The French military assistance advisory, which visited Japan in 1867, placed emphasis on “development of the body” as basic training for soldiers, and actually gave instructions for this purpose. The textbook used for this instruction had never been identified, but as a result of reviewing Mokuba no Sho (“the book of the wooden horse”, published around 1867) written by Hayashi Shojuro (1824–1896), their interpreter, it was found that this is a translation of the part describing wooden horse exercises in the French manual of army gymnastic exercises, “Instruction pour l'enseignement de la gymnastique”, which was the gymnastics textbook brought to Japan by the French military delegation. In addition to the 200-page text, a total of 18 pages of figures illustrating 33 pieces of gymnastic apparatus and exercises using them, and a plan of an outdoor apparatus gymnastics field with apparatus for 200 to 300 people are attached.
The “Instruction” continued to be studied mainly by the army. On the other hand, the Ministry of Education established the taiso denshu jo (Physical Training Institute) in 1878, and invited the American medical doctor, George Adams Leland (1850–1924), to conduct research there. Through his study, the Ministry of Education selected light gymnastics as the most suitable method for the Japanese school physical education system, and it became popular nationwide around 1885 as alumni of the Physical Training Institute spread throughout Japan.
In 1883, however, the Ministry of Education instructed the implementation of hohei soren (infantry training) and heishiki taiso (military exercises) for secondary schools in addition to the normal gymnastics. This marks the introduction of the French gymnastics, employed by the army, into school physical education.
As we can see, the French military assistance advisory's visit to Japan at the end of the Edo Period and the “Instruction” they brought with them, were quickly followed by the establishment of the Japanese army gymnastics system. Along with the implementation of infantry training and military exercises around 1885, it also left clear traces in the formulation of the modern Japanese physical education system.

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The purpose of the study was to elucidate the extent to which observers are able to grasp objective movement processes, while observing a visual presentation of movement using a horizontal bar. We presented movements to third-year elementary school students and first-year junior high school students using two presentation methods, specifically sequential photographs and video clips, and subsequently asked the subjects to reenact the movement processes using paper dolls. The following results were obtained.
1. Mean scores for the task were significantly higher in the third-year elementary school students than in the first-year junior high school students. This suggests that the ability to understand movement processes improves with age.
2. Among third-year elementary school students, mean scores for the task were significantly higher for students who were shown video clips than for those shown sequential photographs, whereas no significant differences were observed among first-year junior high school students. This suggests that video clips are a more effective presentation method for early elementary school students.
3. Mean scores for movements with complex movement structures were low for both presentation methods. Further consideration about presentation of complex movements may be necessary.
4. Experience of playing sports in elementary school was identified as a factor influencing mean scores for the task. Students who had experience of sports and watching movements while playing sports were thought to be more capable of understanding movement processes even when watching them for the first time.

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Little attention has been paid to the gaming characteristics of basketball, despite the importance of this issue. The present study attempted to address these characteristics as “the special characteristics of basketball that distinguish it from other sports,” and examined fundamental aspects related to this essential issue. In order to gain a different insight into the special characteristics from those that have been adopted previously, we paid special attention to the form of the sport, as evidenced from the way in which is it portrayed in the media. We also studied unique aspects of basketball through analysis beginning with the most primitive and simplest differences in form compared with other kinds of sport. We concluded that the fundamental special characteristic of basketball is that shooting involves “throwing a ball into a goal installed in a horizontal position over the floor above head height.” This constitutes the basic condition for its establishment as a sport, and is the factor that makes basketball distinctly different from other ball games. On the basis of this concept, the gaming characteristics of basketball were redefined, thus: “Basketball is a game in which individuals, groups, or teams compete for points while blocking other parties on the same court, involving actions such as throwing the ball into a goal fixed in a horizontal position over the floor and above head height as the focal point.”

