve their skills. In 1905 the team traveled to the United States where it played college teams from around the country. Other universities in Japan made similar trips, and U.S. teams traveled to Japan to play.
In 1913 and in 1922, American baseball stars visited Japan and played against university teams. They also held clinics on technique. Herb Hunter, a retired major league player, made eight trips to Japan from 1922 to 1932 to organize games and coaching clinics.
Baseball is also played in Japan's junior and senior high schools. Each year in March and August, two tournaments are held at Koshien Stadium for senior high school teams that win a prefecture tournament
Betty Karina Uribe Barrera
EES
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