Born Here

A pitcher born in an eel shop

Honmachi, the town before the gate of the Outer Shrine. This was the Nishimura family home, back when Kitaya still dealt in fish.

He left for Osaka and took the mound in the earliest years of professional baseball in Japan — from a shrine town in Ise to the centre of the country's game. The starting point was the room where eel is grilled today.

The Nishimura family, with the three brothers behind their parents — The Nishimura family. Seated are his father Saikichi and his mother Naka; behind them, from the left, Yukio, his elder brother Konosuke and his younger brother Hisao. Sent from Ise in 1937, when his marriage was proposed.

Three brothers of this house

Saikichi and Naka had three sons — Konosuke, Yukio and Hisao. Yukio was the second.

It was Hisao, the youngest, who carried on the shop. His son is Takaaki, the third-generation owner grilling eel here today. The pitcher and the eel cook come from the same house.

Biography

A life

Born	Honmachi, Ise City, Mie — at Unagi Kitaya
1937	Joins the Osaka Tigers (now the Hanshin Tigers)Pitches as the club's ace
1937 & 1938	Back-to-back championshipsBeating the Giants of Eiji Sawamura
1939	Leaves the active rosterThree seasons in all
1940	Moves to Manchuria with his familyShinkyo, later Dairen
March 1944	Called up at DairenTo the Philippines by way of Taiwan
3 April 1945	Killed at Batangas, in the PhilippinesAged 34
1949	Memorial game at Yamada StadiumGiants v Osaka Tigers, for Nishimura and Sawamura
1975	A bust unveiled outside the Ise municipal stadium30 March. His family came from Hawaii
1977	Inducted into the Baseball Hall of FamePlaque unveiled at Jingu Stadium, 26 July

Three seasons only — and yet no account of pre-war Japanese baseball leaves his name out.

The Pitching

Nothing left open

A heavy fastball, and with it a sharp shoot and a curve placed with unusual control — a delivery that left a batter nothing to work with.

His years were few, but he stands among the defining pitchers of the pre-war game, and he was hardest of all on the Giants.

The Album

Photographs kept by the family

Twenty-odd years, after he left Ise: a middle-school team, a university captain, the ace of the Tigers — and, always alongside the baseball, his family. Two of these hang on the wall of the shop.

From Ise to Osaka

The Ujiyamada Middle School baseball team in 1928 — The Ujiyamada Middle School team, 1928. Yukio is sixth from the left in the back row. That summer they lost their opening regional game and never reached Koshien.

Yukio Nishimura in his Kansai University days — As captain of the Kansai University side. This print hangs on the wall of the shop.

Yukio Nishimura pitching for Kansai University — At Kansai University, where he later captained the team, after two years of company baseball in Nagoya.

The 1936 touring team at Honolulu Stadium — Honolulu Stadium, 1936, on the tour he led as captain. Yukio is second from the right in the second row.

The ace of the Tigers

Yukio Nishimura in the uniform of the Osaka Tigers — In the uniform of the Osaka Tigers. The same photograph hangs on the wall here.

Yukio Nishimura pitching at Koshien Stadium — Pitching at Koshien. The supporter who took this photograph later gave it to the family.

Yukio Nishimura at bat — At bat. He was a dangerous hitter as well as a pitcher.

The Osaka Tigers squad of 1937 — The Osaka Tigers, 1937. Yukio is sixth from the right in the front row. He wore number 19.

The Osaka Tigers championship celebration, December 1937 — The championship celebration, 20 December 1937. Yukio is fourth from the left in the second row. He won three games in the play-off that made the Tigers champions of Japan for the first time.

A wedding in Ise, and a family

Yukio Nishimura with Sueko Azuma aboard ship in 1933 — With Sueko Azuma aboard ship, 1933, on the way to Hawaii. She was a second-generation Japanese American living there, and would become his wife.

The wedding at Ujiyamada, April 1937 — The wedding, 19 April 1937, at Ujiyamada — his home town, in the year he joined the Tigers.

Yukio Nishimura and family outside their house in Amagasaki — Outside the house in Amagasaki, with his parents, his wife Sueko and his eldest daughter Sachiko — playing years.

The family photograph taken in 1944 before he was called up — Taken in 1944, before he left for the army. It was sent on to him, and never reached him.

