Sports in Japan are a significant part of Japanese culture. Traditional sports, such as sumo and martial arts, as well as Western imports like baseball, association football, basketball and tennis are popular with both participants and spectators.

Sumo is considered Japan's national sport. Baseball was introduced to the country by visiting Americans in the 19th century. The Nippon Professional Baseball league has been Japan's largest professional sports competition in terms of television ratings and spectators. Martial arts such as judo, karate and modern kendō are also widely practiced and enjoyed by spectators in the country. Association football has gained wide popularity since the founding of the Japan Professional Football League in 1992. Other popular sports include figure skating, rugby union, golf, table tennis and racing, especially auto racing. Some new sports were invented by changing elements of imported sports.

History

Pre-Edo period

Sumo shows an important side of traditional Japanese sport, a religious occasion as well as a sporting event. Many sumo rituals are closely associated with Shinto belief. It is believed that some ancient sumo matches were purely religious events with predetermined outcomes as an offering to kami, with some matches regarded as divination – e.g. if a well-liked fisherman competed and won, a good catch was predicted for the year.

The Kamakura period was a starting point for many martial arts. Kyūdō became popular as , literally bow skill, as a pastime for the samurai class. Yabusame also started as a sport in this period, but is now considered a sacred ceremony.

Edo period In the Edo period, sports became a popular way to spend time. The only problem was that they were often accompanied by gambling. A notice to punish playing and betting on sumo without authorization was repeatedly posted to little effect. Kyūdō was encouraged by shōguns and daimyōs as a pastime, and contests as well as record making attempts were held. On April 26, 1686, a samurai named Wasa Daihachiro competing in the Tōshiya made an unsurpassed record of shooting 13,053 arrows and hitting the mark 8,133 times over a 24-hour period. This is even more remarkable when one considers the shooting range for this attempt, a 120-meter-long corridor with a ceiling of only 2.2 meters. In the Olympic Games, archers shoot over a distance of only 70 meters. Martial arts like jujutsu were popular but schools avoided inter-school matches, leaving room only for intramural matches.

After Meiji Restoration

After the Meiji Restoration, various kinds of Western sports were introduced into Japan. Playing sports was adopted as a school activity and matches between universities became popular. During the 1870s, track and field events, baseball, football, rugby union, cricket and ice skating were introduced. In 1911, an Austrian gave skiing instruction to the Japanese army. In those days, Western sports were played by a few people, but through the educational system, they spread throughout the country. Western sports were initially stressed as a form of mental discipline, but Japanese have now come to enjoy them as recreational activities.Japan Fact Sheet Sport, Web Japan Professional sports, the most famous being baseball which continues even today, started in the late 1920s but persistent rumors of bribes and a general attitude that sports should be for players or as a hobby persisted. Matches between schools attracted large crowd until after World War II when airing sporting events on radio and television became common. Manga with sports-themed stories (colloquially called ) have also played a part in attracting readers to slightly less popular sports, such as volleyball,See Attack No. 1, Haikyū!!. association football,See Captain Tsubasa, The Knight in the Area. basketball,See Slam Dunk, Kuroko's Basketball. or American football,See Eyeshield 21. although there are also stories focusing on more popular sports like baseball.See Star of the Giants, Touch.

Other sports like table tennis and fencing have been popular at different times. Baseball was a staple of early television, and boxing and sumo were aired periodically. Initially, running live sports games was viewed with skepticism as it was believed that fans would rather stay at home if they could watch for free. But, as it actually increased interest and sold more merchandise, airing of sports on television became popular.

Judo has been recognized as an official event in the Olympic Games since the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It is also one of the four main forms of amateur competitive wrestling practiced internationally today. Keirin racing has also become an Olympic Games event since the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Motorsports have become quite popular in Japan, especially during the latter third of the 20th century. Japanese car manufacturers use a relatively new form of motorsport that is distinctly Japanese and is now being exported abroad.

Japan hosted the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which were postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Professional organizations The most popular professional sports in Japan are baseball, association football (soccer), sumo wrestling, basketball, and golf. Note that most practitioners in the martial arts are not professional, but amateurs.

