, 1874 The first recorded instance of a team being established and rugby being played in Japan was in 1866 with the founding of the Yokohama Foot Ball Club. Games, mainly between service personnel, were played on the
Garrison Parade Ground in
Yamate, Yokohama. In 1874 records also illustrate British sailors staging a game in
Yokohama. Other games were played at other
treaty ports such as
Kobe between teams of long-term foreign residents and visiting ships' crews and garrisons, but they rarely involved Japanese players. The date of local Japanese participation in the sport is most frequently cited as 1899, when students at
Keio University were introduced to the game by Professor
Edward Bramwell Clarke and
Ginnosuke Tanaka both graduates of
Cambridge University. The formation of a national team and effectively Japan's first international match took place in
Osaka on 31 January 1932 when a trade delegation from Canada to Japan supported an overseas tour by the
Canada national rugby union team. The Japanese won this first match 9–8. In a second test match in Tokyo 11 days later again the Japanese side beat the Canadians 38–5. 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
Tetsunosuke Onishi, a professor of
Waseda University) lost by just 3–6 to England in Tokyo on 29 September 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 2 October 1983. On 28 May 1989, a strong Japan coached by
Hiroaki Shukuzawa defeated an
uncapped Scotland, missing nine
British Lions on tour in Australia, for the first time at
Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, 28–24. The Japan team included such Kobe Steel stalwarts as centre
Seiji Hirao (captain), and locks
Atsushi Oyagi and
Toshiyuki Hayashi (38 Japan caps and a member of Oxford University's all-time best XV).
Sinali Latu at No. 8 was then a fourth year student at Daito Bunka University, and speedy
Yoshihito Yoshida on the wing (no. 14) was a third year at Meiji University. Scotland missed an incredible seven penalties and refused the kicking tee which was generously offered – as a surviving video of the game shows. It was almost the same Japanese team which defeated
Zimbabwe in
RWC1991.
Under Shogo Mukai (2001–2003) After Hirao resigned,
Toshiba Brave Lupus coach
Shogo Mukai was appointed in March 2001 to lead Japan up to the
2003 Rugby World Cup. After mixed fortunes in his first two years in charge, Japan put in some impressive performances at the tournament with good efforts against and , nevertheless they still left the tournament having failed to reach their target of winning some matches but still won admirers for their exciting brand of play. Mukai left his post after the tournament to spend more time with his family.
Under Mitsutake Hagimoto (2004–2005) After Shogo Mukai left after the
2003 Rugby World Cup, the JRFU initially tried to appoint
Eddie Jones from his post with but were unsuccessful and instead appointed
Mitsutake Hagimoto in March 2004 after he won the inaugural Top League with the
Kobelco Steelers. Under Hagimoto, Japan decided they would not select foreign born players after Mukai had been criticised for playing too many at the World Cup. Hagimoto's first match in charge was a disappointing draw with , but his first few matches in charge after that were promising with wins over and to win the Super Powers Cup and pushed close losing 32–19. However, in November 2004, Japan went on a disastrous tour to Europe where they were embarrassingly thrashed 100–8 by and 98–0 by and also were comfortably defeated by . Japan's performances were described as "pathetic", and the squad was called "a joke" with some key players ignored or not given permission to travel. This disastrous tour forced a rethink from Hagimoto and foreign born players were brought back into the side in 2005, but after losing twice to in June he was sacked and with just 5 wins from 15 matches was the least successful coach for Japan in the professional era.
Under Jean-Pierre Élissalde (2005–2006) on 4 June 2006 After Hagimoto left his post at the end of June 2005,
Jean-Pierre Élissalde who had been appointed backs coach three months earlier took full charge and became the first foreigner to be the head coach for Japan. His first match in charge was a 44–29 win over in November 2005. In 2006, despite a disappointing campaign in the inaugural Pacific Nations Cup in June where Japan lost all their matches, and also lost to heavily to 52–6, Élissalde was backed to lead the side to the
2007 Rugby World Cup. But Élissalde was later sacked in September after he took on a job with
Bayonne without consulting the JRFU and then refused to give up his job with them. Assistant coach
Osamu Ota took over as caretaker coach for two Rugby World Cup qualifiers in November 2006.
