Sugadaira - Land of 109 Rugby Pitches

Japan is the world's third largest economy.  

It is also a keen rugby country with over 100,000 registered players.  This is a bigger rugby playing population than Wales.  Rugby came to Japan in 1899, when Keio University started playing thanks to one of their English teaching staff, Edward B.Clarke.  The first Japan Rugby Football Championship took place in 1918.

From the outside, Japan is often perceived as a developing rugby country.  More and more star players from the southern hemisphere and northern hemisphere are coming to Japan to play in Japan Rugby League One.  Next season the likes of Cheslin Kolbe, Richie Mo’unga, Aaron Smith and Beauden Barrett will all play here.  Quade Cooper and Pablo Matera played second division rugby here last season.

I have been to many rugby games in Japan as a fan since the late 1990s but I got more involved in rugby in Japan when I took my son to our local club in 2016.  Like my father at our local club in the 1980s, I was asked to help out and coach the team along with many other Dads.

Where I can I will try to share some inside stories in English on rugby in Japan.

Rugby + Japan + July = Sugadaira

Sugadaira is a mythical Japan rugby training mecca in the Japanese Alps in Nagano Prefecture.  Traditionally rugby teams head there for summer training camps to avoid the summer heat, although it is still very hot in the middle of the day for me.  The town sits at approximately 1300 metres of altitude and is home to 109 rugby pitches and even more lettuce fields.  Teams from all over Japan travel to train and play other teams there.  Around 50 hotels provide accommodation for primary school clubs, junior high school and senior high school clubs, university clubs, amateur and professional clubs. There are about 10 shops on the main street in Sugadaira selling rugby gear and rugby souvenirs. Many people seem to have heavenly memories of Sugadaira but an equal number seem to have hellish memories of pain and hardship.  Generally games with other clubs from across the country are pre-arranged.  The motorway heading to Nagano tends to be packed with buses full of rugby players heading up for three day camps.  Service stations on the way up are packed with rugby players from different clubs from all over Japan queuing up for the toilets, eating noodles or buying souvenirs.  It is not uncommon to see local teams that know each other stopping off at the same time at the same service stations.  Teams generally play at different pitches each morning or afternoon and the pitches are known by number.  Buses ferry rugby players and coaches from hotels to rugby pitches across fields and fields of lettuce.

Sugadaira was hit incredibly hard by the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021 as rugby teams did not visit. Dentsu stepped in to help out with a crowdfunding plan. Rugby clubs from around the country made financial contributions and in return got "naming rights" for a rugby pitch in Sugadaira. Our club now has its "own" pitch in Sugadaira.

If you want to see a Youtube video which shows you the rugby pitches and shop in Sugadaira click here.

Japan is a unique country full of traditions and rituals which are kept sacred. Whether that be in business, a specific industry, education or leisure there will definitely be interesting traditions and rituals to discover and cherish.