The , officially the , was a Taiwanese baseball team established in 1928 in
Japanese Formosa. The team was a motley crew that consisted of
Han Chinese
The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...
(
Hoklo and
Hakka
The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...
),
Taiwanese indigenous people, and
Japanese players. The high school baseball team in Kagi (modern-day
Chiayi
Chiayi (,), officially known as Chiayi City, is a Provincial city (Taiwan), city located in Chianan Plain in Regions of Taiwan, southwestern Taiwan, surrounded by Chiayi County with a population of 263,188 inhabitants as of January 2023.
The H ...
) qualified to represent the island at
Koshien, Japan's long-running nationwide high school baseball tournament, in 1931. Performing beyond all expectations, the underdog team miraculously went on to the championship game before finally losing to a powerful Japanese squad, ultimately taking second place out of twenty-three teams that year.
The amazing success of a team from a colonized land making to the finals was totally unexpected, and it ultimately earned the Taiwanese baseball players greater respect from their Japanese counterparts.
The Kano experience also encouraged more people in Taiwan to play baseball, eventually making it the "national sport" in Taiwan.
''
Kano'', a Taiwanese film depicting the baseball team, was released on February 27, 2014.
Notable players
*
Shosei Go
*
Hung Tai-shan
References
External links
Taiwan Culture Portal: Champions of all under heaven:” the Tri-ethnic Kano Baseball TeamTaiwan Culture Portal: Taiwan’s First Sport in its Second Century: Baseball in Taiwanese Culture
*
Defunct baseball teams in Taiwan
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