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The Japnese do not seem as sports minded as many other countries. Surely the national sport is summo which is not extensively practiced outside of Japan. Sumo is a form of wrestling. This most Japanese of all sports is of course sumo, often considered to be the national sport. There is a cultural tie in with Shinto and it is as much a cultural rite as a port. As in all countries a number of team sports are also popular. Perhaps the most populsar sport is baseball--an import from the United States. The game is played a little differently and Japanese fans are more sedate than American fans. Soccer is also very popular, although nothing along the lines of Europe and Latin America. Japan is one of the few countries in which soccee (football) is not the most popular sport. We think sports like basketball and vollyball are played in schools. Japan has also played a major role in the world of martial arts. While sports are popular in Japan, the very demanding nature of the academic program means that Japanese children have less free time than Western children to particupate in sports. We also notice that Japanese girls seem much less interested in sports than in the West.
Japan is on of the few countries outside of North America where baseball is popular and there is a professional league. A few Japanese players have entered the big league in the United States. We do not know how youth baseball is organized, but believe there is a Japanese Little League. The game is played a little differently and Japanese fans are more sedate than American fans.
We note images of Japanese boys doing gymnastics. The programs seem very similar to Western programs. Presumably Olympic competitive rules have helped standardize gymnastic programs in countries around the world. Some of this is done at school in gym classess. Notice the boys here practing their gynastic roytines as part of a school sports day (figure 1). We notice other boys doing more sophisticated gymnastic work. We are not sure, however, if this is club or school gymastics. We think that many of these clubs are club gymnastics.
Japan has played a major role in the world of martial arts.
Soccer is also very popular, although nothing along the lines of Europe and Latin America. Japan like America is one of the few countries around the world in which soccer is not the most important sport. We have seen impages of Japanese boys playing soccer. We have littkle information, however, on how soccer competitions are organized. We think there are probably soccer leagues as in America rather than inter-scholastic competitions.
Sumo is the indigenous Japanese style of wrestling. It isrefeered to as the national sport. This is interesting. Americans call baseball the national sport, in part because everyone played it. But sumo is a sport for only a small group of highly trained and very heavy atheletes. The association with the Shinto religion probably explain why it came to be called the natinal sport. Summo is an ancient, highly ruitulized sport. Its origins seem as anient as Shino itself. The earliest known sumo wrestling was organized as performances to entertain the Shinto gods. The rituals associated with Shinto todsay are founded in these early Shinto performances. The ritual and decorum of sumo can be complicated, but the rules for the matches are quite simple. Thereare two ways to in. You either make your opponent touch the floor with something else than th sole of his feet or force him to leave the ring. The matches are generally very short, often only a few seconds. Only rarely do matches exceed one minute. Most elite wrestlers are highly trained and conditioned athletes, usually between 20 to 35 years old. It is especially important to gain bulk. Sumo wrestlers live in special sumo stables under very strict cobditins. We notice boys engaging in sumo. I don;t think this is a scjool activity. Perhaps it is a club acivity or organized by local temples.
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