Ex-Pro Baseball Player, Manager Oh to Receive Order of Culture; Govt Also Announces Persons of Cultural Merit

The Yomiuri Shimbun

1:00 JST, October 19, 2025

Former professional baseball player and manager Sadaharu Oh is among eight people who will receive the Order of Culture this fiscal year, the government announced Friday.

“In addition to leaving a great legacy in professional baseball history, he has devoted himself to fostering international goodwill for young people through the sport since his retirement, making an outstanding contribution to the promotion of sports,” the government said, explaining the reason Oh was selected.

Oh, 85, the current chairman of Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks Corp., will become the second person from the baseball world to be honored with the medal following Shigeo Nagashima, the lifetime honorary manager of the Yomiuri Giants, who received the order in 2021. Nagashima passed away in June at 89.

Oh joined the Yomiuri Giants in 1958. In 1977, he set a new world record for the most home runs in professional baseball history with his 756th and became the first recipient of the People’s Honor Award. He has also served as manager for the Yomiuri Giants and the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks, now Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks.

The former slugger has dedicated himself to boosting baseball’s popularity among children. Moreover, in May, he established the Japan Baseball Council, a general incorporated foundation aimed at promoting the sport by breaking down the barriers between professional and amateur players.

This year’s other recipients of the Order of Culture are Kabuki actor Kataoka Nizaemon, 81; Yasunaru Kawashima, 95, who has contributed to the field of cardiovascular surgery; complex chemistry researcher Susumu Kitagawa, 74, who was among the winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry; folklorist Kazuhiko Komatsu, 78; fashion designer Junko Koshino, 86; art critic Nobuo Tsuji, 93; and organic synthetic chemist Hisashi Yamamoto, 82.

Kawashima will be the first person in his field to receive the order.

The government has also selected 21 people to be named Persons of Cultural Merit this fiscal year. They include theater director Hideki Noda, 69, and mangaka Keiko Takemiya, 75. Nobel prize winner Kitagawa was also chosen as a Person of Cultural Merit.

Other Persons of Cultural Merit this fiscal year include Tadao Kakizoe, 84, for urology; Masako Nozawa, 88, for voice acting; and Nakasaburo Shinnai, 85, for Shinnai-bushi joruri narrative.

The average age of Order of Culture recipients is 84.3 years, while for Persons of Cultural Merit it is 77.5 years, according to the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry.

The award ceremony for the Order of Culture will be held on Nov. 3 at the Imperial Palace, and the ceremony for Persons of Cultural Merit will take place on Nov. 4 at The Okura Tokyo in Toranomon, Tokyo.