courtesy Japan Times
There was an interesting item on a television variety show last night involving Yamamoto Masahiro, a professional baseball pitcher with Chunichi Dragons. The programme centred on admirable people who were doing things remarkable for their age. Yamamoto is 48!
Yamamoto came into the studio and was asked to explain the secret of his relative longevity in baseball terms. How was he able to continue for so long when all his peers were so much younger? The answer he gave was surprising. ‘I respect the baseball kami,’ he said.
It’s a great example of animism and how traditional notions are very much alive and well in modern Japan. I recently wrote about a kami of football, deriving from the ancient game of kemari.
The big difference with baseball is that kemari (like sumo and horse archery) was performed as an entertainment for the kami, whereas baseball is a modern game. As far as I know, it’s never been performed primarily for the kami, nor indeed have I ever come across a shrine that deifies a kami of baseball.
Photo courtesy Wikicommons
By way of explanation of what he meant, Yamamoto gave some examples of how he went about his job in terms of respecting the kami of baseball.
First of all, he cleaned up any litter or dirt he came across on the baseball pitch (in line with Shinto notions of cleanliness). Secondly he always did his best, no matter what the activity (training, preparing, showing solidarity, etc.). Thirdly he never spoke ill of baseball or made fun of it (in keeping with Shinto notions of purity and sincerity).
The rest of the participants all reacted with surprise and amazement, but in a few brief moments Yamamoto had clarified the most basic virtues and tenets of Shinto. I’m no fan of baseball, but I’ll be watching out now to see just how long the kami of baseball will continue to support him!
If you haven’t written one already somewhere already, there’s definitely an article waiting to happen on the subject of kami of games and sports. Perhaps a “kami of baseball” sounds a bit novel and there are (probably) no official shrines to it, but I know that various martial arts, as well as games like shogi and go, are often considered by professional players to have particular kami associated with them. (For instance, my edition of the “The Book of Dobutsushogi” by Madoka Kitao explicitly thanks “the God of Shogi, who gave us a miracle”.)