Japanese-style baseball, or rubber-ball baseball, ( ja, 軟式野球, Nanshiki yakyū, lit=soft baseball) is a game that was created in Japan and is derived from

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

. It uses a hard rubber ball instead of a regular

made of

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffalo, pigs and hogs, ...

. It has been rendered in English in a variety of ways, including nankyu baseball (''nankyu'' means 'soft ball' in Japanese), nanshiki baseball and rubber baseball. In a narrow sense, Japanese-style baseball is a game that uses a hollow rubber ball, and in a broad sense, it includes a semi-hard baseball where a hard ball's outer coating is replaced with rubber. In contrast, the ball used in

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

is most often leather but is larger than a regular baseball.　 Other than the use of a different ball, the rules of Japanese-style baseball and regular baseball are the same. However, the difference in the ball has a distinctive effect on the playing style and equipment, and also changes the way the players use their body.

History

During the

Meiji era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...

(1868–1912), baseball introduced from the United States became established in Japan in national competitions for secondary schools, high schools, and colleges, and children enjoyed playing baseball using hard

tennis ball A tennis ball is a ball designed for the sport of tennis. Tennis balls are fluorescent yellow in organised competitions, but in recreational play can be virtually any color. Tennis balls are covered in a fibrous felt which modifies their aerodyna ...

s. However, tennis balls had the drawback of being difficult to use due to problems with their

durability Durability is the ability of a physical product to remain functional, without requiring excessive maintenance or repair, when faced with the challenges of normal operation over its design lifetime. There are several measures of durability in use, ...

and speed, and the number of people playing the sport gradually declined. In 1919, Toshin Rubber, a company based in

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

, sold the world's first rubber baseball. As a result, the number of young people playing baseball started to increase again. In the following year, the was established in Kobe and a full-fledged national tournament for youth baseball was held. Then in 1925, a man called formed the same organization in Tokyo.

Ball types

The ball has undergone a number of revisions, but the current dimensions were set out in December 2016 by the and the . Two types are specified: type M (major) and type J (junior). Type M has a diameter of . Meanwhile, type J has a diameter of . In comparison, a regulation leather baseball is in diameter. An 11-inch ball used in softball has a diameter of about .

Global popularity

Japanese-style baseball is often played by university teams, and there is a World University Japanese-style Baseball Tournament that takes place outside Japan. It was held in

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

in 2019. In addition, the International Boys Nankyu Baseball World Championship takes place annually.Taiwan snags 12th IBA-Boys baseball championship in Japan
Focus Taiwan webpage

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

has its own version of Japanese-style baseball, and a similar type of baseball is also played in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

References

{{Reflist
Japan Rubber Baseball Association’s webpage

External links

Sports Nippon Newspapers article Tokyo Nanshiki Baseball Association's webpage

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...