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The purpose of this study was to examine muscle activities during seven traditional different free dynamic exercises designed to strengthen the abdominal muscles. Eleven adult men with experience in weight training were asked to perform three repetitions of LSU, BSU, TSU, TC, RSU, LR and SLR. Activities of the upper rectus abdominis (URA), lower rectus abdominis (LRA), external abdominal oblique (EAO), and rectus femoris (RF) during the hip flexion and hip extension phases of each exercise were examined by electromyography (EMG) and analyzed using root mean square (RMS) values. The following results were obtained: (1) The mean RMS values for the URA were larger during the RSU and SLR than during the other five exercises. The value for the same muscle was larger during the TC exercise than during the LSU, BSU, TSU, and LR exercises. The mean RMS value for the LRA was largest during the RSU exercise, while that during the SLR exercise was larger than those during the LSU, BSU, TSU, TC, and LR exercises. (2) The mean RMS value for the EAO was largest during the SLR exercise, while that during the RSU exercise was second-largest and that during the TSU exercise was third-largest. The mean RMS values for the RF were larger during the RSU and SLR than during the other five exercises. The smallest value for this muscle was recorded during the TC exercise. (3) In most of the exercises, RMS in the hip flexion phase was larger than in the hip extension phase, and each muscle exhibited a knee flexion phase/knee extension phase ratio of between 0.5 and 0.8. However, the ratio for EAO and RF exceeded this range. (4) The muscle activity for the RF muscle in the RSU and SLR exercises was large, implying excessive stress for the lumbar vertebrae. Nevertheless, these exercises induced active muscle activity, and appeared desirable to perform with sufficient attention to safety.
These results suggest that RSU and SLR exercises are the most effective movements for stimulating the URA, LRA and EAO. Moreover, TC is an effective movement for training the URA, and TSU is an effective movement for training.

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The purposes of this study were to investigate the effect of rebound jump (RJ) ability on running long jump ability in elementary school children, and to clarify RJ ability and takeoff characteristics in athlete children. The subjects were 53 boys and 60 girls who were sixth-graders at elementary school and 5 boys and 4 girls who were experienced athletes (Athlete group). They were filmed in the takeoff phase, and RJ ability (RJ-index=RJ-height/contact time) was measured. The students were dividing into three groups based on RJ ability: Excellent group, Medium group and Poor group. Measured variables during takeoff were compared among these three groups and the Athlete group. The main results were as follows:
1) Among the students, the Excellent group for both boys and girls showed a longer jumping distance, and higher touchdown and takeoff velocities, respectively, than the other groups. Moreover, the Excellent group showed a shorter contact time, greater vertical average force and achieved a higher vertical velocity at takeoff, although there was no significant difference in the decrease in horizontal velocity among the three groups, for either boys or girls.
2) The athlete group, both boys and girls, showed a better RJ-index and RJ-height than the Excellent group, respectively. Moreover, the athlete group showed a longer jumping distance, higher touchdown and takeoff velocities, a shorter contact time, a greater vertical average force and a higher vertical velocity at takeoff than the Excellent group, respectively.
It is concluded that RJ ability in sixth graders of elementary school affects approach velocity, jumping distance, and vertical velocity at takeoff.

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During periodic isometric pressing movement of the right index finger, we demonstrated that it was more difficult to accurately control the decrease in force necessary to achieve a target lower force than it was to accurately control the increase in force necessary to achieve a target upper force. We further examined the effects of increasing or decreasing force on the control of timing in a prescribed motor task. After 11 right-handed male undergraduate students had performed the self-paced task, they undertook two prescribed tasks with one test trial following three practice trials. The two prescribed tasks were a target peak force of 4 or 7 N and a target valley force of 1 or 4 N, with a target peak-to-peak or valley-to-valley interval of 500 ms. The analysis showed that participants exhibited a greater magnitude of constant error at the target valley force than at the target peak force for the prescribed task. The valley force was markedly more variable than the peak force for both the preferred and the prescribed tasks. The force variability for a target valley force of 4 N was also strikingly higher than that for a target peak force of 4 N, indicating that a decrease of force to the target valley resulted in greater force variability. For the prescribed task, on the other hand, the valley-to-valley interval was more variable than the peak-to-peak interval. Thus, while a switch from the upper target to the lower target produced more marked variability of movement timing, it was more difficult to accurately control the decrease of force to the lower target than it was to accurately control the increase of force to the upper target.

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Much attention is now being paid to the concept of “Community”. Not only in the field of urban sociology but also in the sociology of sport, “Community” is a key concept for understanding and resolving structural problems faced by both urban and rural residents.
Discussions on the “public sphere of sport”, however, have run into deadlock when dealing with certain concrete structural problems. Furthermore, sports sociologists working on how sports practice can develop in communities have never been part of cumulative discussions in the field of urban sociology.
The scope of studies on “Sport and Community” should involve a time-axis (historical-cultural) perspective to counterbalance the ideal and spatial frameworks. Apart from discussion on sport in relation to “human rights” and the “public good”, we must pay much attention to sites at which sport can create a new community by contributing to the resolution of structural problems. We will then be able to enter into a discussion on the “public sphere” created by sport practices.
Urban sociology in Japan acknowledges sport as a medium that gives people a chance to meet each others in an urban setting. However, it has never been acknowledged as a public benefit that can contribute to creating an “autonomous community” for urban dwellers. We in the field of sports sociology should focus on places where people have tried to create “autonomous communities” through sports practices.

