Taibatsu considered part of Japanese culture by many who experienced it

Second in a three-part series

TOKYO — As I have described in my books and articles, the martial arts were the inspiration for the famous baseball team at the First Higher School of Tokyo, a late 19th century powerhouse that helped make yakyu, as baseball came to be known, the national sport of Japan.

Ichiko, as the First Higher School of Tokyo was also known, was an elite prep school, with its students in the 18-22 age range. There were five such Higher Schools in Japan. Graduates went on to the Imperial University, from which the future movers and shakers of Japan emerged. The majority of the students in these school came from samurai families.

Ichiko’s practice regimen, developed by the students themselves, included year-round training every day and intensive summer and winter camps.