Rituals and Traditions

I attended a Fighters game in Sapporo for the first time this past Sunday, and was surprised that the national anthem was played before the game. I've never experienced that in Jingu, Seibu, Tokyo Dome, or Yokohama.

Each team sings its fight/theme song during the "lucky 7"th inning stretch.

The fight songs for each regular player are famous. The cheer squads also play and sing tunes after their team scores, and also when the opponent is forced to change pitchers. It has a little jingle when their team makes an out on defense.

Then many teams have these things called "jet balloons" that they release after the 7th inning fight song, I reckon that's gonna go out of favor sooner or later as it's totally un-eco. :P

The Swallows sing Tokyo Ondo, a local festival song, in the 7th and also each time after the team scores.

The Pacific League is more of an MLB imitator and so follows the MLB practice of playing the National Anthem. The Central League tends to ignore national anthems, regarding them as only to be played for international contests.

- Each team sings its fight/theme song during the "lucky 7th inning stretch."

Not always. At Koshien, the Tigers' fight song, Rokko Oroshi, is only sung after a victory. The fans also do a quick version when an opposing pitcher is replaced (and that's sung after Auld Lang Syne), or when the team scores a big run, usually a go-ahead run. During the 7th inning stretch they just release the jetto fusen after a fanfare.

So many rituals. But trying to compare all of this to bushido might be bit of a stretch. The only thing that might come close is the hierarchies within and between the oendan. Each inning is ranked and the senior cheerleader leads the chant for those ones, and guys further down the line do the less important innings. Also there's the seating arrangement for oendan members. The boss of the oendan I used to be involved in looked like he'd come straight from Yamaguchi-gumi HQ over at Rokko, with his ex-bar hostess wife in tow. When he arrived, the whole group always treated him with the exaggerated respect you might see in a yakuza movie. Truly an interesting experience, to say the least.

You may be interested in an article by Yuko Kusaka, "The Development of Baseball Organizations in Japan," published in the "1987 International Sociology of Sport." Also 2 books by Robert Whiting, "The Chrysanthemum and the Bat" and "You Gotta Have Wa."

Unless you are in junior high school, please don't write such a paper. It would be akin to comparing American baseball players with cowboys of old. Do you use the word "ritual" to describe all that goes on at a MLB game as well?

Not everything in Japan is related to samurai. You could explore a relationship between baseball and martial arts. The PBS documentary film, Kokoyakyu (High School Baseball), would be a helpful resource in understanding the training, philosophy, and emotions involved in Japanese baseball.

Good luck.

Although he's long retired, for some good background information Sadaharu Oh's biography ("A Zen Way of Baseball"), might give you some interesting ideas based on his devotion to training.

Oh Gern, don't be such a spoilsport. If you compare baseball to martial arts, then you'd be establishing a connection with samurai traditions, wouldn't you? So what's the problem?

I mentioned this thread to my wife, who's a true samurai aficionado and and writer on the subject. She thought it was an interesting project.

And it's not the first time someone's written about bushido in yakyu.

Philip Brasor writes in the Japan Times that "Whiting and others have documented this historical connection (yakyu and bushido) in detail. In fact, the preternaturally cool (Hideki) Matsui probably embodies Bushido better than any other player."

Also have a look at this fascinating essay by Robert Whiting which seeks to answer some of the criticisms of his views on the samurai spirit in yakyu by Yale professor William Kelly.

So of course the original poster should write such a paper if he wants to. He'd be in good company.

We watched a video in class and we watched how students playing for the chance to go to Koshien were picked for the team, how often they practiced, and how seriously they took it. It really is much different then American baseball. There was an opening ceremony of sorts where a player recited a promise of sorts, I can't remember what he called it where he vowed that all of the players would play their hardest and would thank the fans. As my professor indicated, they were shocked that Americans didn't bow when they came to the plate. It doesn't seem like a ritual because that's always how it's done, but the idea of repetition and the more you do something the better it will get, does remind me of samurai.

Will I be able to get five pages out of it? Maybe not, but all of this is definitely helpful, thanks so much.

- There was an opening ceremony of sorts where a player recited a promise of sorts, I can't remember what he called it where he vowed that all of the players would play their hardest and would thank the fans.

It's called the 宣誓 (sensei - "oath"), I believe.