Chichibunomiya 秩父宮 rugby stadium in the Kita Aoyama district of central Tokyo is the spiritual home of Japanese rugby and the headquarters of the Japan Rugby Football Union. It currently seats 25,194 spectators, but only part of the stands are covered. A large electronic scoreboard was added to the ground as a step to modernization in 2003.
Originally completed in 1947, it was at first called Tokyo rugby stadium. From 1953 the name was changed to Chichibunomiya rugby stadium.
The name Chichibunomiya commemorates the sporting prince, Prince Chichibu, who was not a rugby player but was passionately fond of rugby and died in 1953. His statue is in the stadium.
Chichibunomiya on April 3, 2005 with the new scoreboard
Chichibunomiya 秩父宮 RugbyStadium in the Aoyama district of central Tokyo is the spiritual home of Japanese rugby union and the headquarters of the Japan Rugby Football Union.
The name Chichibunomiya commemorates the sporting prince, Prince Chichibu, who was not a rugby union player but was passionately fond of rugby union and died in 1953.
Rugby Union in Japan is administered by the Japan Rugby Football Union, founded in 1926, which is a constituent member of the International Rugby Board.
At present rugby union is rarely seen on the terrestrial TV channels, and is mainly restricted to CS and cable subscription channels, which hinders its growth.
It was the policy of the Scottish Rugby Union to play some international games away from Murrayfield in autumn 2004, in order to gain new fans in the Caledonia and Glasgow regions.
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