webinar past events

ASGP Webinar May 2022  Presentation 7 

16:00 (JST) 28th May, 2022

Title: Samurai-sation: Japanising and Vernacularising Chivalry and Sporting-spirit in Kyojin no Hoshi 

長谷川千春　（至学館大学）

Chiharu Hasegawa, Shigakkan University  

<Abstract>

This paper explores the way in which Ikki Kajiwara’s baseball manga, Kyojin no Hoshi (Star of the Giants, 1966-71) exemplifies a mixture of bushido (traditional Japanese warrior’s code of behaviour) and chivalry (Western warrior’s codes of behaviour), in spite of both traditions being geographically distanced. Bushido and chivalry show characters’ idealistic traits, at the same time, revealing their vulnerability in terms of human condition and limitation. Western culture was popularised after the Meiji era by translating English books. Concepts of chivalry were also ‘japanised’ when sports were introduced to Japan during that time, mixing with bushido and evolving into ‘fair play’ spirit. Having been controlled by The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), popular culture in Japan was also manipulated after the WWII. Baseball was one such aspect, and it was strongly recommended that Japanese people watch the game and play it. Japanese people and their culture gradually Americanised through sports and film. Kyojin no Hoshi puts significant emphasis on Japanised bushido baseball by using ‘spo-kon’, an abbreviation of ‘sport’and ‘konjo’ (guts, spirit), through images such as endurance on hard training in order to win baseball games. Simultaneously, Kyojin no Hoshi depicts a tragic love episode between protagonist Hyuma and his first lover Mina, who dies of cancer. This can be traced back to medieval romances that show how knights fall in love with ladies. By looking at the Japanisation of the Western concepts of sport and love, this presentation delves into how cultural differentiation can be perceived in the manga work Kyojin no Hoshi, although geographical, cultural, and linguistic differences are significant.