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The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between muscle morphological characteristics and running performance. Eighteen elite Japanese male distance runners (10000 m, seasonal best time 29:39.74±0:32.54) completed five 4-min submaximal and approximately 10-min maximal progressive treadmill tests to determine running economy (VO₂ at submaximal velocity) and maximal oxygen uptake (VO_2max). Axial images of the trunk, thigh and shank muscles were taken by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). From these images, cross-sectional areas (CSAs) of the psoas major, quadriceps femoris, rectus femoris, vastus muscle, hamstring, sartoris, adductor magnus, adductor longus, gracilis, triceps surae, soleus and gastrocnemius were measured. The CSAs were divided by lean-body-mass^0.67 measured by air-displacement plethysmography. The mean running economy (VO₂ at 310 m/min) was 70.9 ml/kgLBM/min and VO_2max was 82.0±4.3 ml/kgLBM/min (76.1±3.2 ml/kgBM/min). Simple correlation analysis revealed a negative association between hamstring CSA and 10000 m time (r=−0.681, p<0.05). On the other hand, quadriceps femoris CSA was positively associated with 10000 m time (r=0.637, p<0.05). Furthermore, triceps surae CSA was significantly correlated with running economy (r=0.573, p<0.05). Thus, these results suggest that hamstring CSA can explain long distance as well as sprint performance.

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The purpose of this study was to compare the movement characteristics and intermittent exercise pattern in five ball games: basketball, handball, soccer, field hockey, and lacrosse. In the respective events, six to twelve male college players in Division I were chosen as subjects, and their movement distances and velocities were measured using two-dimensional direct linear transformation (DLT).
The main results were as follows:
1. Movement distances during the first half were the longest in soccer, followed in order by field hockey, handball, basketball, and lacrosse. However, the movement distance per playing time in each game was longer in field hockey and lacrosse than in the others.
2. The rates of low-velocity movement were higher in basketball and soccer, and those of high-velocity movements were higher in handball and lacrosse, than in the others.
3. Mean movement durations during low-velocity and high-velocity movements were: basketball 2.78 and 0.64 s; handball 3.54 and 0.67 s; soccer 6.67 and 1.33 s; field hockey 3.70 and 0.96 s; and lacrosse 2.67 and 1.05 s.
These results clarified the characteristics of intermittent exercise patterns in each event. In basketball, there were many changes in movement velocity and direction, but the subjects hardly reached top speed. In handball, there was alternation between brief high-velocity movements and prolonged low-velocity movements. In soccer, movement duration was longer, and the mean velocity during low-velocity movement was faster than in the other events. In field hockey, in both low- and high-velocity movements, velocity and duration were comparatively fast and long, respectively. In lacrosse, players performed prolonged high-velocity movement in the field, and took sufficient recovery in the bench area.

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The aim of this paper is to describe the process of legitimatization of a public space through the process of management and utilization at the Tarumi-ku danchi in Kobe city. The danchi residents who had used the areas continuously for sport were assigned as agents for managing the public space.
Not only did they engage in sports activity, but also devoted themselves to the burdensome daily details of management, thus allowing them to gain legitimacy for the space. They had first occupied the space as baseball players, but had also been undertaking clean-ups, pruning and crime-watch activities in addition to their sports practice. Judgement of whether or not a sports area is a “civic public space” should be based on daily activities essential for administration of the space. “Revitalization of urban life through sport” should not be represented just as an ideal or model, but as the result of efforts to build relations, communications and customs.
Urban sociologists should recognize how sports and leisure can legitimize public spaces and help create autonomous communities. Furthermore, sports sociologists should pay much more attention to daily life issues such as creating playgrounds for children in order to legitimatize “sports spaces”.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify how naginata education was practiced at the Women's Normal College of Nara (WNCN) from 1911, when naginata was first introduced, to 1946, when it was abolished, based on analysis of historical documents preserved at the WNCN and the book used by the instructor.
The main educational purpose of the WNCN, which was founded toward the end of the Meiji era to train women teachers, was to cultivate feminine virtues such as chastity and elegance. Naginata was practiced in order to achieve these virtues through physical and mental training.
Naginata education at the WNCN was studied by analyzing the content of instructions drawn up by naginata schools, with a focus on naginata instructors. This revealed that naginata was taught at the WNCN for 35 years, during which three Kyoshin-ryu instructors taught for 25 years and two Tendo-ryu instructors taught from Butokukai for nine years. From 1911 to 1936, naginata was a compulsory extracurricular subject for first- and second-year students and an elective extracurricular subject for third- and fourth-year students. The instruction based on Kyoshin-ryu was unique in that Arai, with support from the college, adapted the lesson forms for teaching at the school, including the use of easy forms, lessons in the early morning, introduction of kangeiko (winter practice), and presenting certificates to diligent students.
It is also confirmed that Mitamura Chiyo was installed as a naginata instructor at the WNCN when the discipline was incorporated into the regular curriculum in 1937.
The results of this study confirm that naginata education based on Instruction Guidelines for School Gymnastics issued by the Ministry of Education had been practiced at the WNCN before World War II.

