And here is your daily almanac for Sunday the twenty-second of October 2023.

Today, in 1973, famed baseball player Ichiro Suzuki was born.

^{Photo from Wikipedia and licensed under the CC.}

If you are a baseball fan, you definitely know the name Ichiro. Depending on who you talk to, he is either the greatest singles hitter of all time or the second greatest, right after Pete Rose. If we consider his eight years in NPB (Nippon Professional Baseball), he has by far the most hits of any player in the history of the game. Regardless of how you measure him, he is bound for the Hall of Fame in MLB (Major League Baseball).

He wasn't the first Japanese player from NPB to enter MLB. That would be Masanori Murakami in 1964 who played for the Giants. Nor was he the first of the modern era. That would be Hideki Nomo in 1995. But he did go on to be the biggest Japanese name in baseball (at least until Ohtani came around a few years ago) and more than anyone else he opened the doors to Japanese baseball players entering MLB on a more regular basis.

He started playing baseball at age 7 and had a grueling daily routine that included practicing 50 pitches, fielding over 100 balls, and hitting over 500 pitches. Ichiro has gone on record saying his father pushed him too hard and he didn't enjoy it. In that respect, he joins the company of Tiger Woods, Agassi, the Williams sisters, and many more sports stars, all of whom were pushed by their fathers incredibly hard when they were young which unfortunately ruined their relationships.

The hard work paid off, though: he was an outstanding player in high school and he put up amazing stats in his years in NPB where he soon became a household name, known only by his given name Ichiro.

When he expressed a desire to enter MLB, at first MLB teams didn't want him, claiming he was too small at only 5'9 (175 cm). The Seattle Mariners gave him a chance and he soon proved all naysayers wrong. He had an incredible rookie year with a record 242 hits, the most by any MLB player since 1930, as well as a batting average of .350 and 56 stolen bases, the first player since Jackie Robinson in 1949 to lead the league in both of those last two categories.

He continued playing until he was 43 in 2016, an unusually long career, playing as one of the top players in the league in most of those years. He was an amazing player and continues to be an inspiration.

^{A Walker in Autumn by Miyagawa Shuntei}

Today is Butsumetsu 仏滅, the most unlucky day of the rokuyō, the Buddhist horoscope. Why does it always seem like it's butsumetsu when I decide to do one of these Today in Japan posts? Bad luck, I suppose, which is fitting. Read more about the rokuyō here).

On the old calendar, today would have been the eighth day of the ninth month. It is Crickets on the Doorstep or Crickets Start Singing (蟋蟀在戸, kirigirisu to ni ari), the third and last microseason of Kanro.

The crickets that are being referred to are the much beloved bell crickets, which sing with an bell-like sound. These have been beloved since ancient times and feature in many poems and classical literature. Often in haiku, they are referred to as suzumushi (bell cricket) and are a kigo (season word) for autumn.

Here's a haiku from Saiou:

独唱が合唱になり虫の秋
dokushō ga gashō ni nari mushi no aki

a lone solo
changes into a chorus
autumn insects

Autumn insects here does refer to all the insects you may hear outside at night in autumn, but it calls to mind the bell crickets the most. The haiku paints a very accurate picture of listening to them sing as the evening goes on.

That's all for today. Be well, do good work, and stay in touch.

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.