History of hand and back-strength dynamometers used in Japan and their existing products

Abstract

In this article, the authors describe the historical changes that have taken place in hand and back-strength dynamometers in Japan, based on important testimonies and documents; they list the existing dynamometers. The back-strength dynamometer resembles the hand dynamometer in structure and function, and hence, they are often developed together. The dynamometers manufactured by Takei Kiki Kogyo have been widely used since the Tokyo Olympics in 1964; however, those manufactured by Yamakoshi Kosakusho, Shimadzu Corporation, and Ando Kenkyusho have been in use in the Taisho era and at the beginning of the Showa era. The dynamometers were imitations or modified products of European and American apparatuses. Through a project undertaken by the Japanese Psychological Association to investigate classical experimental apparatuses, the authors found several imported goods and prewar domestic products, which are stored in few Japanese universities. The authors conjecture that a dynamometer was first used in Japan in the early days of the Meiji era when G.A. Leland visited Japan and supervised a physical fitness test.