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To investigate the effect of resistance training at lower than the recommended frequency (2–3 times a week) on muscular strength, we recruited 103 college students (67 males 61±8 kg, 36 females 51±4 kg, mean±SD) who had never regularly engaged in resistance training. They performed resistance training in a PE class once a week for seven to ten weeks. We measured one repetition maximum (1 RM) for the bench press and arm curl, and the girth of the thigh and upper arm before and after the training. The training included stretching, three sets of ten repetitions on a bench press, half squat lift, arm curl and three types of training chosen by each subject. The weight load was 10 RM, which was progressively increased; when the subject succeeded in lifting a load ten times at the first set, the load was increased in the following week. After the training period 1RM was increased by more than 10% compared with that before training, for either the bench press or the arm curl, in all subjects. The 1 RM for the bench press significantly increased from 46±9 kg to 54±9 kg in males, and from 22±4 kg to 28±5 kg in females, and that for the arm curl also increased significantly. No significant change was found in the girth of the thigh and upper arm. On the other hand, 49 male students who undertook softball in a PE class did not show any significant change in 1 RM after the eight-week control period, compared to that before the period. These results demonstrate that resistance training at a frequency lower than the recommended one increases muscular strength in college students, possibly through adaptations in the nervous system.

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College students have low levels of physical activity (PA); however, PA enhancement is suggested to serve as a gateway to the improvement of other forms of health behavior. Graduate Ready for Activity Daily (GRAD) by Sallis et al. (1999) is a PA enhancement course for college students immediately before graduation. The program contains the behavior change skills needed to adopt and maintain regular PA. Moreover, there is also a need to consider PA intervention for freshmen, from the same viewpoint as GRAD. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not a behavioral science-based physical education program with homework would have positive effects on the psychological, behavioral, and physiological variables related to the PA of college freshmen. The project was named “First-Year Physical Education” (FYPE).
College freshmen from an institute of technology in the Kinki area of Japan participated in this study (N=993; intervention group, N=497; non-intervention group, N=496). The programs that were common to all the classes were as follows (the numbers correspond to the sequence of activities in the program): (1) guidance, (2) health-related physical fitness test, (3)–(6) sports activity, (7) lecture on PA and health, (8)–(12) sports activity, (13) health-related physical fitness test, and (14) summary of the program. The PA enhancement programs were meant only for the intervention group. The programs consisted of education on behavioral change skills (decisional-balance analysis, changing self-talk, relapse prevention, social support, shaping, and so on), and out-of-class practical assignments such as active homework (self-monitoring and goal setting with regard to PA). The duration of the weekly program was 3.5 months. We measured psychological variables (self-efficacy and decisional balance [pros–cons] for exercise), behavioral variables (PA level according to the intensity and frequency of categorized PA), and physiological variables (health-related physical fitness, i.e., cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, muscular endurance, and percentage body fat). These variables were measured both before and after the class term; the intervention and the non-intervention groups were subsequently compared.
Two-way ANOVA and post hoc test revealed a significant intervention effect for psychological variables such as self-efficacy and the pros of exercise. With regard to the behavioral variables, a significant intervention effect was observed for both the PA levels of “exercise and sports” and “daily activity” and the frequency of the categorized PA (daily PA, health-related exercise such as aerobic exercise, stretching, and muscular exercise). In the health-related physical fitness test with regard to physiological variables, a significant intervention effect was observed for muscular endurance. These results suggest that this behavioral science-based physical education class with homework has comprehensive positive effects on the psychological, behavioral, and physiological variables related to the PA of college freshmen.

