History
Originally completed in 1947, it was at first called Tokyo Rugby Stadium. In 1953 the name was changed to Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium. The stadium also served as a venue for football matches in the 1964 Summer Olympics.
The name Chichibunomiya commemorates the sporting prince, Prince Chichibu, who was not a rugby union player but was passionately fond of the sport and died in 1953. His statue is in the stadium.
On February 3, 2008 snow prevented two Top League games being played in the 13th and final round of the fifth season. They were postponed to February 9.
Starting in 2012, the stadium will host the Japan Sevens, a newly created event on the IRB Sevens World Series for men's national rugby sevens teams. The tournament will be the seventh on the circuit schedule, with the first edition to straddle March and April.
Read more about this topic: Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium
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“Gossip is charming! History is merely gossip. But scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.”
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—Malcolm Bradbury (b. 1932)
“Racism is an ism to which everyone in the world today is exposed; for or against, we must take sides. And the history of the future will differ according to the decision which we make.”
—Ruth Benedict (1887–1948)