The World Cup Asian round of 12 is nicknamed the Blue Samurai in the same group as the Chinese team. Because Japan's home jersey is blue and is known for its samurai spirit, the Japanese national team is also known as the Blue Samurai.
However, we can't find any blue-related elements in the Japanese flag either. The national flag of Japan is also called the Japanese flag, the sun flag, the front of the flag is white, and the center of the flag is a red sun.
In Japanese culture, white symbolizes integrity and purity, and red symbolizes sincerity and zeal; in Japanese myths and legends, Japan is the "land of the sunrise", a country created by the sun god Amaterasu. This is the origin of the Japanese Japanese flag.
Regarding the origin of the choice of blue in the Japanese jersey, the Japanese Football Association has not given a clear statement. Therefore, there are many opinions about the origin of Japan's choice of blue. Some say it is because blue symbolizes the blue sky and the sea. However, there is no record of the symbolism of the sky and the sea.
In addition to symbolizing the blue sky and the sea, there are other ways to choose blue for Japanese jerseys. One of the most commonly used terms is that it is closely related to the blue dyeing in Japan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > blue dyeing blue</h1>
According to the research of many scholars, the choice of blue as the color of the jersey in Japan is closely related to the blue dyeing process, an important symbol of Japanese culture.
Xun Zi's "Persuasion" once said: "Blue is better than blue out of blue." Nowadays, the term is used as a metaphor for a student being better than a teacher. Xunzi said that cyan means the blue of indigo, whether it is blue or blue, they are derived from the leaves of an annual herb of indigo (pine blue, wood blue, horse blue, amaranth blue, of which the root of pine blue is the plate blue root).
▲ Blue dyeing commonly used plant - indigo
The leaves of these blue plants can be fermented to extract blue dye to color the cloth. This process of using blue dye is blue dyeing.
Blue dyeing originated in China. In the 6th century AD, the blue dyeing process was transmitted from the land of China to Japan. After it spread to the Japanese archipelago, because blue cloth is not easy to fade, blue dyeing was quickly accepted and loved by the Japanese. Since then, the blue dyeing technology has gradually taken root and sprouted in the Japanese archipelago and has been passed down from generation to generation.
From the Heian period (794-1192) in Japan, the Awa region of Tokushima Prefecture in Japan was an important blue dyeing region in Japan. Because of the perennial flooding of the Awa area in Tokushima Prefecture, it is suitable for the cultivation of blue dyeing plants such as indigo, and is the largest blue dyeing producing area in Japan. The blue here is called Apo blue.
During the Sengoku period in Japan, blue dye technology was developed more rapidly. By the Edo period, clothes and porcelain dyed with blue dye could be seen everywhere. In 1874, when the British scholar William Atkinson arrived in Japan, he was attracted to the blue color of Japan, and he bluntly said that Japan was the blue country. Since then, Japanese blue has gradually gone global and become Japanese Blue.
The British scholar Atkinson came to Japan at the right time when football came out of England to Japan. However, the Japan Football Association was not established until 1921. At this time, football reached the Japanese public and became one of the popular sports in Japan. In the choice of competition uniforms, the Japanese chose the common blue in China, so blue has become the jersey of the Japanese national team.
Since the choice of blue at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, in the decades since, blue has been the main color of the home shirt, accompanied by the ups and downs of Japanese football.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="55" > chose red and finally switched back to blue to win the breakthrough</h1>
So, have Japanese soccer teams ever used other colors? The answer is yes. Between the 1988 Seoul Olympics and 1991, Japan used the national flag's color red as the main color of the jersey. However, the red jersey is significantly less popular in Japan than the blue. In addition, the red color of the Japanese flag did not bring good luck to Japan. In this way, Japan gave up red and chose blue again.
After entering the 1990s, especially after abandoning red and choosing blue in favor of blue, Japanese football began the historical process of conquering Asia. In the 1992 Asian Cup held on home, Japanese football made its first breakthrough. They reached the final of the Asian Cup for the first time and won the championship.
Later, in the 2000 Asian Cup in Lebanon, the 2004 Asian Cup held by China, and the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar, Japan won the championship, surpassing Saudi Arabia and Iran to become the national team that won the Asian Cup the most times.
Not only in the Asian arena has achieved brilliant results, but also in the World Cup field Japan has made breakthroughs. The 1998 FIFA World Cup in France was Japan's first world cup, and the first time they reached the World Cup were in the same group as Argentina, Croatia and Jamaica. Although they are out of the ink group in all three battles. But Masashi Nakayama scored Japan's first goal of the World Cup against Jamaica.
Later, in the 2002 World Cup jointly organized by Home and South Korea, Japan drew 2-2 with Belgium, and defeated Russia and Tunisia in the group stage to advance to the round of 16 as the first in the group. But unfortunately, they were eliminated by Turkey in the quarter-finals and failed to create glory.
In the next four World Cups, Japan qualified. At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Japan reached the round of 16. Although Japan failed to move on, their performance was enough to make fans proud. Especially in the 2018 Fifa World Cup quarterfinals in Russia, they almost killed Belgium, which is full of big names.
The return to the blue national team jersey has witnessed the progress of Japanese football from winning the Asian Cup for the first time to daring to break the wrist of the strong team. Even though the road ahead is full of hardships, Japan Blue has always been a loyal supporter of Japanese football.
In the 2022 Qatar World Cup Asian Qualifiers, the Japanese team is about to start again. In this month's two matches, Japan will face Saudi Arabia and Australia respectively. After losing to Oman in the first match, Japan defeated China in the second game and is currently in fourth place in the table.
The battle against Saudi Arabia and Australia will determine whether Japan can obtain a direct qualifying place. In October's World Preliminary Tournament, are the Blue Warriors really ready?
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="59" >In addition to the Japanese blue, what is the bird of the Japanese team emblem? </h1>
In addition to the Japanese blue, another symbol of Japanese football is the Japanese national team logo and the bird on the Japanese jersey, this bird is called Yatsuma.
Also known as the three-legged bird, in Japanese mythology, Yatsura is the symbol of the sun god and the messenger of the sun shining on the earth, who came to earth under the guidance of the gods of heaven and the great god to rescue Emperor Kammu. Later, it was under the leadership of Hachiru Uzumaki that Emperor Shinmu established the Yamato Dynasty. Yamato is the symbol of japan in the future.
Since football was introduced to Japan from England in the 1870s, after decades of life, football has gradually become a popular sport for the Japanese people. In the selection of the national team emblem, according to the advice of the professor of Tokyo Higher Normal College, the sacred bird of Japanese culture, Yatsura, stood out and became the symbol of the Japanese team emblem and jersey.