Guardian Gods of Rugby, the Game an Englishman Introduced

In terms of global popularity and reach, rugby can hardly compete with football (soccer), which has an estimated 3.5 billion passionate fans around the globe. In fact, rugby does not even crack the "Top 10" of most popular sports by number of fans.

Nonetheless, for the millions of ardent "ruggers," rugby is more than just a game — it is a religion. That being so, appropriately enough, there is a "rugby shrine" in Kyoto. That's not so odd, really, considering Japan has the fourth-largest rugby-playing population in the world.

It is the Sawata Jinja, a subsidiary shrine within the spacious grounds of Shimogamo Shrine, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

First of two parts

Sacred Ground for Rugby Fans

Located at the southern end of the Sando central pathway leading to the major shrine buildings, the Sawata Jinja is just north of the Kawai sub-shrine. The latter is dedicated to Tamayorihime no Mikoto, the goddess of female beauty.

*A view into Sawata Jinja. (©John Carroll)*

This area traditionally serves as the site for exhibitions of yabusame, traditional horseback archery.

The Sawata shrine may be small, but it is sacred ground for rugby players and fans. In fact, in September 1910, it was here, within the Tadasu no Mori Forest, that the first match between two Japanese sides took place.

Visiting players from Keio University in Tokyo, led by their teacher-coach Edward Bramwell Clarke, beat students from Kyoto Third Higher School, a forerunner of Kyoto University. The final score was 39 to 0. It was actually a practice rather than a game since the Keio team had come to Kyoto as "rugby missionaries" to spread the faith.

The first official match played between Japanese teams did not take place until 1912. In that game, Keio and Doshisha universities met on the pitch, with Keio triumphing 24-3.

This history explains the stone monument reading "Site of the First Kick," erected in 1969 by former Kyoto University rugby team members. It also explains why the draw for the 2019 Rugby World Cup was held in Kyoto instead of Tokyo.

The Sawata Shrine was also moved to the present site at that time. It had originally been within the precincts of an imperial palace that burned down during the disastrous Onin civil war, when most of Kyoto was burned to the ground. Thereafter, it was located in various parts of the shrine precincts.

*Ema in the shape of rugby balls carry prayers for success at Sawata Shrine. (©John Carroll)*

Handwritten Prayers for Success

The offering box in the center of the shrine is shaped like a rugby ball, as are the wooden ema (votive plaques). Written on the ema are prayers from players and fans to the gods for their respective teams' success.

One, in English, appeared to have been written by an English fan in whose heart hope springs eternal. The English team, aka "the Red Rose," (also known as the Lions) has not won the Rugby World Championship since 2003. That was also the sole time a team from a Northern Hemisphere nation has taken home the Webb Ellis Cup. The fact that there are so many ema with messages on them is testimony to just how seriously Japanese rugby players and fans take the game.

*Brave Blossoms rugby shirts memorialized on a banner. (©John Carroll)*

Signed jerseys from Japan's men's and women's national rugby teams are also prominently on display in a glass case. There is even a small gift shop selling rugby-related omamori and accessories that seems to do good business.

Guardian Gods for Rugby

The two kami enshrined here are Kantama no Mikoto and Kamo Taketsunumi no Mikoto. The latter is worshipped as the god who founded ancient Kyoto and serves as its guardian deity.

The tama in Kantama no Mikoto (神魂命) means "soul" or "spirit." However, another character with the same pronunciation means " ball" — very apropos for a rugby shrine.

Meanwhile, these same three Chinese characters are also used to write the name of the important Shinto deity, Kamimusubi no Mikoto. She is one of the three creation gods in Japanese mythology. They preceded better-known kami like Izanagi no Mikoto and Izanami no Mikoto, or the "Sun Goddess" Amaterasu Omikami. And according to the Kojiki, they were the basis for the birth and growth of all things.

Kamimusubi no Mikoto appears as a solitary deity. According to the Kojiki, she remains in the "High Plain of Heaven" (Takamagahara), where she assists the gods of Izumo. The generative, protean spirit embodied in this amorphous kami seems a suitable metaphor for the power and vitality embodied in the game of rugby.

An Englishman's Introduction

Edward Bramwell Clarke (1874-1934), the man who arranged the historical match at Shimagamo Shrine, is credited with introducing the sport of rugby to the Japanese.

The son of a baker from Jamaica, Clarke was born in Yokohama in its early days as a freewheeling treaty port. His family appears to have been relatively well-off. He graduated with degrees in law and literature from Cambridge University in 1899, before returning to Japan as an instructor of English language and literature at Keio University in Tokyo.

Together with fellow Cambridge alumni Ginnosuke Tanaka, he established a rugby club at Keio, with Clarke serving as coach.

On December 7, 1901, the Keio Rugby Club competed with a team fielded by the Yokohama Cricket & Athletic Club in Yokohama. This was the first recorded case of a Japanese rugby team taking part in a competition or playing against foreigners.

Clarke continued to coach rugby at Keio until 1907, when injuries necessitated the amputation of his right leg. He later taught at Kyoto Imperial University, contributing frequently to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Clarke also famously corresponded with the writer Lafcadio Hearn. After his death, Clarke was buried in the Kobe Municipal Foreigners Cemetery.