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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
This is in response to Charles Hayford's piece, “Samurai Baseball vs. Baseball in Japan.” In his interesting and well-written essay, Hayford calls Bushido the invention of twentieth-century Japanese Nitobe Inazo. He quotes William Kelly, who says that “Samurai Baseball” was “shaped by important elements of the nation in the early 20th century—education, industry, middle class life, the government, and above all the national project.” And he also quotes Ruth Benedict, who called Bushido “a publicist's inspiration,” But surely, he must be aware of the antecedents—the various forms of budo, as well as the seventeenth century version of Bushido as described by Yamaga—which were already there, be they invented tradition or otherwise.
[i] The Ichiko practice was routinely described in Tobita Suishu Senshu, Yakyu Kisha Jidai, Besuboru Magajin, a comprehensive collection of works by famed baseball manager and writer Tobita Suishu (1886–1967), published in 1960 (pps. 30–31). A summary of the Ichiko-YCAC games appears in the encyclopedic Koryoshi, (pp. 799–810), published by Dai-Ichi Koto Gakko Kishukuryo, September 10, 1930. Accounts of Ichiko stars appear in Yakyu Nenpo, published by Mimatsu Shoten Nai Yakyu Nenpo Henshu-bu, in 1912 (pps. 309–17) and Undokai 47, April 1912. Kanae Chuman came up with the term yakyu (field ball) for baseball, wrote the first book about it, entitled Yakyu, which was published by Maekawa Buneido Shuppan in 1897. He also helped develop the martial arts approach to yakyu, which he believed suited Japanese better than the American approach. The development of baseball as a martial art is described in Kindai Puro Supotsu no Rekishi Shakaigaku, by Kiku Koichi, published by Tokyo, Fumaido in 1993, (pps. 88–122). Retired school principal Kinoshita Hiroji exhorted Ichiko students to “demonstrate the true spirit of Japanese Bushido,” as reported in the two-part piece “Yakyu-bun-nan Shiwa,” by Saito Saburo, appearing in Yomiuri Supotsu 5, no. 8, July 1952 (pps. 71–73) and 6, no. 9, August 1952 (pps. 64–66). Former Ichiko players cited the samurai spirit as a motivating factor in: “Yakyu Bushi,” an article appearing in a commemorative work published by the Alumni Association of the first Higher School of Tokyo, February 28, 1903, entitled “Yakyu Bushi Fukisoku Dai Ichi Koto Gakko Koyukai.” The aforementioned Tobita frequently cited the Ichiko approach as the foundation for all Japanese baseball, the last instance of which was an extensive interview he did with NHK radio in August 1962.
[ii] Tesshu's philosophy is described in The Way of the Sword, by Winston L. King, Oxford University Press, New York, 1993 (pps. 238–43).
[iii] See: Kano Jigoro, Kodokan. Also see: Nunoi Shobo; Kano Jigoro, Zansei Koga, Kaneko Shobo; The Father of Judo, Brian N. Watson, Kodansha International; Kaneko Shobo. Sekai No Denki, Akira Kiribuchi, Gyosei; Kano Jigoro, Nihei Kato. Shoyo Shoin; A History of the Kodokan
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