Lesson Title: Baseball, Bushido, and Boundaries (or lack thereof)
Objectives:
Students will recognize and identify the presence of enduring traditional values in modern institutions:
(a) the appreciation of group harmony (wa) over individual acclaim;
(b) the combination of the sacred and the secular inhabiting the same space;
(c.) the bushido mentality applied to sport (as it has been to the business sphere, which we shall see elsewhere in the unit).
(d) the continuing tension that exists in society in defining what it means to be “Japanese,” specifically issues of hierarchy and group identity in a democratic society
Homework due:
Read Robert Whiting’s The Samurai Way of Baseball, pg. 50-63. (Preteach foreign terms: wa and oendan)
Introductory / Do-Now Activity: Word Splash
Complete the Baseball Word Splash. In pairs, students should complete the baseball word splash, identifying themes by which logical connections can be made between the various terms based on the homework reading and prior knowledge.
Activity #2: Whole group discussion
Each group shares a theme they found that defined a series of terms they connected. Push them to compare and contrast the American and Japanese experiences, both in terms of the game and in terms of social development. Each group should present for roughly one to two minutes. Other students may then respond to these discussion prompts based on what they read in the excerpt.
Anticipated themes: attitude toward foreigners or minority groups; importance of group identification (national, regional, corporate, etc.); emphasis on process versus outcome; mixing of religion in sports; social hierarchy. If all groups fail to identify one of these issues, suggest an appropriate series of terms and ask the groups what theme could be binding that combination.
Activity #3: Film clip
Introduce the following quotation from Suisha Tobita: “Baseball is more than a sport. It is an expression of the beautiful and noble spirit of Japan” (Whiting, 58). Students will then watch the first 20 minutes of “POV: Kokoyakyu.” Their assignment is to find examples that either illustrate or challenge the quotation.
Activity #4: Small group / whole group discussion
Immediately following the film clip, students will discuss their observations in relation to the quotation. After 5-10 minutes, ask each group to contribute a specific example that illustrates Tobita’s point about the merging of the sacred and secular, which we in the West often perceive as easy to separate (at least in terms of physical space if nothing else).
Activity #5 / Closure:
Each student will compose a paragraph explaining how high school baseball illustrates the concept of a popular Japanese expression:“The nail that sticks up gets hammered down” (Whiting, 66).
Bibliography:
Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball. DVD. N.p.: Alex Shear / Projectile Arts, Inc.,
2006.
Whiting, Robert. The Samurai Way of Baseball: The Impact of Ichiro and the New
Wave From Japan. New York: Warner Books, 200