Why do so many leagues and tournaments exist in Japan?

In Europe, the main model is the “pyramid-style domestic league,” made up of club sports and club teams that take part in it. From a Japanese perspective, it is very easy to understand. For example, in the pyramid-style league centered on Germany’s men’s professional league, the “TTBL,” it is said that there are amateur regional leagues all the way down to around the 15th division, with the league system spread across the region like a net.

Asia, however, is different. Let’s look at Japan as an example.

1. The history and development of “school sports” in Japan

In Japan, the history of physical education at school, so-called school PE, is said to go back more than 150 years. Originally, it was established as time for children to train their bodies, and later, during the war in World War II, it also took on a stronger military-training character. At the time, the subject itself was called “taikenka” (the subject for strengthening the body), and the goal was said to be fostering a sense of unity through Japan’s unique collective behavior.

After the war, militaristic elements were removed and the name was changed to “physical education.” It shifted from time to train the body to time to enjoy sports and proactively build a healthy body. Even today, the “undokai” held at elementary, junior high, and high schools remains as a vestige of that era, as a competition involving the school, the local community, and families.

In other words, unlike Europe, postwar Japan did not have a sporting foundation in which “people of all ages gathered at clubs for enjoyment and recreation, formed teams, and competed in league play.” In Japan, “school sports led by children” were central, and in table tennis as well, there were only tournaments where schools competed head-to-head for victory or defeat.

Japanese table tennis entered its golden age in the 1950s, but most of the national team at that time were university students. Hiroji Sato, Japan’s first world champion, was working for a company, but the players who followed him, such as Ichiro Ogimura, Toshiaki Tanaka, Fujie Eguchi, and Kimiyo Matsuzaki, all became champions while they were university students. They started table tennis around junior high school age, practiced hard in high school, and then, once they reached university, went out into the world and subjected themselves to intense training in pursuit of the world stage—that was what Japan’s national team looked like at the time.