The Construction of National Identity Contributed by Sports in Japanese Modernization--The Comparative Analysis of Baseball and Kendo

Research Article
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The Construction of National Identity Contributed by Sports in Japanese Modernization--The Comparative Analysis of Baseball and Kendo

Jianing Fu 1*
  • 1 International High School Department, Suzhou Foreign Language School, Suzhou, 215000, China    
  • *corresponding author kslele2004@126.com
CHR Vol.4
ISSN (Print): 2753-7072
ISSN (Online): 2753-7064
ISBN (Print): 978-1-915371-31-7
ISBN (Online): 978-1-915371-32-4

Abstract

In the progress of modernization, Japan experienced massive changes in society and culture, and the development of athletic sports was one significant factor that influenced the construction of national identity after Meiji Restoration. This work uses the methodology of comparative analysis and case study of baseball and kendo to discuss the different pathways of national identity construction. In this work, the development of baseball and kendo is first introduced respectively, then the significance of the two sports in a historical context is discussed with reference to the interdisciplinary concept of invented tradition and cultural reproduction, and finally the similarities and differences between the two sports’ role in Japanese national identity construction are discussed. The work concludes that the pathway of national identity construction is not constrained by specific factors of a sport.

Keywords:

baseball, kendo, National Identity, Modernization, Japan

Fu,J. (2023). The Construction of National Identity Contributed by Sports in Japanese Modernization--The Comparative Analysis of Baseball and Kendo. Communications in Humanities Research,4,602-609.
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References

[1]. G. Cameron Hurst, Swordsmanship and Archery: The Modern Transformation (Yale University Press, 1998), pp. 147–76.

[2]. Alexander C. Bennett, Kendo: Culture of the Sword (University of California Press, 2015), pp. 86–122.

[3]. Donald Roden, “Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan.” The American Historical Review, 85, no. 3 (1980), pp. 511–34.

[4]. Christopher T. Keaveney, Contesting the Myths of Samurai Baseball: Cultural Representations of Japan’s National Pastime (Hong Kong University Press, 2018), pp.18-60.

[5]. Professor James McClain introduced this concept to the class in his lectures. I gratefully borrow this idea.

[6]. Zong Xiaolian, “The Significance of Bourdieu’ s Culture Reproduction Theory to the Research of Cultural Vicissitudes,” JOURNAL OF GUANGXI UNIVERSITY FOR NATIONALITIES (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), Vol. 24, No. 2 (2002), pp. 23

[7]. Yu Xiulan, “Cultural Reproduction: Analysis of the Urban-Rural Gap in China's Education,” Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), Vol. 24, No. 1 (2006), pp. 19

[8]. Eric Hobsbawn, The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp.1

Cite this article

Fu,J. (2023). The Construction of National Identity Contributed by Sports in Japanese Modernization--The Comparative Analysis of Baseball and Kendo. Communications in Humanities Research,4,602-609.

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About volume

Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies (ICIHCS 2022), Part 2

ISBN：978-1-915371-31-7(Print) / 978-1-915371-32-4(Online)
Editor：Faraz Ali Bughio, David T. Mitchell
Conference website: https://www.icihcs.org/
Conference date: 18 December 2022
Series: Communications in Humanities Research
Volume number: Vol.4
ISSN：2753-7064(Print) / 2753-7072(Online)

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References

[1]. G. Cameron Hurst, Swordsmanship and Archery: The Modern Transformation (Yale University Press, 1998), pp. 147–76.

[2]. Alexander C. Bennett, Kendo: Culture of the Sword (University of California Press, 2015), pp. 86–122.

[3]. Donald Roden, “Baseball and the Quest for National Dignity in Meiji Japan.” The American Historical Review, 85, no. 3 (1980), pp. 511–34.

[4]. Christopher T. Keaveney, Contesting the Myths of Samurai Baseball: Cultural Representations of Japan’s National Pastime (Hong Kong University Press, 2018), pp.18-60.

[5]. Professor James McClain introduced this concept to the class in his lectures. I gratefully borrow this idea.

[6]. Zong Xiaolian, “The Significance of Bourdieu’ s Culture Reproduction Theory to the Research of Cultural Vicissitudes,” JOURNAL OF GUANGXI UNIVERSITY FOR NATIONALITIES (Philosophy and Social Science Edition), Vol. 24, No. 2 (2002), pp. 23

[7]. Yu Xiulan, “Cultural Reproduction: Analysis of the Urban-Rural Gap in China's Education,” Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), Vol. 24, No. 1 (2006), pp. 19

[8]. Eric Hobsbawn, The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp.1

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