Favorite professional sport 200513th Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 201119th Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 201321st Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 201624th Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 201725th Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 201826th Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 201927th Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 202028th Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 202129th Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 202230th Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 202331st Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS 202432nd Annual Popular Sports Survey, Central Research Services-CRS Baseball (Nippon Professional Baseball) 51.7%45.1%48.4%42.8%45.2%48.1%42.8%45.5%37.9%45.9%53.1%51.8% Association football (J. League) (WE League)22.8%28.9%36.0%26.2%25.0%24.8%22.8%26.0%17.6%24.0%24.3%24.4% Sumo wrestling (Ōzumō)17.1%15.1%15.8%21.8%27.3%20.7%20.1%21.4%20.0%20.1%18.5%20.1% Do not care about sports 24.4%22.0%18.9%24.0%18.2%18.2%18.7%20.2%27.8%20.3%22.3%20.0% Basketball (B.League) (W League)N/AN/AN/AN/A6.0%7.4%6.5%9.1%6.3%9.6%8.9%15.2% Golf (Japan Golf Tour & JLPGA Tour) 16.9%19.9%16.0%13.4%13.7%13.9%9.4%15.4%12.8%13.6%10.4%12.3% Tennis (Japan Open) N/AN/AN/A20.6%21.7%18.5%19.8%20.0%14.0%13.4%9.9%10.6% Boxing 7.8%7.7%7.8%9.8%9.2%10.3%6.7%9.6%6.7%8.5%8.7%7.9% Motor racing 6.2%7.7%7.0%7.0%5.2%6.1%5.0%8.0%4.2%6.1%5.4%5.9% Puroresu (pro-wrestling) 4.2%3.1%3.5%4.7%3.8%4.4%3.3%4.5%2.2%3.8%4.0%4.1% Others 8.0%5.7%7.8%3.7%7.8%7.0%8.5%4.9%7.0%7.6%5.1%5.8% Gridiron Football (X-League) N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A Futsal (F.League) N/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A

Notes: Japan has no professional Gridiron Football teams. The above means watching the US National Football League and Canadian Canadian Football League games on TV.

In addition, there are professional sports for gambling purposes; some fans enjoy them as spectator sports without betting money. Horse racing – 25 races have international Grade I ratings. Arima Kinen is the world's biggest betting race. Keirin – bicycle racing. Became an Olympic sport in 2000 in its modified form Kyotei – powerboat racing Auto Race – motorbike racing on oval tracks

School and sport

There are opportunities to play various sports for all ages, and school plays an important role in community. Kindergarten and lower elementary school students can play in a private sport club that can be joined for a moderate fee. Most martial arts can be started as little as 5 to 6 years old. When a student starts 5th grade, school offers free after-school activities for its students to participate. Middle and high schools also encourage their students to join school sport clubs.

Prefectural and national-wide level contests and tournaments are held every winter and summer for all sports. Some of the tournaments, such as National High School Baseball Championship, have a very high level of popularity among fans, comparable to professional sports.

International competition

The second Monday of October is a national holiday of Japan, Health and Sports Day. This date, originally October 10, commemorates the opening day of the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo. The event was documented in Tokyo Olympiad by filmmaker, Kon Ichikawa. Japan has hosted many international competitions including the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, 2002 FIFA World Cup, and the 2006 and 2009 World Baseball Classic. Tokyo also hosted the 2020 Summer Olympics.

The 2019 Rugby World Cup, or 'RWC 2019' was hosted by Japan. This was announced by RWCL Chairman Bernard Lapasset in Irish capital Dublin at a special IRB meeting on 28 July 2009, along with the host of the 2015 Rugby World Cup, England.

Many major figure skating events are regularly held in Japan. The Grand Prix event, the NHK Trophy, has been held in various cities throughout Japan every year since 1979. Japan has also been host of the World Figure Skating Championships and ISU Grand Prix Final numerous times. In 2009, it held the first ISU World Team Trophy in Tokyo, an event set to take place every two years. Figure skating is also a commercial success in Japan, and made-for-television competitions and ice shows like the Japan Open are broadcast across the nation. Along with countries such as the United States, Canada, and Russia, Japan is widely considered to be a leading country in the sport.

Individual sports Sumo

Sumo wrestling is the national sport in Japan. Sumo wrestling is believed to have originated in Japan, with its governing body being the Japan Sumo Association. It is considered a gendai budō, which refers to modern Japanese martial art, but the sport has a history spanning many centuries. Many ancient traditions have been preserved in sumo, and even today the sport includes many ritual elements, such as the use of salt purification, from Shinto.

Life as a wrestler is highly regimented, with rules regulated by the Japan Sumo Association. Most sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal sumo training stables, known in Japanese as heya, where all aspects of their daily lives – from meals to their manner of dress – are dictated by strict tradition.

Boxing

The history of boxing in Japan began in 1854 when Matthew Perry landed at Shimoda, Shizuoka soon after the Convention of Kanagawa. At that time, American sailors often engaged in sparring matches on board their ships, with their fists wrapped in thin leather. It was the first example of boxing conveyed to Japan. In addition, an ōzeki-ranked sumo wrestler named was summoned by the shogunate, and ordered to fight a boxer and a wrestler from the United States. There were three fought matches, using different martial arts' styles, before Perry and other spectators. Koyanagi reportedly won.