Under John Kirwan (2007–2011) John Kirwan was appointed head coach on in October 2006 after Elissalde was sacked. He initially worked as an advisor to caretaker coach
Osamu Ota before taking over the job completely in 2007. After starting with large wins over the Asian opposition, Japan only won one of their remaining 10 fixtures in 2007, although in the
2007 Rugby World Cup they did gain a draw with a last minute touchline conversion from
Shotaro Onishi against
Canada to end a long losing streak of World Cup matches stretching back to 1991. Results began to pick up after the 2007 World Cup and Kirwan led Japan up to a high of 13th in the IRB Rankings and to win their first ever
Pacific Nations Cup title in 2011 after they beat away for the first ever time in Japan's history. However, despite more positive results in between World Cups, Japan had a disappointing
2011 Rugby World Cup, losing 31–18 to who they had beaten four times in a row since 2008, and drawing again to who they had beaten 46–8 and 27–6 in 2009, and Japan left the World Cup winless meaning they still had not won a match at the tournament since 1991. Kirwan came under pressure after the tournament and he resigned from his post after his contract came to the end at the end of the year. The tenure of Kirwan as coach was notable for a large number of imports he selected. Players who originated from
New Zealand such as
James Arlidge,
Bryce Robins,
Shaun Webb,
Ryan Nicholas,
Luke Thompson or
Tonga such as
Alisi Tupuailei and
Sione Vatuvei all featured prominently under Kirwan. The large percentage of foreigners in the national team also caused criticism for Kirwan. However, despite failing to bring Japan a World Cup win, Kirwan left his post as the most successful Japan coach of the professional era with a win rate of 58.18% from 55 matches.
Under Eddie Jones (2012–2015) Kirwan chose not to renew his contract as head coach when it expired at the end of 2011, and the Japan Rugby Football Union announced that former Australia coach
Eddie Jones would be his successor. Jones stated that his intention was to take the Japanese national team into the top 10 on the international rankings, and that they must develop a style of play to allow them to win games against teams such as Scotland. Jones made his debut as Japan head coach against
Kazakhstan. He had selected a total of 10 uncapped players out of the 22 selected players. They went on to win the match 87–0. They then had a big win over
United Arab Emirates where young 18-year-old
Yoshikazu Fujita set a new
Asian Five Nations record for the most tries in a single match with a total of 6. This was also Fujita's international debut. In 2013, Jones led Japan to their sixth consecutive championship win in the
Asian Five Nations, where Japan achieved a tournament record score of 121–0 against the
Philippines. In May, the nation lost their opening match of the
2013 IRB Pacific Nations Cup to
Tonga, followed by a defeat to
Fiji in the second round. Following these matches, Japan faced a
2-test series against
Wales. Japan lost narrowly, 18–22, in the first test, but won the second test 23–8, and the series ended in a 1–1 draw. This was the first time that Japan had recorded a victory over the Welsh. On 16 October 2013, Jones was hospitalised after having a suspected
stroke and was released from hospital 2 days later on 18 October 2013. After his release from hospital, it was announced that Jones would miss Japan's
2013 end-of-year rugby union tests against
New Zealand,
Scotland,
Gloucester,
Russia and
Spain, and former
Australia skills coach and current technical adviser for Japan
Scott Wisemantel would interim coach Japan for their 2013 end-of-year rugby union tests. match on 12 May 2018 On 19 September 2015, Japan stunned
South Africa by a last minute try from
Karne Hesketh to win 34–32 in their opening group pool game at the
2015 Rugby World Cup in
Brighton, England.
BBC reported the win as "arguably the biggest upset in rugby union history". In 2015, Japan became the first team in World Cup history to win three pool games but still be eliminated at the group stage, due to their heavy loss to
Scotland.
Under Jamie Joseph (2016–2023) Jamie Joseph, former coach of New Zealand's
Highlanders Super Rugby team and the
Māori All Blacks, took over as head coach for Japan (and the
Sunwolves Super Rugby team) in 2016. In the
2017 Asia Rugby Championship, Japan sealed their twelfth consecutive
Asia Rugby Championship, winning all four games. They went on to defeat Romania 33–21 in the
2017 June rugby union tests, but lost to Ireland 2–0, during their
first test series since 2005, losing the first test 50–22 and the second 35–13. In November 2017, Joseph led his side to a single win and a draw in four games. They started their End-of-year series with two consecutive home losses, a 27–47 loss to a World XV side and a 30–63 loss to Australia. Japan's first win came against Tonga 39–6 in Toulouse, France, before going on to draw with France 23–23, which was the first time that these two nations had drawn with one another. During the 2018 June tests, Joseph led Japan to a 1–all series draw with Italy, winning the first test 34–17, and losing the second 25–22. The team then beat Georgia 28–0 at the Toyota Stadium. In 2019, Japan won the
Pacific Nations Cup with wins against
Fiji,
Tonga and the
United States, with no losses. Japan hosted the
Rugby World Cup in 2019, and the team repeated their feat of a shock win in Brighton at the 2015 World Cup, this time beating world No. 2-ranked Ireland 19–12 at
Shizuoka Stadium in
Fukuroi, Shizuoka They reached the
quarter-finals for the first time in the team's history after beating
Scotland 28–21 at the
International Stadium Yokohama in
Yokohama that was battered by
Typhoon Hagibis only the night before. ==Kits==