Rugby union in Japan

Japan has the fourth largest population of rugby union players in the world and the sport has been played there for over a century. There are 125,000 Japanese rugby players. [ [http://www.irb.com/en/Home/MemberUnionHomePage?UnionID=10&Tab=3 Official IRB entry on Japan] ]

The national team is also usually reinforced for the World Cup by one or two foreigners who qualify under IRB regulations. Of these Andrew Miller and Andrew McCormick, both from New Zealand, and Sinali Latu from Tonga have been the most successful.

History

Rugby was introduced to Japan in 1899, but only started to grow in the 1920s.Cotton, Fran (Ed.) (1984) "The Book of Rugby Disasters & Bizarre Records". Compiled by Chris Rhys. London. Century Publishing. ISBN 0-7126-0911-3] The JRFU published a pamphlet about that time called "The Land of the Rising Scrum". (a pun on the country's Japanese name, "Nihon", meaning "Land of the Rising "Sun"), and the Japanese Royal Family have been keen supporters of the game for many decades.

The Japanese team are known for their speed and resourcefulness but have sometimes been at a disadvantage due to their relatively smaller size compared to Southern hemisphere and European players. This is changing, however, as the Japanese diet increasingly includes more meat at the expense of fish and resembles Western diets more closely. (As Japan is the nation of sumo, there is no obvious reason why they cannot produce large rugby union players.)

There is also a statue of a scrum capped rugby player outside the Olympic Stadium. Statues of sports people are relatively rare in Japan..

Prince Chichibu

After World War II, Prince Chichibu was honorary head of many athletic organizations, and was nicknamed the "sporting Prince" due to his efforts to promote skiing, rugby and other sports.

He was "converted" to rugby after, JRFU president, Shigeru Kayama returned from a long sea voyage and was able to "market" the game to Prince Chichibu.

After his death, the Tokyo Rugby Stadium in Kita-Aoyama 2-chome was renamed Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium (秩父宮ラグビー場|Chichibunomiya Ragubī-jō). A statue of Prince Chichibu in a rugby uniform was erected there.

Governing body

Rugby union in Japan is governed by the Japan Rugby Football Union.

The Japan Rugby Football Union was officially formed on November 30, 1926 and is a full member of the International Rugby Board with one seat on the Executive Council.

Domestic competitions

Top League

In 2003, the Top League was created to improve the overall standards of Japanese rugby union. It is Japan's first nationwide league and is a first step towards professionalism. So far the league is proving to be successful with many closely fought and exciting games, though attendances at games are generally not high and tend to be limited to diehard fans and company employees.

See also 2007-08 Top League (fifth season).

All-Japan Championship

This is played at the end of the season and includes Top League teams, the top two universities and the champion club team.

Microsoft Cup

The Microsoft Cup is a knock-out Japanese rugby tournament sponsored by Microsoft Japan. It is played between the top teams of the Top League.

University championship rugby

The Japanese University rugby championships are held annually.

Clubs championship rugby

The fifteenth annual clubs championship final was held on February 17, 2008 at Chichibunomiya between Tamariba Club and Rokko Seahawks and won by the former 21-0. The winner (Tamariba) will enter the first round of the All-Japan championships.

National High School Rugby Tournament

The National High School Rugby Tournament is held annually at Kintetsu Hanazono rugby stadium in East Osaka, Japan from the end of December to early January. All 47 Prefectures of Japan are represented, with four extra teams (one from Hokkaido, one from Tokyo, and two from Osaka prefecture) to make up the numbers.

National team

The national team (which is named "The Cherry Blossoms") is ranked 15th worldwide by the International Rugby Board (IRB) as of 16 June 2008 (IRB World Rankings)

With Asia's relative weakness at rugby union, Japan struggles to get serious competition. The result is that Japan is caught in the middle: a big fish in the small pond of Asian rugby union, but still at present a relative minnow in the vast ocean of international rugby union.

uper Cup

The Super Cup was an annual international rugby union competition contested by national teams from Canada, Japan, Romania and United States. It was previously known as the Super Powers Cup, and has now been replaced by the IRB Nations Cup.

Pacific Nations Cup

The Pacific Nations Cup is an international rugby union competition held between six Pacific rim sides; Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, Australia 'A' and the Junior All Blacks (Australia's and New Zealand's second XVs, respectively).

Asian Five Nations

The Asian Five Nations is a new competition to develop rugby in Asia, starting in 2008. Details of the 2008 competition are here.

Popularity

As a team sport rugby union is a distant third in the popularity ratings behind baseball and soccer, and this reality is unlikely to change until Japan's national rugby union team becomes consistently successful on the world stage, especially at the Rugby World Cup.

At present rugby union is rarely seen on the terrestrial TV channels, and is mainly restricted to CS and cable subscription channels, which hinders its growth. (Sometimes the bigger games are shown on NHK TV - e.g. the University championship rugby final and the Microsoft Cup.)

ee also

* Japan Rugby Football Union
* Japan national rugby union team
* Sport in Japan
* Rugby union in Asia

References