[Chapter 9] Sports In Early Japanese Civilization

In the early Japanese civilization, most would automatically recall the rise of the religion of Shinto Buddhism, the Samurai, and the beautiful art and architecture. As one would come to discover, early Japanese people were about not only war, wealth, power, and religion, but they appreciated a time that captivated their lives in the present.

Many people do not typically consider sports occurring in early Japanese society because the Japanese were occupied trying to establish and discover a foundation of who they were as a nation and a culture. Most societies look at history and automatically pin point a name to that culture, such as Germany and the World War II Nazi’s. People overlook the nature of humans and view different cultures as if they were machines with no feelings or emotions.

The sport that showed another side of early Japan civilization was Sumo wrestling. Sumo wrestling to the early Japanese civilization is like football to the United States of America. All people need a relief from the complications of life, and as discovered, sports accomplish that. People often believe that the early Japanese civilization was too occupied enslaving people and trying to gain power and wealth, but at the end of the day, there were average and normal people in need of rest, aspiration, and motivation, which centered on Sumo wrestling.

In conclusion, it is true that many nations were and are concerned with growth, wealth, and power, but most people do not want to live a life in a society or country full of chaos. Why are sports such a present relief? How do sports have the ability to take away tomorrow or next month, and captivate your heart and mind at that very moment? In my opinion, I believe sports give you the ability to choose between two fates, ‘team a’ or ‘team b.” Sports give the ability to nations, families, and friends to create unity, aspiration, and motivation in the present moment.