Japan Trivia: Why Saga Nishi school baseball uniforms strangely bear name ‘Eijo’

In Japanese high school baseball, the names of schools are generally displayed on team uniforms, but in the southwestern Japan prefecture of Saga, there is one school that uses a totally different name — a practice rarely seen in Japan.

Saga Nishi High School, a leading academic school in the prefecture with a history of 147 years, features baseball team uniforms displaying the name “Eijo.” It turns out the name can be traced to Saga Castle. The castle was alternatively known as “Sakae no Shiro,” meaning “castle of prosperity” and the kanji characters for “sakae” and “shiro” can also be read respectively as “ei” and “jo.” Since the high school was built on the castle grounds, the name Eijo took root.

Saga Nishi’s baseball team, meanwhile, was founded in 1902. The school and its predecessor under the prewar education system, Saga junior high school, have appeared in the summer high school baseball tournament played at Koshien Stadium in western Japan’s Hyogo Prefecture a total of seven times.

According to Kosuke Baba, chairman of the Eijo baseball club formed by alumni, the name on the school’s baseball uniforms was originally “Saga.” It was in 1921 that the switch to “Eijo” was made.

“This was the idea of Itami senpai,” Baba explained, referring to Japanese Baseball Hall of Famer Yasuhiro Itami. “I heard from senior members that for the font style, he probably drew upon on the uniforms of Keio, which had a strong university team at the time.”

Itami was the captain of the Saga junior high school team, and also served as manager of the Waseda University baseball team and head of Meiji Jingu Gaien, the location of Jingu Stadium. He was inducted into the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1978. Even after the Saga school’s name changed, it retained the Eijo uniforms.

However, use of the name fell into a precarious position at one stage. In December 1999, the Japan High School Baseball Federation issued a notice regarding uniform names, stating, “Inscriptions are restricted to the school name, school emblem, prefecture name or place name. However, a name based upon the school name or emblem is acceptable.”

Then head of the Saga prefectural high school baseball federation’s board of directors, Koshi Tanaka, remembers stating at a board meeting the following year, “‘Eijo’, which was created by Mr. Itami, is on par with the school name or emblem, and I would like it to be approved.”

Meanwhile, the then secretary general of the Japan High School Baseball Federation, Kazuhiro Tanabe, revealed that an exception had been made, saying, “When we looked into Saga Nishi we found that Eijo had been used in the same way as the school’s name.”

The last time “Eijo” appeared at the Koshien tournament was in 1958, after the institution had been renamed Saga High School. Those involved with the team hope to see its comeback one day.

(Mainichi)