Photo/Illutration Sohseikan High School in Nagasaki Prefecture was scheduled to compete in the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament this spring. When the tournament was canceled on March 11, the coach of the school’s baseball team said, “We lost to an invisible foe.” (The Asahi Shimbun)

A national high school baseball championship was ultimately canceled after organizers long agonized over whether to postpone it or hold it without fans in the stands.

I am talking not about the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament this spring, but about the National High School Baseball Championship in the summer of 1918.

The championship more than a century ago went down in the history of Japan’s high school baseball as the only cancellation for reasons other than war.

The cancellation was triggered by “rice riots” that erupted in Toyama Prefecture and spread around the nation.

A popular protest against a dramatic rise in rice prices degenerated into a wave of violent riots and a nighttime curfew was imposed on Osaka citizens.

When the tournament was called off, lots had already been drawn to determine matchups for the 14 competing schools.

“Riots are raging everywhere, and Osaka is no exception. Our team cannot regret this enough,” reads a passage from a book on the history of Aichi Icchu (present-day Aichi Prefectural Asahigaoka High School) baseball team, which was determined to defend its championship from the year before.

Underscoring the team’s disappointment, the passage goes on to exhort younger members to “keep the fire in your belly” until the following year.

Local news sections in the March 12 edition of The Asahi Shimbun gave voice to the bitter disappointment being felt by high school baseball coaches and players after the spring tournament was canceled the previous day due to the new coronavirus outbreak.

“I’ve trained, believing that the tournament would go ahead as scheduled,” lamented a youth in Saitama Prefecture.

“We lost to an invisible foe,” a coach in Nagasaki Prefecture noted.

Nobody could have imagined this outcome when 32 competing schools were announced in late January.

COVID-19 has forced many other high school competitions to be canceled.

National kendo, judo, ping-pong and gymnastic tournaments have all been called off, as have chorus and brass band competitions.

This has turned out to be the spring of disappointment for high school students across the country who have practiced for national competitions in March.

I am sure the young people need time to get over their pain. But I can assure them that the hard work they have put in will never be wasted.

Here’s my message to all high school students around the nation: Let your disappointment nourish your soul and keep the fire in your belly.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 13

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.