An , literally "cheering squad" or "cheering section", is a Japanese sports rallying team similar in purpose and allegedly inspirated by the

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense Physical exercise, physical activity. It can be performed to motivate s ...

squads in the United States, but relies more on making a lot of noise with brass drums or

taiko are a broad range of Traditional Japanese musical instruments, Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese language, Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various J ...

drums, blowing horns and other items, waving

flags A flag is a piece of fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and flags have ...

and banners, and yelling through plastic

megaphone A megaphone, speaking trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loudhailer is usually a portable or hand-held, cone-shaped horn (acoustic), acoustic horn used to amplifier, amplify a person's voice or other sounds and direct it in a given direction. ...

s in support of their sports team than on

acrobat Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro d ...

ic moves (though some ''ōendan'' incorporate pom-pom girls). In addition to cheering for their own teams, ''ōendan'' have been known to lead fans in cheers which tease and

taunt A taunt is a battle cry, sarcastic remark, gesture, or insult intended to demoralize or antagonize the recipient. Taunting can exist as a form of social competition to gain control of the target's cultural capital (i.e., status). In sociological ...

the other team and its fans. This is usually done in the spirit of good competition, but occasional fights have broken out if the taunting gets too heated. Smaller ōendan are sometimes called . Like in

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

and

college sports College sports or college athletics encompasses amateur sports played by non-professional, collegiate and university-level student athletes in competitive sports and games. College sports have led to many college rivalries. College sports tra ...

in United States, the Ōendan may be followed by

brass band A brass band is a musical ensemble generally consisting primarily of brass instruments, most often with a percussion section. Ensembles that include brass and woodwind instruments can in certain traditions also be termed brass bands (particularl ...

s or by a group of fans playing

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

s playing songs in support for the teams. Sokeisen spring 2008 - Keio University flag

Introduction

''Ōendan'' or ''ōenbu'' can be found in

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...

s, and

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

, as well as in non-academic settings such as industrial league sports clubs (such as the

intercity baseball tournament The intercity baseball tournament (都市対抗野球大会 ''Toshi Taikō yakyū taikai'') of Japan, commonly known as "Summer All-star or Mid-Summer Classic " (真夏の球宴 ''manatsu no kyūen''), is an annual nationwide industrial baseba ...

), professional sports fan clubs, and so on. Many schools hold competitions during their

sports day Sports Day (British English & Canadian English), field days (American English), or play days (Canadian English) are events staged by many schools and offices in which people participate in competitive sporting activities, often with the aim of w ...

events, and students often spend weeks perfecting their presentations after being divided up into teams. Many members of an ''ōendan'' will dress in long ''

happi A is a traditional tube-sleeved Japanese coat, usually worn only during festivals. typically feature symbols and/or text on the lapels, with a larger design on the back of the coat, typically the name or the festival or the participating a ...

'' and wear ''

hachimaki A (headband, "helmet-scarf") is a type of Japanese headband, usually made of red or white cloth, typically featuring a design of kanji at the front. History The origin of the ''hachimaki'' is uncertain, but the most common theory states th ...

'' emblazoned with team logos, inspirational sayings, or the names of their favorite players, something adopted by some fans of Japanese idol groups. Especially with

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

teams, akin to Supporters' groups, the ''ōendan'' for each team will sit up in attendance and come up with unique cheers to help the fans become involved. These cheers may change depending on the player in the field or who the opposing team is. On occasion, the fans themselves will come up with a new cheer that is then adopted by other fans and their team's ''ōendan''.

References

External links

Science of Baseball: Besuboru: page 3

Japanese Baseball
from ''The Japan Project'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Oendan Cheerleading High school sports in Japan Articles containing video clips

Introduction

See also

References

External links