Hanshin Tigers - Fandom

Fandom

Tigers fans are known as perhaps the most fanatical and dedicated fans in all of Japanese professional baseball. They often outnumber the home team fans at Tigers "away" games. Tigers fans also have a reputation for rough behavior and a willingness to brawl with other fans or with each other, although long fights are rare. A famous Tigers fan tradition is the release, by the fans, of hundreds of air-filled balloons immediately following the seventh inning stretch and the singing of the Tigers' fight song. This tradition is carried-out at all home and away games, except at games against the Yomiuri Giants in the Tokyo Dome due to the Giants' notoriously authoritarian and heavy-handed rules for controlling behavior by visiting fans.

The Tigers-Giants rivalry is considered the national Japanese rivalry, on par with the New York Yankees vs. the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball or Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona in Spanish football.

"The Hanshin Tigers' Song (阪神タイガースの歌, Hanshin Tigers no Uta?)", as known as "Rokko Oroshi (六甲颪, 六甲おろし?, lit. The (Downward) Wind of Mount Rokko)", lyrics by Sonosuke Sato (佐藤 惣之助?) and composed by Yuji Koseki (古関 裕而?), is a popular song in the Kansai area. In Japan, wind which blows down from a mountain is known to be cold and harsh, hence the song symbolizes the Tiger's brave challenge under hardship. The song can even be found on karaoke boxes.