For more than a century, only male umpires have officiated at Japan’s prestigious Koshien high school baseball tournaments. That will change this summer when five women take the field at the national championship.
Female umpires will make their debut at the national high school baseball championship in August, marking the first time in the history of Japan’s spring and summer meets that women have officiated on Koshien Stadium’s hallowed ground.
The move comes as the Japan High School Baseball Federation seeks to broaden participation in the sport and address a growing shortage of umpires amid declining player numbers.
“Out!” “Safe!” rang out across the stadium in Nishinomiya near Osaka — home to the Hanshin Tigers in Japanese professional baseball — earlier this month as umpires gathered for a national training course ahead of the summer tourney.
Among them was Kana Sato, 39, of the Saitama Prefectural High School Baseball Federation, who said she hopes to bring her own style to the role.
“I want to make each call carefully,” she said. “My voice is different from that of a man’s, but I hope people will think that kind of voice works well too.”
Sato began umpiring more than a decade ago after becoming supervisor of a junior high school baseball club at the school where she worked. Wanting to guide students from a different perspective, she decided to study umpiring seriously.
Her experience eventually led her to officiate at last year’s Under-18 Baseball World Cup.
The mother of two young children, Sato has support from those around her that has helped her continue, including assistance with childcare during games.
For Kasumi Iwao, 33, from Kanagawa Prefecture, officiating at Koshien carries special meaning.
As a student at Kamata Girls’ High School (now Haneda International High School) in Tokyo, she won the national high school girls’ invitational tournament.
But while boys dreamed of competing at Koshien, girls’ baseball received little attention, leaving her with the thought, “The boys get to go to Koshien — lucky them.”
After graduating, Iwao became an umpire and she now officiates games while working as a nurse. She wants younger generations to see that women can also thrive in the sport.
“I want to show that women are capable of this too, so they will feel encouraged to give it their all,” she said.
Women have increasingly taken officiating roles at the highest levels of international sport.
In basketball, the NBA introduced its first female referee nearly 30 years ago, while Japanese judo referee Akiko Amano officiated at three Olympic Games. At football’s 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, six women, including Japanese referee Yoshimi Yamashita, officiated matches for the first time in tournament history.
Major League Baseball also introduced female umpires last year.
Now, that shift appears to have reached Koshien, one of the most revered stages in Japanese sport.
According to figures from two years ago, around 20 women served on umpire committees within prefectural high school baseball federations across Japan.
Taisuke Ozaki, chairman of the Japan High School Baseball Federation’s rules committee, said the organization faces a serious shortage of umpires alongside a decline in the number of players.
“We want to create an environment where more people are willing to lend their support so we can work together to help as many people as possible,” Ozaki said.
© KYODO
