As the Japanese FA changed the Nadeshiko League into the Even More Nadeshiko League, attention turned to the origins of female football in Japan - and it was certainly long ago. In 1920, a high school recorded hosting the sport, as seen on the WE Love site's interview with Ryoko Toyoshima, who learned the story by chance in 2017 and dramatized it in a stage play, Football Time. "The birthplace of women's soccer in Japan is said to be Marugame City, Kagawa Prefecture. ... Marugame High School is one of the most advanced schools in the prefecture, nicknamed 'Marukou'. Started as Marugame Junior High School in 1887." 101 Years of "Football Time" / １０１年目の『フートボールの時間』 www.targma.jp/js/2021/01/27/post1897/ / (Archive) Japan since the 1960s has had an importance in women's football beyond the country's shores - Kate Turner of the English National Football Museum wrote a great article as a starting point for overseas fans. She included Japan's Mundialito tournament in 1981, but again, it had been high school football that was well-known first in 1966, and regional leagues were formed in the 1970s, including the Tokyo clubs' Chicken League, from 1976. Sponsored by Mitsubishi. (..which also sells chicken.) The Hidden History of Women’s Football in Japan unlockingthehiddenhistory.wordpress.com/2017/12/11/the-hidden-history-of-womens-football-in-japan / (Archive) "The first Chicken League winners, Jissen Women’s University, take on Nishiyama High School, first Kansai League champions and later the first national schools’ champions, in 1977." - (Unlocking The Hidden History, Wordpress)
Well "Chicken League" is not exactly the name I would compliment my Director of Marketing about... On the contrary, I would probably sit him down and have a quite long conversation with him ("quite long" along the lines of "Just no!" ). In that photo from 1887, I'd swear the one at the center-right of the picture chasing the ball is a young Homare Sawa! Did we find the ancestry her awesomeness came from?
@blissett, it was the 1970s! Chickens were very "in" in those days. Everyone was dancing The Funky Chicken. And corporate sponsorship for a new league, in 1976? Very hard to get - it's impressive that they could in Tokyo. Besides, a lot of football events sold their naming rights to farm products - Iceland still has the Milk Cup, there's also the DFB-Porkal, and of course the Uefa European Championsheep.