Hiroshima Carp ask gods for success

The Hiroshima Carp players, manager, owner and staff made their annual visit to Gokoku-jinja Shrine yesterday to ask the gods to bestow success on them in the 2016 season which starts this evening against Yokohama DeNA Baystars at Mazda “Zoom Zoom” Stadium.

With the return of ace pitcher Hiroki Kuroda from the Major Leagues and former player Koichi Ogata as manager expectations were at an all time high last year when the whole city seemed convinced that their local heroes would march to the Central League championship and their first appearance in the Japan series since 1991.

It wasn’t to be, and perhaps with their other top pitcher Kenta Maeda spending the year in Los Angeles, they need some luck from the Shinto gods and the spirits of Hiroshima’s war dead. They perform this ritual every year though…

See more photos from the shrine visit on the Carp website here.

There a few more tickets available in the visitor performance and
unreserved infield sections for the this weekend’s opening series against Yokohama.