Sport and Japanese Culture

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Title: Examine the role sport plays in Japan’s culture. Suggest what role you think it should play. This essay argues that a number of sports strongly reflect Japanese values and norms. It should promote and reinforce values. Japanese culture is built upon the values of bushido and wa. Bushido is a concept focused on discipline, loyalty and honour. It stems from the way of the samurai. Wa refers to the notion of harmony, unity and conformity and is derived from traditional family values. This essay will identify how various sports in Japan demonstrate both bushido and wa. First of all we study sumo wrestling and its connection with religion. We then cover soccer and its association with Japanese values. The third topic is baseball and how bushido and wa can be seen through the similarities with samurai. Finally we document high school sport and its relationship with traditional Japanese values. The conclusion reiterates how sport celebrates the values of Japanese society and how it can be utilised to help values gain social acceptance. Sumo wrestling is a traditional sport that has long been part of Japanese culture. It is widely popular and is true to bushido and wa, as well as religious values and ceremony. The fights consist of various acts which follow a formal sequence. The actual combat takes place in a special ring laid out on a rectangle stage, which is a reference to the forces of the cosmos outlined in Buddhism. The materials used to indicate these boundaries are usually straw rope and bags which contain rice. Both of which are important components in various Shinto ceremonies. Fights contain ritual performances which are loyal to rural agriculture practice and testament to the honour of the contestants (Guttmann 15). The style in which these performances are delivered are a test of the fighter’s discipline and bushido spirit. The most significant

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