Japan Sports – The 17 Most Popular Sports in Japan

The Most Popular Japanese Sports

Find below Japan national sports, ranked by popularity:

So there you have them, the major sports played in Japan! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in Japan.

What is the National Sport of Japan?

The national sport in Japan is Sumo wrestling. Sumo wrestling dates back to antiquity, and it is said to have originated in Japan. Despite its very long history, traditions have not been lost, and most of them are still preserved, like the use of salt purification. The sport is very popular in Japan, and it is the emblem of the country.

Learn More About Japan Popular Sports

Japan is an island country situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean. It is an archipelago made of more than 6,800 islands, but it is made of 5 main islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa. It is part of the Ring of Fire, a region in which many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. Its capital city is Tokyo, which counts more than 14,043,000 inhabitants.

An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its most popular sports. In light of that, I have listed all Japan famous sports, and I hope you will love them:

Baseball

Japan most popular sport is, by far and away, baseball. Believe it or not, it is baseball that takes the throne of Japanese sports. The sport dates back to 1872 when it was introduced by Horace Wilson, an American expatriate in the Empire of Japan. He brought the sport to the Kaisei School in Tokyo. Subsequently, the first Japanese baseball team, the Shimbashi Athletic Club, was founded in 1878.

After that, the sport has only been growing more and more, to the point where it currently stands: the #1 sport in Japan.

Famous Japanese Baseball players: Ichiro Suzuki, Shohei Ohtani, Kenta Maeda, Masahiro Tanaka, Yu Darvish, Hisashi Iwakuma, Koji Uehara, Hiroki Kuroda, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Kazuo Matsui, Hideki Matsui, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Hideki Irabu, Hideo Nomo, Masanori Murakami

Sumo wrestling

The second most popular sport in Japan is sumo wrestling. Sumo is definitely the most ancient sport in Japan. It dates back to antiquity, and its current governing body is the Japan Sumo Association, which was founded in 1925. Despite this ruling association, ancient ritual traditions are always respected, most notably the use of salt purification.

Being a sumo is not as fun as it sounds, however, as wrestlers have to live in training stables known as heya, where everything is ruled by strict tradition.

Number of Sumo wrestling licensed players in Japan: 702

Famous Japanese Sumo wrestling players: Akebono Tarō, Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Taihō Kōki, Konishiki Yasokichi, Musashimaru Kōyō, Takanohana Kōji, Takamiyama Daigorō, Kotoōshū

Football

The third most popular Japanese sport is football. Do not be fooled by its third place, football is extremely popular in Japan, and it is on the rise. Its governing body is the Japan Football Association, and it was established in 1921. Football’s popularity started to skyrocket during the 1920s when tournaments and competitions were held, starting in universities and high schools in the capital city of Tokyo.

The national football team has participated in many FIFA World Cups, most recently in 2018. Their best result was round 2, which they reached 3 times, in 2002, 2010, and 2018.

Famous Japanese Football players: Kazuyoshi Miura, Shinji Kagawa, Hidetoshi Nakata, Keisuke Honda, Shunsuke Nakamura, Shinji Okazaki, Kunishige Kamamoto, Yūto Nagatomo

Tennis

Rob Prange / CC BY / Naomi Osaka

The fourth most popular sport in Japan is tennis. Similar to other sports, tennis also has a very ancient history in Japan. The sport was brought to the island in 1878, and 5 courts were then built in Yokohama’s Yamate Park, for use by foreigners. Later that year, tennis was taught as a physical activity more than as a competitive sport.

However, the sport that emerged in Japan was soft tennis, because of the expense of materials for standard tennis balls. Soft tennis uses flexible and all-rubber balls.

Number of Tennis licensed players in Japan: 10,600

Famous Japanese Tennis players: Naomi Osaka, Kei Nishikori, Kimiko Date, Yuichi Sugita, Ai Sugiyama, Go Soeda, Ichiya Kumagae, Shingo Kunieda, Seiichiro Kashio, Tatsuma Ito

Golf

The fifth most popular sport in Japan is golf. When it first arrived in Japan, golf was reserved for expatriates and Western-educated Japanese. A course was opened in Tokyo in 1914, but the sport was still only for the elite. By 1940, 71 courses were built, and more and more members started to join golf in Japan after World War II.

Nowadays, there is the Japan Golf Tour, which was created in 1973, and it is one of the highest prize funds after the PGA and European Tours.

