Rugby union in Japan

Rugby union in Japan
Rugby union in Japan
	Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, Tokyo Japan v Wales, June 2013
Country	Japan
Governing body	Japan Rugby Football Union
National team(s)	Japan
Nickname(s)	Cherry Blossoms, Brave Blossoms
First played	1866, Yokohama
Registered players	122,598 (total); 53,416 (adult); 41,722 (teenage); 27,460 (pre-teenage)
Clubs	3,620
Club competitions
	Japan Rugby League One; Lixil Cup; All-Japan Rugby Football Championship; All-Japan University Rugby Championship;
International competitions
	Asian Rugby Championship; Asian Sevens Series; Asian Games Sevens; World Rugby competitions Rugby World Cup; Rugby World Cup Sevens; Sevens World Series; Women's Rugby World Cup; World Rugby Women's Sevens Series;
Audience records
Single match	66,999 Waseda Univ. vs Meiji Univ. (5 December 1952, National Stadium (Tokyo))

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Rugby union in Japan is a moderately popular sport. Japan has the fourth largest population of rugby union players in the world and the sport has been played there for over a century. There are 125,000 Japanese rugby players, 3,631 official rugby clubs, and the Japan national team is ranked 12th in the world.^[3]

^ "International Rugby Board - JAPAN". Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
^ Hiroshi Hibino,　日比野弘の日本ラグビー全史,　July 2007,ISBN 9784583103662
^ "IRB Mens Rankings".

[1] "International Rugby Board - JAPAN". Archived from the original on 30 December 2012. Retrieved 27 January 2013.

[2] Hiroshi Hibino,　日比野弘の日本ラグビー全史,　July 2007,ISBN 9784583103662

[3] "IRB Mens Rankings".

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