Opening in 1937 - Japan's First Modern Pro Baseball Stadium
Korakuen Stadium opened on September 11, 1937. At the time, Japan lacked dedicated professional baseball venues; only Hanshin used Koshien as its home, while other clubs played in borrowed facilities. The Korakuen Stadium Corporation built the venue on the former Imperial Army arsenal site adjacent to Koishikawa Korakuen Garden in Tokyo, creating a 50,000-plus capacity facility. Foul-pole distances of 78 meters and 110 meters to center field were standard for the era. As the physical foundation enabling pro baseball to establish itself as a profession, Korakuen was decisive. That same year, the Tokyo Yomiuri franchise began using Korakuen as a quasi-home ballpark, and Tokyo's baseball culture coalesced around the stadium.
The Wartime Stadium - Munitions and Baseball Side by Side
When the Pacific War began in 1941, Korakuen's fate wavered. By 1944, controls tightened, professional baseball was suspended, and the stadium was repurposed for non-baseball use. During the war it reportedly served as a military facility, the turf deteriorated, and fences fell into disrepair. The 1945 Tokyo Air Raids damaged the surrounding area, but the stadium structure escaped serious damage. On November 23, 1945, an East-West All-Star Game was held at Korakuen, becoming a symbolic moment of Japanese baseball's revival. That baseball returned in scorched Tokyo at this very stadium underscores Korakuen's special meaning in postwar Japan.
Cradle of Night Game Culture - Lights Installed in 1948
Korakuen is also the birthplace of Japanese night-game culture. On August 17, 1948, the first professional night game in Japan was played between the Yomiuri franchise and Chunichi Dragons at Korakuen. State-of-the-art lighting for the time enabled evening baseball, ushering in a new leisure pattern: salaried workers heading to the ballpark after their workday. This style became symbolic of postwar Japanese leisure and dramatically boosted attendance. Korakuen night games merged with television broadcasts to become the centerpiece of evening home entertainment. Shigeo Nagashima and Sadaharu Oh's exploits reached the entire nation through these night-game telecasts.
The ON Sluggers' Sanctuary - Stage for Nagashima and Oh's Legends
Korakuen's brightest era spanned roughly 25 years from the late 1950s through 1980, the prime of Shigeo Nagashima and Sadaharu Oh. On June 25, 1959, Nagashima's walk-off home run off Hanshin's Minoru Murayama in the famed Imperial Game with Emperor Showa in attendance was struck at Korakuen. Of Sadaharu Oh's 868 career home runs, more cleared Korakuen's fences than any other ballpark. On September 3, 1977, Oh's 756th home run that surpassed Hank Aaron's world record was hit at Korakuen. The stadium was more than a ballpark; it was the witness to NPB's growth into a national pastime, hosting Japan Series classics and All-Star games as the central stage.
Beyond Baseball - Wrestling, Boxing, and Concerts
Korakuen Stadium served many purposes beyond baseball. Japan Pro Wrestling held regular events there; Rikidozan's matches against the Sharpe Brothers are remembered as historic. World boxing title bouts, sumo provincial events, and even The Beatles' 1966 Tokyo concert, the pioneering large-scale outdoor concert in Japan, were staged at Korakuen. These multiuse functions positioned Korakuen as the center of Tokyo's sports and entertainment culture. As an open-air stadium exposed to weather, it lived alongside rainout risk yet sustained Japan's entertainment industry for half a century.
The 1987 Closure and Handover to Tokyo Dome
On November 8, 1987, Korakuen Stadium hosted its final game. After 50 years of service, the site was redeveloped into Tokyo Dome and adjacent facilities. Tokyo Dome opened on March 17, 1988, taking the baton as NPB's central venue. Korakuen vanished physically, but its legacy lives on at Tokyo Dome: the Yomiuri home tradition, Tokyo's baseball-culture symbolism, and the records Nagashima and Oh inscribed. Korakuen's 50 years coincide exactly with NPB's birth, wartime survival, and growth into a national sport. Telling the history of Japanese professional baseball is impossible without Korakuen Stadium.