Historical Study on Korean Baseball in Colonial Period

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26870305
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: History of Asia and Africa; Sports science
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Ono Yasuteru 京都大学, 人文科学研究所, 助教 (00705436)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 朝鮮 / 植民地 / 部活動 / 野球 / ナショナリズム / スポーツ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aimed to clarify the reception and development process of baseball in colonial Korea and to explain what made today's Korean baseball “Japanized”. Although Japanese had tried to utilize baseball for colonial policy such as imperial assimilation in colonial period, Korean nationalists had already introduced it into Korean Peninsula through Japan voluntarily before the annexation of Korea in 1910. Despite the fact that technical aspects of Korean baseball originated in Japan, Koreans accepted baseball as a means of national movement. Therefore such nationalism served as important driving forces behind the development of Korean baseball.

Free Research Field

朝鮮近代史