Circumstantial evidence suggests that baseball was already played elsewhere outside of the nation's capital in the early 1870s. Many of these accounts predicate their somewhat speculative conclusions on the presence of American oyatoi in provincial middle schools. For example, in rural Kumamoto Prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu, one L. L. Janes was employed by a local school between 1871 and 1876. A chronicler of the local sport scene attributes the start of baseball and other Western competitive sports in the area to extracurricular instruction given by this former captain of the Union Army, who built his second career teaching English, math, and chemistry in rural Japan.24 Kumamoto Nichinichi Shinbunsha, Kumamoto no Tairyoku-Kyodo Supotsu no Ayumi (Kumamoto, 1967), 7; Hirose Kenzo, ed., Nippon no Yakyu Hattatsushi (Kyoto, 1957). p. 645

Guthrie-Shimizu, Sayuri (2004) For Love of the Game: Baseball in Early U.S.-Japanese Encounters and the Rise of a Transnational Sporting Fraternity, Diplomatic History, Volume 28, Issue 5, November 2004, Pages 637–662. Circumstantial evidence suggests that baseball was already played elsewhere outside of the nation's capital in the early 1870s. Many of these accounts predicate their somewhat speculative conclusions on the presence of American oyatoi in provincial middle schools. For example, in rural Kumamoto Prefecture on the southern island of Kyushu, one L. L. Janes was employed by a local school between 1871 and 1876. A chronicler of the local sport scene attributes the start of baseball and other Western competitive sports in the area to extracurricular instruction given by this former captain of the Union Army, who built his second career teaching English, math, and chemistry in rural Japan.24 Kumamoto Nichinichi Shinbunsha, Kumamoto no Tairyoku-Kyodo Supotsu no Ayumi (Kumamoto, 1967), 7; Hirose Kenzo, ed., Nippon no Yakyu Hattatsushi (Kyoto, 1957). p.

Dreifort, John L. (ed) Baseball History from Outside the lines: a Reader 2001 Univ of Nebraska press

Guthrie-Shimizu, Sayuri (2012) Transpacific Field of Dreams: How Baseball Linked the United States and ...

Macaloon, J. J. (ed) 2013 Muscular Christianity and the Colonial and Post-Colonial World Routledge The Kumamoto band refers to a Christian group formed by students of Kumamoto You Gakko, a school for Western learning set up by the Kumamoto clan. Influenced by an American teacher, L.L. Janes who came to Japan in 1871 (Meiji 4), 35 students at Mount Hanoka (sic) (Hanoka-San Meiyaku) issued a religious manifesto and took a vow urging that japan should be saved by Christianity. When their school was closed as a result, some of the students moved on to the Doshisha English School, founded at Kyoto by Jo Niijima in 1875 (Meiji 8). Doshisha produced many of the leading Christians in Japan, such as Danajo (sic) Ebina, Hiromichi Kozaki and Isoo Abe. Among them, Abe contributed to sports, especially baseball in Japan, to such an extent that he would come to be known as a 'father of student baseball'. p. 20

Staples, Bill (YEAR) Kenichi Zenimura, Japanese American Baseball Pioneer

Watanabe, Yasushi David L. Mc connell (YEAR) Soft Power Superpowers p. 157 The first American to introduce the fundamentals of baseball to Japan was Horace Wilson, a Civil War veteran who was hired by the Meiji government as an oyatoi (hired hand) college instructor to teach math and English at Keiseiko ?, an elite preparatory program later reorganized into Toyo Imperial University (Ikei 1977, pp. 2-4; watanabe 1996, pp. 21-22). Others in the pool of oyatoi teachers recruited to educated Japan’s best an brightest helped popularize baseball in Mikado’s empire. Albert Bates, an instructor at Kaitakushi Karigakko, the technical school adjunct to the Hokkaido Development Agency, was another early baseball missionary. graduate and a Civil War veteran, came to Kumamoto Yogakko (the Western Studies Institute) in Japanese government employ to teach English, science and math. He first tutored his intellectual disciples in the provincial city in baseball and other Western competitive sports. Among the band of Janess students in Kumamoto was Abe Isoo, the revered father of Japanese collegiate baseball who would spearhead Japan’s first baseball tour to the United States in 1905 (Oshima 1958, pp. 22-27, 64-66; Kumamoto Nichinichi Shinbunsha, 1967, p. 7)

