Negishi Racecourse

Negishi Racecourse was a horse-racing facility located on the outskirts of Yamate in the treaty port of Yokohama, recognized as the first purpose built European style racecourse in Japan. The course was operational between 1866 and 1942.

Negishi Racecourse
Negishi Racecourse, Autumn 1870
LocationYamate, Yokohama, Japan
Owned byDefunct
Date opened1866
Date closed1942
Course typeFlat
Negishi Racecourse as depicted in 1872

History

The completion of the Negishi Racecourse in 1866 provided the first permanent site for horse racing in Yokohama, replacing a temporary Swamp Ground site at the rear of the Kannai foreign settlement where the first races had been run in 1862.[1] Initially intended as an entertainment venue for the foreign community, the racecourse rapidly became popular with Japanese society; the Emperor Meiji visiting on 14 separate occasions.[2]

After the Great Kantō earthquake, the main grandstand of the course was rebuilt in 1929 to a design by American architect JH Morgan.

Horse racing at the Negishi Racecourse continued until 1942. During wartime, portions of the original site were requisitioned by the military and only later turned into a public park, the U.S. Navy's Negishi Heights housing facility and the location of an equestrian sports museum.

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See also
  • Horseracing in Japan

References
  1. Williams, Harold (1972). Foreigners in Mikadoland. Tokyo: Tuttle. p. 141. ISBN 9780804810494.
  2. Nagashima, Nobuhiro (1998). Linhart, Sepp (ed.). The Culture of Japan as seen Through Its Leisure. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. p. 353. ISBN 0-7914-3791-4.

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