Sport in early modern Japan as seen by foreigners visiting Japan : Focus on source data observational records in the period from the end of the Edo era to the beginning of the Meiji era

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K11374
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 59020:Sports sciences-related
• Research Institution: Toyo University
• Principal Investigator: Tanigama Hironori 東洋大学, 法学部, 教授 (40527933)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 幕末 / 訪日外国人 / 剣術 / 馬術 / 打毬 / 勧進相撲 / 曲独楽 / 徒歩旅行

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to clarify the actual state of sports in Japan in the early modern period, using as source data observational records of foreigners visiting Japan from the end of the Edo period to the early Meiji period.
The reports of foreign visitors to Japan clearly record objective information based on their actual experiences, and describe in detail how Japanese people enjoyed sports in the early modern period. Japanese sports seen by visiting foreigners in Japan included swordsmanship, horsemanship, dakyu, sumo, trick-spinning, kabuki, and walking tours. We believe that this research has revealed some aspects of sports played by Japanese people before modernization, and that we have found the original landscape of Japanese-style sports that is connected to today.

Free Research Field

スポーツ史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来の研究では十分に解明されてこなかった近世日本のスポーツ史について、訪日外国人の見聞録を用いて客観的な視点から迫ったところに、本研究の学術的な意義があると考える。
近代化以前の日本に存在した各種のスポーツを取り上げ、史料にもとづく詳細な考察を行ったことで、「日本人にとってスポーツとは何なのか」という重要なテーマに接近することができた。