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Confusion has arisen in both theory and practice due to vague interpretations of the phrase “athletic capability.” Therefore, in order to find a way out of this situation, this study aimed to formulate a framework of thought suitable for grasping the situation, with the premise that acquiring common understanding is indispensable. Paying attention to three viewpoints—criticism of structural authority, examination of analytical viewpoints, and presentation of frameworks—a consideration of conceptual athletic capability using categorical methods was attempted from an analysis/examination of each. As a result, athletic capability was considered to be a collective of three capabilities—the physical, the intellectual and the sensitive—as individual dynamics, and it was clarified that the “sports structure” objectified by each ability and that exists at a deep level is a framework of thought suitable for grasping athletic capability. In addition, it was shown that “athletic capability” results from a sports structure composed of three abilities: physical, intellectual and sensitive. It was concluded that when this sports structure indergoes internal changes or is subject to external stimulation by functioning as an analyzer to clarify various complex sports phenomena, first, it will set the ranges possible for correspondence, second, it will provide a basis for theoretical explanations related to various complex sports phenomena and be capable of regularly predicting various phenomena that may occur, and finally, it will contribute much to generation of athletic capability that was previously not present, as well as improving existing capability.

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This study examined the value of experience of sports movements. First, it examined the social significance of sports movements based on Lenk's argument, as well as that of sports movements themselves on the basis of Yano's article. Second, we considered the practice of sports movements as a physical experience from the viewpoint of “semantic generation.” Finally, we argued the value of sports movements as a physical experience.
The conclusions of the study were as follows:
1) Sports movements are “integrated into socially institutionalized and restricted frameworks” (Lenk) and “interpreted as an expression of one's own accomplishment within a conventionalized framework” (Lenk) so that sports movements have value in terms of socialization.
2) However, based on Bateson's theory of cybernetics-which suggests that the world consists of three parts: the individual system, the social system, and the ecosystem-sports movements also have intrinsic value as a physical experience. Humans are confined to the individual and social systems every day, but can become part of the ecosystem through the physical experience associated with sports movements.
3) Sports movements are rule-bound, physical, and burdened by goal orientation. Being limited by rules disrupts everyday movement (thanatos), while goal orientation brings the resolution into the ecosystem at the instant of achievement (which is experienced as eros). Thus, the values of sports movements can be explained.
This study concluded that the value of experiencing sports movements is to bring individuals into connection with the world (ecosystem). However, experience of sports movements is likely to result in transformation from the hyper-social experience into the social experience, as sports movements are integrated into the socially institutionalized setting.

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This study was done to clarify the qualitative and quantitative factors that influence the performance of national top long jumpers and to investigate the relationship of both factors by the case study method. The results obtained were as follows:
1. Introspective analysis (qualitative research) showed that athletes judge the success or failure of their performances from viewpoints such as the flow of the run-up, motion perception at takeoff, and so on, similarly to the results of research on motion consciousness.
2. When the succeessful and failed attempts are compared using biomechanical analysis (a quantitative approach), differences are evident in the angle of the upper trunk in the run-up phase, the angular velocity of the hip and knee joint extension in the takeoff phase, and the angular velocity of the thigh in the swing leg.
3. The success-failure judgments of attempts from the athletes' motion perception are made in almost the same motion phases as the judgments derived from biomechanical analysis. However, when the successful attempts and the failed ones are compared from both qualitative and quantitative viewpoints, the success-failure differences differ significantly from each viewpoint, and the differences are not always evident in the common motion phases.

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The present study was aimed at exploring the barriers and facilitators of physical activity and exercise among the parents of children with intellectual disabilities. A qualitative study related to barriers and facilitators was conducted on 42 parents of children with intellectual disabilities through an open-ended questionnaire. Content analysis was performed by the KJ method (Kawakita, 1970), i.e., the barriers and facilitators of physical activity and exercise, by eight members. Consequently, 58 responses as barriers and 46 responses as facilitators were reported. Through the KJ method, nine items were categorized as barriers, and 10 as facilitators. In specific terms, the following items were categorized as barriers: “Too busy,” “Bad physical condition,” “To have to care for one's family,” “Not enough psychological status,” “Bad weather,” “Insufficient information,” “Not economically viable,” “Nowhere to exercise and conduct physical activity,” and “Nobody to do it with.” The following items were categorized as facilitators: “To have people to do it with,” “A good environment and weather,” “Time,” “To enhance one's athletic performance,” “To be fun,” “To have a goal,” “To feel good,” “Not to have care-giving obligations,” and “To have already paid for membership fees.” The results of our study show that the parents of children with intellectual disability should utilize their family members not as a barrier but as a facilitator. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data to support parents' physical activity and exercise behavior.

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