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Today, people visit Shinobazu Pond in Tokyo’s Ueno Park to quietly admire its magnificent lotus flowers. But for a brief period in the past, crowds gathered here to watch exciting horse races, brilliant spectacles that were carefully designed to craft a national identity.
This rare photo took me almost two decades to find and acquire. Remarkably well-preserved, it shows the horse track circling Shinobazu Pond in the 1880s. In the center right, the impressive grandstand (馬見所, bakenjo) is visible.
It is now long gone. Today, Ueno Zoo’s flamingos and penguins frolic here. But from 1884 (Meiji 17) to 1892 (Meiji 25), Emperor Meiji, nobles, dignitaries, and foreign envoys watched Japan’s foremost horse races from this grandstand.
The spot is heavy with history. Sixteen years before the first horses competed here, the thunder of murderous artillery reverberated across the pond as the emperor’s troops vanquished the shogun’s last defiant soldiers in the city.
Raging fires ignited by the artillery shells almost completely destroyed Ueno’s magnificent temple complex, dedicated to a dynasty that had ruled Japan since 1603. In contrast, in 1884, the thunder consisted of peacefully galloping horses, colorful fireworks, and the roar of excited crowds celebrating an imperial dream.
The two-story Japanese-style grandstand was made entirely of expensive hinoki cypress and featured traditional gabled roofs, known as hafu (破風), commonly used for high-status, religious, and monumental buildings.1
The central chamber on the second floor was reserved for Emperor Meiji. It was decorated with purple curtains crafted from chirimen silk crêpe fabric displaying the imperial crest. On each side was a smaller chamber, slightly set back, for members of the imperial family, ministers of state, and foreign officials.
Mid-level civil officials of sōnin rank (奏任) got no further than the ground floor. Invited guests were also seated here. During races, the Imperial Army Band played right next to the building. Nearby, several restaurants catered the spectators.2
Shinobazu Pond’s first horse races were held on the first three days of November 1884, with Emperor Meiji in attendance on the first day. The event drew massive crowds that engulfed Ueno Park and its surroundings. Major daily Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the many spectators nearly brought down the stands:3
Although rain had been falling steadily since the morning, the number of people wishing to witness this grand occasion was immense. The wide shores of the pond were completely filled, and the temporary stands erected for the event were so crowded that they seemed on the verge of collapse. Crowds also gathered on Ueno Hill.
Yomiuri Shimbun, November 2, 1884
The spectators were treated to a great spectacle. As the emperor made his way to the grandstand around noon, the army band began to play and twenty-one large fireworks were fired. Three lavishly decorated Navy boats circled the pond, after which the first race began. After the race ended, the band resumed playing and dazzling fireworks once again were launched into the sky.4
This continued all afternoon. Each race was followed by music and fireworks until the final race ended at 6:30 p.m. The spectacle continued on the following two days, with a total of 332 firework shells fired over three days. In the evening, thousands of lanterns were lit, their lights reflecting magically on the pond.5
The band’s European music must have made a great impact. At a time before records, movies, and radio, it would have been the first time most visitors heard it.
This ukiyo-e by Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延, 1838–1912), published in 1885, reveals the imperial splendor and the scale of the spectacle. The emperor and empress are watching from the grandstand’s main chamber. The first floor is left out, but high government officials on the second floor can be seen in the back.
Chikanobu created the print to promote the upcoming races and took quite some artistic license. For instance, the building is not facing the pond, and the emperor and empress are shown together. In reality, the emperor had not yet gotten used to appearing with his wife in public. They visited on separate days.6
However, the horses run in the correct direction, counterclockwise. What’s more, the print accurately conveys the spectacle and pageantry that the Shinobazu horse races provided to the assembled crowds: the lanterns along the course, the fancy boats circling the pond, the brightly colored jerseys of the jockeys, the fireworks with dolls attached to parachutes, the royals and nobles in all their finery, the sumptuous display of chrysanthemums and other flowers.7
Chikanobu expressed the great excitement that the spectators felt from the spectacle by an abundant use of red. This spectacle was intentional and Shinobazu Pond was specifically selected to offer it to as many people as possible.
Racing for a Nation
We may think of horse racing as merely entertainment, sports, and gambling. But to the Meiji government it was a powerful tool to build a new nation. A decade earlier, it had come to power by overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate. Feeling threatened by Western powers colonizing Asia, Meiji leaders quickly started implementing sweeping reforms.
The goal was to transform Japan from a feudal and agrarian society into an industrialized nation-state with a strong military. To speed up the process, they adopted Western technology, institutions, and ideas. This was done at breakneck speed. Japan’s first railway, for example, was opened in 1872 (Meiji 5), only 13 years after the country opened to foreign trade.
Westernization had one more function. During the waning days of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868), powerful Western nations had forced unequal treaties upon Japan that offered them extraterritoriality and fixed, low tariff rates. Japan’s leaders hoped that Westernization would persuade Western powers that Japan was a competent and “civilized” nation, an equal partner in international affairs. This, they thought, would help them regain Japan’s full sovereign status.8
Horse racing became one of the vehicles to accomplish this. In Europe, Meiji leaders had seen how the aristocracy met at horse races to enhance their social status. Particularly in France and the United Kingdom. It seemed like the perfect institution to impress foreign visitors. So, when former U.S. President Grant (1822–1885) visited Japan in 1879 (Meiji 12), the Imperial Household Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested the Imperial Japanese Army to build a racetrack to entertain him.
The army built it at the newly constructed Toyama Army Academy (陸軍戸山学校) in what is now Tokyo’s Shinjuku district.9 On August 20, President Grant watched the first races here with Emperor Meiji, members of the Imperial family, former feudal lords, and high-ranking government officials.10 The influential English newspaper The Japan Weekly Mail called the event “a complete success.”11
The Races held on Wednesday last in the Park attached to the Toyama Military College, Tokio, were really a complete success, and the promoters and managers of the affair must be congratulated on the perfect manner in which everything went off. A little less dust about the course and along the road through the Park would have been preferable, but as the wherewithal to wash the dust away had been liberally provided, this drawback to a pleasant afternoon was not felt so much as it might have been.
The Japan Weekly Mail, August 23, 1879
The Meiji leaders were also impressed with the results. Soon after, they founded the Union Race Club (共同競馬会社, Kyōdō Keiba Kaisha) to establish modern horse racing rules and organize further races. Strong support by the Army, Navy, Imperial Household Ministry, and the Ministry of Home Affairs for the initiative made it clear that horse racing was seen as much more than mere entertainment.
The Union Race Club had two primary objectives. Foremost was projecting Japan as a “civilized nation” and impressing distinguished visitors from abroad. Emperor Meiji even started granting audiences to foreign envoys at the racetrack.12
The second objective was to prepare for war, which explains why the army and navy were involved. An 1884 Union Race Club prospectus to raise funds for the move from Toyama to Ueno Park describes the goal to breed better horses for “emergencies” and “strengthening national power.” Agriculture and transportation are briefly mentioned, but military power is clearly the main objective.13
The benefits of the horse to the world are immense. Armies depend upon horses for their organization; agriculture relies upon them for cultivation; machinery advances through their use; and transportation is made convenient by them. Thus, to say that the quality of horse breeds is directly related to the strength or weakness of national power is by no means an exaggeration.
…
Should an emergency arise, horses may be required to run beyond the seas, and it cannot be said that they will never be employed in distant lands. How, then, can we fail to prepare a sufficient supply of swift horses in advance? Horse racing is not merely a matter of competing for victory in a single event, nor of seeking pleasure in prizes or momentary entertainment. The quality of horse breeds truly depends upon it. The capacity to travel great distances is revealed here, and its contribution to strengthening national power is by no means small.
Union Race Club, 1884
There also was an unstated third objective: turning Japan into a nation-state. The shogunate had unified Japan and had held ultimate power from 1603 to 1868, but the country had been politically fragmented into domains ruled by local lords.14
People typically identified more strongly with their domain, clan, or even their village than with the central government. To create a strong modern nation-state that people identified with, Meiji leaders crafted a national identity centered on the emperor.15
The emperor’s role was potent, but in largely symbolic ways. He symbolized the unity of the country, its long history, its distinctive traditional culture, its ostensible “purity” or singleness of blood, its ties to a unique indigenous religion (the Shinto tradition associated with the sun goddess), and its patriarchal bias.
The Meiji emperor and the “emperor system” he embodied were excellent examples of what historians refer to as the “invention (or reinvention) of tradition.” This was a thoroughly modern creation—a carefully and quite brilliantly executed exercise in forging a modern nationalistic consciousness.
John W. Dower, Throwing Off Asia (2008)
Given the Imperial Household Ministry’s pivotal role in building this emperor system, it is crucial to note its significant influence over the Union Race Club. Several top club officials were closely connected to the ministry:16
This helps explain the Union Race Club’s exorbitant spending on the Shinobazu Racetrack. It spent 117,300 yen on its construction, an enormous sum at the time.17 Moreover, the emperor himself donated 500 yen to celebrate the completion of the track, and an additional 5,000 yen for the opening event.
