Kondo Hyotaro
Coach of the Kano Baseball Team
Japanese Rule
1888–1966
Kondo Hyotaro (1888–1966) was a baseball coach from Ehime Prefecture in Japan. He had played for the powerful Matsuyama Commercial School team in his youth and came to Taiwan to teach, eventually taking charge of the baseball team at the Chiayi Agriculture and Forestry School (Kano) from 1928. When he arrived the team was weak and undisciplined, but Kondo rebuilt it through a famously strict, Spartan training regime and an ethic captured in his maxim, 'Do not think about winning; think about not losing.' What made his Kano team historic was its makeup: it brought together Japanese, Han Chinese, and indigenous Taiwanese players in what was celebrated as a 'harmony of three peoples,' with Kondo assigning roles according to each group's strengths. Under his leadership the team was transformed, and in 1931 Kano won the right to represent Taiwan and traveled to the National High School Baseball Championship at Koshien in Japan. There the unheralded team stunned the nation by advancing all the way to the final, finishing as runner-up (jun-yusho) and winning admiration across Japan with their fighting spirit, even as their ace pitcher played on with an injured hand. The achievement made Kano a legend and later inspired the 2014 film KANO, in which Kondo is the central figure. Kondo continued to coach in Taiwan for years afterward, shaping the island's early baseball culture, before returning to Japan. He is remembered as the demanding mentor who forged a multi-ethnic team into one of the most celebrated stories in the history of Taiwanese baseball.
1928 Became coach of the Kano baseball team
1931 Led Kano to the right to represent Taiwan at Koshien
1931 Kano finished as runner-up at the Koshien championship
1930s Continued coaching and shaping early Taiwanese baseball
Coach of the Kano Baseball Team
Kondo Hyotaro
Era
Japanese Rule
Lifespan
1888–1966
Kondo Hyotaro (1888–1966) was a baseball coach from Ehime Prefecture in Japan. He had played for the powerful Matsuyama Commercial School team in his youth and came to Taiwan to teach, eventually taking charge of the baseball team at the Chiayi Agriculture and Forestry School (Kano) from 1928. When he arrived the team was weak and undisciplined, but Kondo rebuilt it through a famously strict, Spartan training regime and an ethic captured in his maxim, 'Do not think about winning; think about not losing.' What made his Kano team historic was its makeup: it brought together Japanese, Han Chinese, and indigenous Taiwanese players in what was celebrated as a 'harmony of three peoples,' with Kondo assigning roles according to each group's strengths. Under his leadership the team was transformed, and in 1931 Kano won the right to represent Taiwan and traveled to the National High School Baseball Championship at Koshien in Japan. There the unheralded team stunned the nation by advancing all the way to the final, finishing as runner-up (jun-yusho) and winning admiration across Japan with their fighting spirit, even as their ace pitcher played on with an injured hand. The achievement made Kano a legend and later inspired the 2014 film KANO, in which Kondo is the central figure. Kondo continued to coach in Taiwan for years afterward, shaping the island's early baseball culture, before returning to Japan. He is remembered as the demanding mentor who forged a multi-ethnic team into one of the most celebrated stories in the history of Taiwanese baseball.
1928 Became coach of the Kano baseball team
1931 Led Kano to the right to represent Taiwan at Koshien
1931 Kano finished as runner-up at the Koshien championship
1930s Continued coaching and shaping early Taiwanese baseball