Number of Golf licensed players in Japan: 8,910,000

Famous Japanese Golf players: Masashi Ozaki, Isao Aoki, Tsuneyuki Nakajima, Naomichi Ozaki, Shingo Katayama, Masahiro Kuramoto, Teruo Sugihara, Yuta Ikeda, Tōru Nakamura

Boxing

The sixth most popular sport in Japan is boxing. It looks like Japan is just an ancient country overall because boxing also dates back to ancient times. Matthew Perry, a commodore of the United States Navy, landed at Shimoda in 1854 and brought the sport to the island. His sailors were often engaged in matches on board the ships, with their hands covered with leather.

Japanese boxers are now required to work with a manager and to follow the Japan Boxing Commission rules.

Famous Japanese Boxing players: Naoya Inoue, Fighting Harada, Kazuto Ioka, Kōki Kameda, Katsunari Takayama, Kuniaki Shibata, Toshiaki Nishioka, Guts Ishimatsu, Yoshio Shirai

Basketball

The seventh most popular sport in Japan is basketball. Basketball is very appreciated among Japanese youth, most notoriously thanks to the emergence of Yuta Tabuse and Takuya Kawamura. These two paved the way for basketball in Japan and greatly helped with its popularity.

The Japanese national basketball team won the FIBA Asia Championship twice and qualified for almost every edition (except one). The national league is named the B. League.

The famous manga series Slam Dunk was recognized by the Japan Basketball Association for its role in popularizing basketball in Japan.

Famous Japanese Basketball players: Rui Hachimura, Yuta Watanabe, Yuta Tabuse, Nick Fazekas, J.R. Henderson, Takuya Kawamura

Motor racing

The eighth most popular sport in Japan is motor racing. Several motorsports are popular in Japan, and they are all on the rise. The 3 most famous ones are auto racing, motorcycle sport, and even boat racing.

Many, many disciplines are widely appreciated in Japan. For auto racing, there is sports car racing, Formula racing, stock car racing and drag racing, among others. Motorcycle sport is divided into endurance racing, superbike racing, and auto racing, and boat racing is mostly famous for Kyōtei, a hydroplane racing event.

Famous Japanese Motor racing players: Kunimitsu Takahashi, Satoru Nakajima, Aguri Suzuki, Takuma Sato, Masahiro Hasemi, Ukyo Katayama, Toshio Suzuki, Kazuyoshi Hoshino

Puroresu

The ninth most popular sport in Japan is puroresu. Puroresu is basically the Japanese version of professional wrestling. Funnily enough, this name comes from the Japanese way of pronouncing “professional wrestling”, which was shortened to puroresu. The term later spread to the rest of the world thanks to online communities.

While puroresu was at first very similar to American pro wrestling, it is now a sport of its own. It is more of a legitimate fight with less theatrics than its American counterpart, and the stories that the sport tells are mostly about the fighter’s spirit and perseverance.

Famous Japanese Puroresu players: Mitsuhiro Momota, Mach Fumiake, Jackie Sato, Maki Ueda

Martial Arts

The tenth most popular sport in Japan is martial arts. Martial arts are a category of their own, and they include many, many sports. The most famous ones are judo, aikido, jujutsu, and sumo. Lots of these sports originate from the country.

The origins of martial arts in Japan come from the warrior traditions of the samurai and the caste system that prevented the use of weapons by other members of the society. Samurai were reputed for being proficient at many different weapons, as well as unarmed combat.

Famous Japanese Martial Arts players: Takeshi Inoue, Masanori Kanehara, Hatsu Hioki, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Tatsuya Kawajiri, Michihiro Omigawa, Yushin Okami, Megumi Fujii

Skiing

The eleventh most popular sport in Japan is skiing. Japan is a mountainous country, and while the country is very populous, vast areas remain empty, because living conditions are simply too harsh. The most famous mountain in Japan is Mount Fuji, but there are many others, like Mount Hotaka, Mount Tate, and Mount Kita.

Because of this, skiing has risen in Japan, and it is mostly taught in schools in the northern part of the country. The most successful Japanese skiers are ski jumpers. Most notoriously, all three medals in the 70-meter jumps of the 1972 Sapporo Olympics were won by Japanese athletes.

Famous Japanese Skiing players: Haruhisa Chiba, Mizue Hoshi, Tomoya Ishii, Akira Sasaki, Emiko Okazaki, Mihoko Otsue, Masayoshi Mitani, Asa Ando, Chiaki Ishioka, Katsuhito Kumagai

Table tennis

The twelfth most popular sport in Japan is table tennis. Table tennis is one of the most popular sports in Asia alongside badminton, and Japan is also really fond of the sport. It is taught very early in schools and considered both a recreation and a competition.

On an international scale, Japan used to be one of the biggest table tennis powerhouses from the 1950s to the 1970s, with 13 World singles champions. The sport has seen a recent gain in popularity, and Japan is back on the international stage, even though it still struggles to surpass Chinese superstars.