Japanese historian Kenji Tachikawa, who dedicated his career to the history of horse racing in Japan, considers such large donations exceptional. They indicate that a political decision was made to turn the races into a national event, and the influence of powerful forces.18 In his 2008 study of horse racing in Japan during the Meiji Period, Tachikawa called it “puzzling” that the Union Race Club’s political significance had not been discussed in contemporary Japanese history.19
The elaborate imperial spectacle surrounding the races appear to have been specifically designed to visualize the emperor and help cultivate the new national identity centered on him. It harmonized seamlessly with centuries-old traditions of horse racing at Shinto shrines. Intriguingly, the grandstand resembled a shrine.
Continue to Part 2: The powerful symbolics of a racetrack at Ueno Park.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to author and leading authority on Japanese architecture Azby Brown for feedback on the architecture of the Shinobazu Grandstand.
Notes
日高嘉継; 横田洋一 (1998)『浮世絵明治の競馬』小学館, 39.
Beside this grandstand, a medium-sized grandstand with a frontage of fourteen ken (25.5 meters) was also built, and in addition five stable buildings capable of housing a total of 200 horses were installed. 立川健治 (2008)『文明開化に馬券は舞う : 日本競馬の誕生』世織書房, 9–10.
『大競馬初日景况』読売新聞 明治17年11月2日版, 2.
「見べ高樓中央の室と主上の御覧所として紫縮緬御紋附の幕を張り左右の室は皇族大臣各國公使擔任官の観覧所と定め西と北との棧敷は奏任官以下樓下は請待しさる紳士同社員等の親賢所とをし右方には陸軍樂隊の奏樂所あり場内には二三の料理店の出店を設けて觀覧人の便に供す偖」
ibid
「此日は朝より打志ぐれたるにも拘はらず此の盛挙を見んとの人数はさしもに廣き池畔を埋め臨時に掛渡したる桟敷は人満て落るばかり上野の山にも群集したり」
The event took place from November first through third, 1884.
ibid
「本郷無縁坂まで御馬車の進むと競馬會社長小松宮殿下は同所にて迎へ奉つり御先導申して馬見所へ着かせ玉ふと等しく楽隊は楽と奏し二十一発の大烟火と打揚げたり暫時御休息の後ち玉座へ若かせ玉ひしもゑ午後一時より海軍省の端舟三艘は満艦飾をなして池中と一週し続いて第一の競馬と始められ一番終ることに花火の打揚げと奏樂あり」
立川健治 (2008).『文明開化に馬券は舞う : 日本競馬の誕生』世織書房, 7.
Meech-Pekarik, Julia (1986). The World of the Meiji Print: Impressions of a New Civilization. Tokyo: John Weatherhill, 114.
“In November 1884, the emperor attended the opening of the race track around Shinobazu Pond and his attendance that year and the next was advertised in advance with color prints. The distant bleachers are crowded with high government officials recognizable then as now by their identical dark suits. There are festive sightseeing boats on the pond and Japanese fireworks (paper figures shot from bamboo cannons) materialize from puffs of smoke overhead. The emphasis, however, was on the artist’s imaginary conception of the splendid royal box in the reviewing stand, crowded with the brilliant colors of the empress and her ladies. Their inclusion was often a matter of artistic license. The emperor still felt uncomfortable with the modern notion of appearing together with his wife in public, and they usually attended such functions on successive days.”
日高嘉継; 横田洋一 (1998). 『浮世絵明治の競馬』小学館, 40.
All these objectives were encapsulated in three oft-repeated Meiji era slogans: Fukoku Kyōhei (富国強兵, Enrich the Country, Strengthen the Armed Forces), Wakon Yōsai (和魂洋才, Japanese Spirit, Western Technology) and Bunmei-Kaika (文明開化, Civilization and Enlightenment).
The Toyama Army Academy was established in Meiji 6 (1873). Today this location is occupied by Toyoma Park and Waseda University Toyama Campus.
⾼橋⼀友 (2018). 『[論説] 明治天皇と競⾺ —近代⽇本における⾺概念の変容—』 社会システム研究, 21: 146.
The Japan Weekly Mail. Vol.22 (May to August 1879) Edition Synapse, 1103 (August 23, 1879).
立川健治 (2008)『文明開化に馬券は舞う : 日本競馬の誕生』世織書房, 155.
日本競馬史編纂委員会 (1967)『日本競馬史 第2巻』日本中央競馬会, 47–48.
