The first recorded instance of rugby being played in Japan was in 1874, when British sailors staged a game in Yokohama. The sport was introduced to students at Keio University in 1899 by Professor Edward Bramwell Clarke and Tanaka Ginnosuke. Japan's first international match took place on 31 January 1932 when a trade delegation from Canada brought the Canada national rugby union team, who were also playing their first game. The Japanese won 9-8.
Japan beat the Junior All Blacks 23-19 in 1968 after losing the first four matches on a tour of New Zealand, but they won the last five. The Japanese (coached by Waseda University Professor Onishi Tetsunosuke) lost by just 3-6 to England in Tokyo on September 29, 1971 in the RFU's centenary year. The 1973 Japan rugby union tour of Wales, England and France was less successful with the side winning only two of their eleven matches, and losing the international matches against Wales and France. Ten years later Japan gave Wales a fright in losing by a slim five-point margin, 24-29, at Cardiff Arms Park on October 2, 1983.
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