AlmostrightfromtheintroductionofbaseballtoJapanthesportwasregardedasqualitativelydifferentfromtheoriginalAmericanmodel.ThisvisionofJapanesebaseballassociatesthesportwithsteadfastdevotion(magokoro)andthevaluesofthesamuraiclassinthecodeofBushidō,inwhichgreatnessisachievedthroughhardworkunderthetutelageofaselflessmaster.
InContestingtheMythsofSamuraiBaseballKeaveneyanalyzesthepersistentappealofsuchmythologizing,arguingthatthesporthasbeenservingasarepositoryfortraditionalvalues,towhichtheJapanesehavereturnedtimeandagaininepochsofuncertaintyandchange.BaseballandmoderncultureemergedanddevelopedsidebysideinJapan,givingculturalrepresentationsofthisnationalpastimespecialinsightsintoJapanesevaluesandtheircontortionsfromthelatenineteenthcenturytothepresentday.Keaveneyexplainstheoriginsoftheculturalconstruct“Samuraibaseball”andreflectsontherecurrencesoftheseessentialistdiscoursesatcriticaljuncturesinJapan’smodernhistory.Sincetheearlymodernperiod,writers,filmmakers,andmangaartistshavealternatelyaffirmedanddebunkedthesepopularmythsofbaseball.Thisstudypresentsanoverviewoftheseculturalproducts,beginningwithMasaokaShiki’spioneeringbaseballwritings,thenmovesontothelonghistoryofbaseballfilmsandthevenerabletraditionofbaseballfiction,andfinallyconsidersthesubstantialbodyofbaseballmangaandanime.PerhapswhatismoststrikingisthecontinuousrelevanceofbaseballanditsvaluesasapointofculturalreferencefortheJapanesepeople;theirengagementwithbaseballisagenuinenationalloveaffair.
filmmakers BASEBALL WRITERS NATIONAL CULTURAL JAPAN REPRESENTATIONS