「なお共同競馬会社が、明治一七年に発表した、一般からの入社を募集した設立趣意書は次のとおりである。
それ馬の世に益ある甚大なり。軍旅これに頼りて整い排耘これに頼りて盛んに、機械これに頼りて進み、運搬これに頼りて便なり。しからばすなわち馬種の良否は国勢の張弛に関するというも改えて越言にあらざるなり。雑新以来百般の事業日に月に精良に赴くといえども独り馬種を改良し、これを実用に供するに至っては未だ尽さざる所あり。往時を回願すれば乗馬の用すこぶる多く、畜養選択またはなはだ勉めたり。今や世風一変良馬久乏し、適一二の駿得あるも常にその勢いを示すの地なく、徒らに運搬に使役せられ、天賦の能力を発揚するを得ず。これがため軍事の必要を欠き、平時の利用を失う。すなわち千里の駿路あるも艶駆せざればそのよく千里なるを知らず。故にこれをして勉駆競走せしめそのたびの運速緩急を算し、始めてもってその発を弁ずることを得るなり。これ則ち欧州諸邦において専ら馬を験するの方法となす。これをもって競馬の挙たるや、文明国人の傾向熱心荷も已むべからずとなす所以なり。今欧州の方法に模倣し、共同競馬会社を設立し、年歳春秋両度地駅を競い、優劣を試みもって馬格の進歩を図らんと欲す。しかして本社は実用に資して有益をり、善良の種馬を養成し、駿馬を産育すべきの端緒を開き、遂にその目的を達するに至るときは、軍事は固よりこれを農業に使用せしめ、器械の便利に着りて人力の労費を省き将にこれが利用を広めんとす。それ如斯は農家従来の習風を一新し、従って物産の繁殖もまたこれに基す。これいわゆる排転の興り、物産の通ずるものなり。且つ本邦は東洋の一海国といえども今日欧米諸国と対峙し、富強を競うの隆運に際会し、万里の海波もなお壊地を接するが如し。一旦事あるに及んでは馬を海表に馳せ、遠く外地に株かうととなしというべからず。しからば則ち駿馬豈予め充実せざるべけんや。そもそも競馬なるものは徒らに一場の勝敗を争い、賞与の厚否を望み快を一時の避観に取るものにあらず、馬種の良否も実にことに基す。千里の能力も実にここに顕われ、進んでもって国勢を張皇するにおいて与って力あるや決して浅少にあらざるなり。こいねがわくば有志の諸君本条の旨越に基き、との意を領し速かに来って入社あらんことを。」
Domains were known as han (藩), local lords as daimyo (大名).
John W. Dower (2008). The Meiji Emperor & Invention of the Modern Emperor System in Throwing Off Asia I, part of Visualizing Cultures. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
立川健治 (2008).『文明開化に馬券は舞う : 日本競馬の誕生』世織書房, 3.
ibid, 155.
The grandstand alone cost approximately fifty thousand yen (立川健治 2008, 9).
ibid, 4, 155.
「天皇からは、同会社に対して、これよりの先の一〇月、競馬場落成を祝して五〇〇円、さらにこの開催に際して五〇〇〇円が下賜されていた(4)。このような多額の下賜金は、単に競馬の次元にとどまるものではなく、この開催を国家的行事として行うという政治的判断が下されていたことを端的に示していた。」
「この厳しい経済環境のなかで、先にもあげたように一一万七三〇〇円余という多大な資金が不忍池競馬場 建設に投入された。このような事業が、単に観客を増やすためだけに計画されることなど普通ではありえなかった。 そこには、もっと別次元の力が働いていなければならなかった。」
For perspective, in 1882, factory workers earned around 7 yen per month, while mid-level government officials, who were extremely well paid, brought home 113 yen. 神田 眞人 (2010) 『公僕の俸祿たてよこ(上) 国際的・歴史的視座からみた国家公務員給与・年金』主計局, ファイナンス, 60 (footnote 10).
Meanwhile, 6 kilograms (4斗) of rice cost roughly 2 yen. 大田原市／地域史資料デジタルアーカイブ『第一節 米価変遷の流れの中で』Retrieved on 2026-01-20.
ibid, 8.
「これまでこの開催の意味が論じられてこなかったのかが不思議なくらいの出来事として存在していた」
Visitors to Ueno Park will want to keep an eye out for the monument commemorating Ulysses S. Grant’s visit to Japan in 1879.
I spend a lot of time around Ueno and Ueno Park doing street photography, and I honestly had no clue there used to be a horse race track! That was very intriguing to read. I’m glad you found that gem of a photo!