The family after him, and the name kept in Ise

The family in Hawaii, 1950 — Hawaii, 1950. From the left: Eiko, Yoko, Sumiko and Sachiko, with their mother Sueko.

The unveiling of the bust outside the Ise municipal stadium, 1975 — The unveiling of his bust outside the Ise municipal stadium, 30 March 1975. The family travelled from Hawaii for it.

The Hall of Fame plaque unveiling at Jingu Stadium, 1977 — The Hall of Fame plaque unveiled at Jingu Stadium, 26 July 1977. From the left: his daughter Sachiko, his wife Sueko, and his brother Hisao — the second-generation owner of this shop.

All of these photographs have been kept by the Nishimura family. Two of them still hang on the wall here.

The Rivalry

Where the rivalry began

Tigers against Giants is still called the oldest rivalry in Japanese baseball — the longest-running opposition in the professional game here.

It began in 1937 and 1938. The Giants had Eiji Sawamura; the Tigers had Yukio Nishimura. The years those two faced each other are the origin of a rivalry still argued over today.

At Kuratayama Stadium in Ise, statues of both pitchers stand side by side. One of them grew up in this shop.

The busts of Eiji Sawamura and Yukio Nishimura at Kuratayama Park Stadium, Ise — Kuratayama Park Stadium, Ise. Nishimura on the left, Sawamura on the right. The stone between them is cut with "one ball, one spirit" and the two retired numbers — Tigers 19 and Giants 14.

1949 · Memorial Game

The memorial game of 1949

On 30 March 1949, four years after the two men died overseas, the Giants and the Osaka Tigers played an exhibition game at Yamada Stadium, here in their home town — a memorial game for Eiji Sawamura and Yukio Nishimura.

Tetsuharu Kawakami, Noboru Aota and Hideo Fujimoto came with the Giants; Fumio Fujimura, Kaoru Betto and Takeshi Doigaki with the Tigers. With both sides assembled, a photograph was taken before the first pitch.

The teams photographed before the 1949 memorial game at Yamada Stadium — Yamada Stadium, 30 March 1949 — the photograph taken before the memorial game.

The six-year-old Takaaki Nishimura at the centre of the 1949 photograph

The child in the middle

A small boy in a cap stands at the centre of that photograph: Takaaki, then six years old, the son of Nishimura's younger brother — and the third-generation owner grilling eel in this kitchen today.

He remembers almost nothing of the day. Looking at the photograph years later, he was startled to find Tetsuharu Kawakami standing directly behind him.

2014 · First Pitch

The same mound, 65 years on

On 10 March 2014, to mark eighty years of the Giants–Tigers rivalry, the two clubs met in an exhibition game at Kuratayama Park Stadium in Ise. It was the first time they had played here since the memorial game of 1949 — a gap of 65 years.

That day every Giants player wore 14, Sawamura's retired number, and every Tigers player wore Nishimura's 19. Close to nine thousand people filled the newly refurbished ground.

The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by Mio Sakai, Sawamura's eldest daughter, and Takaaki Nishimura, Yukio's nephew — the six-year-old who had stood in front of Kawakami in the photograph 65 years earlier.

The ceremonial first pitch at Kuratayama Park Stadium in 2014 — Kuratayama Park Stadium, 10 March 2014. Takaaki Nishimura, wearing 19 (left), and Mio Sakai, Sawamura's eldest daughter (right).

Sawamura and Nishimura last faced each other on the mound at Nishinomiya on 25 September 1937. Seventy-seven years later, someone of each family stood on the same mound.

In the Shop

What you can see here

Tigers memorabilia still hangs on the walls — a uniform, photographs from the period, mementoes. Visitors sometimes wonder why an eel restaurant is full of baseball. Because this was his family home.

We hope you will notice them when you visit. Ask us, if there is a quiet moment.

Visit History The Filial Eel

The Archive

A fuller record

A separate site gathers what is known about him: a chronology, his pitching record, the games against Sawamura, and the accounts left by people who watched him. It is in Japanese.

As his family home, we have contributed photographs and family recollections to it.

nishimurayukio.com

The two busts seen through the trees — The first-base side of Kuratayama Park Stadium. The two busts stand together beyond the trees, east of the Outer Shrine.