The is a

baseball stadium A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part ba ...

Shinjuku , officially called Shinjuku City, is a special ward of Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative center, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world ( Shinjuku Station) as well as the Tokyo Metropol ...

, Tokyo, Japan. It opened in 1926 and holds 37,933 spectators. Property of the

Meiji Shrine is a Shinto shrine in Shibuya, Tokyo, that is dedicated to the deified spirits of Emperor Meiji and his wife, Empress Shōken. The shrine does not contain the emperor's grave, which is located at Fushimi-ku, Kyoto#Sights, Fushimi-momoyama, south ...

, it is the home field of the

Tokyo Yakult Swallows The Tokyo Yakult Swallows () are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams in Tokyo, the other being the Yomiuri G ...

professional

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 ...

team. It also hosts college baseball, including the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League and the Tohto University Baseball League. Redevelopment plans call for the stadium and the adjacent

Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium (also called Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium) is a rugby union stadium located in the Aoyama district of central Tokyo, Japan. It is the spiritual home of Japanese rugby union and the headquarters of the Japan Rugby Football Union. Named for P ...

to be demolished and replaced with new facilities.

History

As the second-oldest baseball stadium in Japan, Meiji Jingu Stadium is one of the few professional stadiums still in existence where

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional Baseball in the United States, baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nickna ...

played (the only other ones are

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

in Chicago,

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a ballpark located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantia ...

in Boston, and

Koshien Stadium , commonly referred to as simply Koshien Stadium, is a baseball stadium located near Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the national high school baseball tournaments, and opened on 1 August 1924. It was ...

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

, Japan). In 1934, Ruth joined several other famous baseball players from the U.S., such as

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig ( ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941), also known as Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig, was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was ...

and

Jimmie Foxx James Emory Foxx (October 22, 1907 – July 21, 1967), nicknamed "Double X" and "the Beast", was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red ...

, in a 22-game tour of Japan. Matsutarō Shōriki, popularly known as the father of Japanese professional baseball, organized the American tour; he survived an assassination attempt for allowing foreigners to play baseball in Jingu Stadium."Matsutaro Shoriki: Japan's Citizen Kane,"
''The Economist'' (Dec 22, 2012). He received a 16-inch-long wound from a broadsword during the assassination attempt. In 1964, the

moved into Meiji Jingu Stadium, replacing

Korakuen Stadium was a stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Completed in 1937, it was originally used for baseball, and was home to the Yomiuri Giants for nearly fifty years. For various periods of time, it was also the home stadium of six other professional Japanese baseba ...

, majorly because the

Yomiuri Giants The are a Japanese professional baseball team competing in Nippon Professional Baseball's Central League. Based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, they are one of two professional baseball teams based in Tokyo, the other being the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. They h ...

and the then named Toei Flyers (now Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters), also called Korakuen home, which made it quite overcrowded with teams. They have stayed there since. The stadium was also used for an exhibition of baseball when Tokyo hosted the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

. The United States team of college baseball players, including eight future major league players, defeated a Japanese amateur all-star team, 6–2. In 2019, the Meiji Jingu Gaien, the Japan Sports Council, Mitsui Fudosan and Itochu Corp. groups agreed to redevelop both Meiji Jingu Stadium and the

. Under the plans, Meiji Jingu Stadium will be demolished and rebuilt on the site of the rugby ground. The replacement rugby stadium will be built on the current site of the Meiji Jingu Stadium Number 2 field. Officials have announced that the new stadium will have a roof over the field and stands.

In popular culture

Meiji Jingu Stadium makes frequent appearances in baseball-themed manga and anime, including the series '' Ace of Diamond'' and ''

Gurazeni is a Japanese baseball manga series written by and illustrated by . The manga was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ''Morning'' from December 2010 to August 2014, with its chapters collected in fourteen volumes. Three sequel ...

''. The latter features the stadium's fictional home team, the "Jingu Spiders". Meiji Jingu Stadium is mentioned in the 1937 novel '' How Do You Live?'' by Genzaburo Yoshino. The stadium is also featured in the short story ''The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection'' by Japanese writer

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for hi ...

, from the 2020 short story collection '' First Person Singular''.

Nogizaka46 is a Japanese female idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto, created as the "official rival" of the group AKB48. They are the first group from the Sakamichi Series, which also includes sister groups Sakurazaka46 (formerly Keyakizaka46), Yoshim ...

considers Meiji Jingu Stadium their home field. Since 2014, they have visited it every year during their National Summer Tour, with the exception of 2021. Fireworks at Meiji Jingu Stadium

Meiji Jingu Stadium appears in Season 2 Episode 8 of the '' Love Live! Superstar!!'' anime. It is briefly considered for Liella!'s performance; however, their attempt to use the space is denied. Neighboring

Japan National Stadium The Japan National Stadium, officially the , alternatively , and a.k.a. formerly is a multi-purpose stadium used mostly for association football in Kasumigaokamachi, Kasumigaoka, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The facility served as the main stadi ...

appears in Season 2 Episode 11 under the similar but fictional name "Jingu Stadium".

References

External links

Meiji Jingu Stadium
Japanese) {{Authority control Nippon Professional Baseball venues Cricket grounds in Japan Rugby union stadiums in Japan Tokyo Yakult Swallows Sports venues in Tokyo Buildings and structures in Shinjuku Baseball venues in Tokyo