Language
kikeda*edu.hokudai.ac.jp
Please replace * to @.
The Theory of Sport Culture
and History
Science of Health and Physical Education
Physical Education
Her main monograph focuses on the pioneering British journalist, Pierce Egan (1774-1849) and how he developed sport as a distinctive area in journalism. Her research highlighted how sports journalism was shaped by the prevailing political culture of the Regency period in England. Particularly, she observed how early radicals of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century raised the idea of ‘British Liberty’, through the defence of popular sports and through the assertion of ‘what the people is’ and ‘what the rights of the people are’. During that time the origin of a sporting press become evident, which attracted a readership that was identified across the social spectrum. Thus, it was argued that the ideas of the early radicals and the birth of the study of sport in the twentieth century shared historical continuities. This argument was presented in papers by her entitled, “Political Analysis of the Historical Development of Sports Writing in Britain from the Early Radicals to the New Left”, as well as in “Sport, Politics and Business”. In addition to these studies on the history of British sport, her publications also include “The Body and Grass-roots Fascism during World War II: ‘the topos’ of the Emperor in a personal-body-mechanism in Japan.”, and the study of a national graveyard in Dublin and Boxing history: “Radicals and Sport: ‘Bully’s Acre’, John Egan and Pierce Egan’s Boxiana.”.
The history of sport in pre-Victorian Britain provides an interesting perspective of contemporary sporting activities as well as of such activities in the modern era. Interestingly, previous work on Pierce Egan was undertaken by a Canadian historical-sociologist and a New Zealander. This highlights how foreign academics can shed light on their subjects, and provide an insight into historical peculiarities, which indigenous academics generally missed out. This also applied to my work. Following my research into the history of British sport, I felt that there was a need for a comparative study with Japanese culture. Previous work generally argued, there was resistance to the dominant culture in Japan, and that the making of the Japanese nation state was a blend of this traditional Japanese cultural traditions as well as the influence of Western modernization.
Recent works on history of the ‘body’, ‘bodily culture’ and ‘sporting culture’ have revealed both hidden political ‘truths’ and identified ‘what we are’ which the other disciples of history such as political history have not been able to illustrate. In this sense, the history of sport can provide a lens into this process. In addition, it can also highlight cultural prejudices that extend beyond the realm of nationality or ethnicity and allowing a more comprehensive understanding of our society.
1989, B.A.: Nara Women’s University (Faculty of Letters)
1991, M.A.: Nara Women’s University (Faculty of Letters)
1995, Ph.D: Graduate School of Humanities and Sciences, Nara Women’s University
1999-2014, Associate Professor & Professor at Yamaguchi University (Faculty of Education)
2015-, Professor at Hokkaido University (Faculty of Education)
The Historical Research Section of Japan Society of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences
Japanese Society of Sport History(JSSH)
International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport（ISHPES）
British Society of Sport History (BSSH)
Sport Culture etc.