Xiaojian Zhao, Edward J.W. Park Phd (ed) Asian Americans: An Encyclopedia of Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political History, V.1

Macaloon, J. J. (ed) 2013 Muscular Christianity and the Colonial and Post-Colonial World Routledge The Kumamoto band refers to a Christian group formed by students of Kumamoto You Gakko, a school for Western learning set up by the Kumamoto clan. Influenced by an American teacher, L.L. Janes who came to Japan in 1871 (Meiji 4), 35 students at Mount Hanoka (sic) (Hanoka-San Meiyaku) issued a religious manifesto and took a vow urging that japan should be saved by Christianity. When their school was closed as a result, some of the students moved on to the Doshisha English School, founded at Kyoto by Jo Niijima in 1875 (Meiji 8). Doshisha produced many of the leading Christians in Japan, such as Danajo (sic) Ebina, Hiromichi Kozaki and Isoo Abe. Among them, Abe contributed to sports, especially baseball in Japan, to such an extent that he would come to be known as a 'father of student baseball'. p. 20

Baseball History from Outside the lines: a Reader John L. Dreifort, ed. 2001 Univ of Nebraska press while young businessmen and sailors were happy to maintain baseball as a symbol of extraterritorial priveleges and unique cultural identity, a few American educators in Japan had quite a different perspective on the sport. Four teachers in particular--Horace Wilson, E.W. Strange, G.H. Mudgett and Leroy Janes--were avowed baseball aficionados who arrived in Japan in the early 1870s hoping to introduce America's "national game" to their students. ...Strange wrote a special handbook in 1883, entitled Outdoor Games, "to induce Japanese schoolboys to take more physical exercise." Although no evidence suggests the four coordinated their missionary effort, each seemed convinced that baseball could effectively break down cultural barriers....Whereas isolated student groups in Tokyo, Sapporo and Kumamoto showed some interest, baseball was generally regarded throughout the 1880s as a novelty to be played along with capture-the-flag on university field days. p. 290

熊本県では明治初年に熊本洋学校の英語教師リロイ・ジェーンズが野球を伝えたといわれるほど歴史が古い･･････明治２７～２８年頃には熊本師範で本格的に行われており、３０年には熊本商業にアメリカ人教師マーフィーが赴任して野球を教えた。http://keyakinokaze.cocolog-nifty.com/rekishibooks/2017/04/post-b6fe.html 　　　熊本洋学校：　http://keyakinokaze.cocolog-nifty.com/rekishibooks/2016/10/post-3598.html

1871年から1876年ごろの間に、米国人教師リロイ・ランシング・ジェーンズが熊本洋学校で生徒たちに野球を教えていた説もある。しかし、はっきりした年とは分かっていない。もしジェーンズが1871年の着任当初から野球を教え始めたとすれば、ホーレス・ウィルソンより1年早いということになる。https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Hf_FBGv1Ts

Doshisha produced many of the leading Christians in Japan, such as Danjo Ebina, Hiromichi Kozaki and Isoo Abe. Among them, Abe contriguted to sports, especially baseball in Japan, to such and extent that he would come to be known as a ‘father of student baseball’ p.. 20

It is commonly believed among historians that American schoolteacher Horace Wilson first introduced baseball to Japan in 1872. However, a recent argument has been made that Leroy Lansing janes, also a teacher from the United States, arrived a year earlier and introduced the game to his students at Kumamoto. p. 15

Asian Americans: An Encyclopedia of Social, Cultural, Economic, and Political History, V.1

It is commonly believed among historians that American schoolteacher Horace Wilson first introduced baseball to Japan in 1872. However, a recent argument has been made that Leroy Lansing janes, also a teacher from the United States, arrived a year earlier and introduced the game to his students at Kumamoto. p. 584

http://www.doshisha-bbc.com/intro/rekishi.html 明治22年（1889） 御苑で始まった野球 「同志社の野球は明治二十二年頃、正門から今出川通りを挟んですぐ南隣の京都御苑で始まった」と伝わる。

http://koushien.s100.xrea.com/taikaizenshi/nenpyo.htm 1874年（明7年） 熊本洋学校でジェーンズがこの頃野球を学生達に伝える。

http://baseballstats2011.jp/archives/21937801.html