Former Yomiuri Giants pitcher Masumi Kuwata held a lecture for teachers on corporal punishment in Osaka, where a high school student committed suicide last year after being slapped by his basketball club adviser.

Kuwata, who was invited by the Osaka City Board of Education to speak at the training workshop that was closed to the media, said at a press conference afterward that he talked about how sportsmanship should be.

“What’s wrong is wrong; there’s no need for logic,” he said of corporal punishment, while calling for the eradication of such use of violence at schools, describing the act as “most cowardly” as it takes place in a situation of “absolute obedience.”

The 44-year-old Kuwata, who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the last season of his 21-year pro baseball career,talked about his experience of visiting a school in the United States while he was playing there.

“There was no shouting or beating at all. (The students) were playing baseball in a free and relaxed manner,” he said. “Seeing that major leaguers come from such an environment is proof we can train people to become wonderful players without corporal punishment.”

Emphasizing the magnitude of the loss of “one precious life” at the city-run Sakuranomiya Senior High School, Kuwata said he himself never gained any benefits from feeling the pain and fears of receiving corporal punishment.

The education board said 513 teachers, including those who advise sports clubs, took part in the event featuring Kuwata’s hourlong speech which was followed by a question-and-answer session with the teachers. Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto also