Curse of the Colonel

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Dotonbori-Signboard1

Curse of the Colonel refers to an urban legend from Japan associated with the Hanshin Tigers, a professional baseball team. According to the legend, the team has been cursed by the spirit of Colonel Harland Sanders, the founder of KFC, following the 1985 Japan Championship Series. The Hanshin Tigers, based in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, are part of the Central League in Nippon Professional Baseball.

Background

The Hanshin Tigers have a passionate fan base, and their celebrations in 1985 after winning the Japan Championship Series were particularly exuberant. Fans gathered at the Ebisubashi Bridge in Osaka for a ritual of calling out the names of the players, and those who resembled a player would jump into the Dōtonbori River. However, no one resembled the American player Randy Bass, who was a key player in the team's success. In a moment of fervor, fans grabbed a statue of Colonel Sanders from a nearby KFC outlet and threw it into the river, symbolizing Bass's contribution to the victory.

The Curse

Since that championship win in 1985, the Hanshin Tigers experienced a long period of poor performance, leading fans and the media to speculate that the team was cursed by the spirit of Colonel Sanders for disrespecting his statue. The curse seemed to be confirmed by the team's failure to win another championship for decades, despite having talented players and coming close on several occasions.

Attempts to Break the Curse

Over the years, various attempts have been made to locate and retrieve the statue from the Dōtonbori River in hopes of breaking the curse. The statue was finally found and pulled from the river in 2009, missing its glasses and right hand. Despite the recovery, the curse is said to linger, as the Hanshin Tigers have yet to secure another championship victory.

Cultural Impact

The Curse of the Colonel has become a well-known piece of modern folklore in Japan, illustrating the deep emotional connection between sports teams and their fans. It has been the subject of numerous articles, discussions, and even academic study, analyzing its impact on Japanese culture, sports superstitions, and the collective psyche of the Hanshin Tigers' fan base.

See Also

• Sports-related curses
• Hanshin Tigers
• Nippon Professional Baseball
• Urban legends in Japan