Famous Japanese Table tennis players: Jun Mizutani, Mima Ito, Kasumi Ishikawa, Ai Fukuhara, Koki Niwa, Maharu Yoshimura, Tomokazu Harimoto, Sayaka Hirano, Miu Hirano, Hina Hayata

Figure skating

The thirteenth most popular sport in Japan is figure skating. Figure skating is yet another sport where Japan used to dominate. More precisely, all 4 reigning World Champion singles skaters were Japanese in the 2009-2010 season.

Nowadays, figure skating events are overall much appreciated in Japan, and TV broadcasts regularly attract lots of people. While the sport always had a strong follower base, it was only when native skaters saw a huge success that its popularity rose. Some Japanese figure skaters, like Mao Asada (now retired) or Yuzuru Hanyu, also enjoy very high levels of popularity.

Famous Japanese Figure skating players: Yuzuru Hanyu, Mao Asada, Miki Andō, Shōma Uno, Shizuka Arakawa, Fumie Suguri, Midori Itō, Takahiko Kozuka, Daisuke Takahashi, Nobunari Oda

Cricket

The fourteenth most popular sport in Japan is cricket. While cricket is not that big in Japan yet, it is one of the fastest-growing sports on the island. It has a governing body, the Japan Cricket Association, which was established back in 1984.

Like in many other countries, cricket was brought to Japan by the British, and the first match was played in 1863. The first Japanese cricket club was formed in the same place 5 years later. It was not before the 1980s that the sport spread throughout the country, as it used to be exclusively played by expatriates.

Number of Cricket licensed players in Japan: 4,000

Famous Japanese Cricket players: Marcus Thurgate, Kento Ota-Dobell, Shu Noguchi, Masato Morita, Debashish Sahoo, Reiji Suto, Kazumasa Takahashi, Ishaan Fartyal, Neel Date

Rugby union

The fifteenth most popular sport in Japan is rugby union. Rugby union is definitely not a major sport in Japan, but it still enjoys a decent fan base. Its governing body is the Japan Rugby Football Union, which was founded in 1926. Japan has a national rugby union team, and around 125,000 licensed players.

Japan hosted the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and they qualified for the quarterfinals for the first time ever. The country notoriously caused major upsets, beating the legendary team of South Africa in the 2015 World Cup, and the second-ranked in the world Ireland in the 2019 World Cup.

Number of Rugby union licensed players in Japan: 125,000

Famous Japanese Rugby union players: Michael Leitch, Kotaro Matsushima, Yu Tamura, Timothy Lafaele, Keita Inagaki, Ayumu Goromaru, Lomano Lemeki, Isileli Nakajima

Handball

The sixteenth most popular sport in Japan is handball. The governing body of handball in Japan is the Japan Handball Association. It has been part of the IHF since 1952, and it is part of the Japanese Olympic Committee. It rules over the national handball teams as well as the Japan Handball League, which features 10 teams for men and 6 teams for women.

On a continental scale, Japan has one of the best men’s handball teams, but it still struggles on the worldwide stage, as its best Summer Olympics result was 9th place in the 1976 edition.

Famous Japanese Handball players: Hiroshi Hanawa, Toyohiko Hozumi, Motoki Sakai, Kenji Fujinaka, Eiko Kawada, Yuta Iwashita, Yukihiko Uemura, Emiko Yamashita, Kazuhiro Miyashita

Ice hockey

The seventeenth and last most popular sport in Japan is ice hockey. Ice hockey rounds out this list, and while it definitely is not a huge sport, it has been rising in the past couple of years. The fact that Japan is a mountainous country helped a lot, and there are now more than 18,000 ice hockey players on the island.

There are 4 Japanese teams in the Asia League Ice Hockey, which is made of 8 teams. The league was formed in 2003, and it allows for a few imports on every team’s roster.

Number of Ice hockey licensed players in Japan: 18,641

Famous Japanese Ice hockey players: Yutaka Fukufuji, Hiroyuki Miura, Nana Fujimoto, Kohei Sato, Darcy Mitani, Gō Tanaka, Masahito Nishiwaki, Masahito Haruna, Shogo Nakajima

So there you have them, these were all the most famous Japanese sports. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today.

In case you want to learn more about sports in other countries, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about:

More Sport Facts!

Loved these Japan sports facts? Want to see what sports are the most popular in other countries?

Then check out these posts:

• Famous Sports in China
• Famous Sports in South Korea
• Famous Sports in Australia

Or click here to see ALL the facts up on the blog! Spoiler alert: there’s A LOT of them.

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