Japanese National Sports Festival Commemoratives

Two stamps commemorating Japan's 13th National Sports Festival held in 1958.

During the 1950s and 60s, two 5-yen stamps were issued in Japan every year during the month of October. These two stamps commemorated the National Sports Festival, which is held throughout the year and reaches its conclusion in October.

The National Sports Festival - or the Kokutai (国体) games as they are often called - is one of Japan's biggest yearly sporting competitions. These games pit teams from each prefecture against each other in a variety of sports, such as basketball, weightlifting, water sports, hockey, and more. Each competition is seasonal. Winter games are played during the winter, summer games during the summer, and fall games during the fall. The fall games held in September-October are the most crucial and determine which cities win the Emperor and Empress Cups.

One of the 12th National Sports Festival commemoratives from 1957.

The two commemoratives were usually issued around the time when the fall games were reaching or had reached their conclusion. They typically depicted athletes or gymnasts at play and scenes which would have typically been seen at the games.

While the pairs from the 1950s were very memorable in their own right, some of the last stamps issued in the mid to late 1960s featured some very striking and colorful artwork and were printed using the rotogravure process.

A 17th games commemorative from 1962.

These stamps were an excellent way to pay tribute to the athletes who gave their all at the games that year, no matter whether they won or lost!

Links:
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Sports_Festival_of_Japan (The National Sports Festival at Wikipedia.)