It is well known that the game of basketball was created by James Naismith at the International YMCA Training School (now Springfield College) in Springfield, MA, USA, and that the first game was played on December 21, 1891. Since then, the game has gained wide popularity in the USA, despite the fact that for a time it was denounced as an activity that ran counter to "YMCA philosophy". This essay attempts to trace the very beginnings of the game and to identify the major factors responsible for its growth into a top global sport. It can be concluded that (1) Naismith's original concept for the game of basketball has indeed lived up to its "unfailing potentiality" for development as an enjoyable sport. (2) The YMCA made a leading contribution to the cultivation of physical education at that time, and to the rapid popularization of the game through their network in the USA. (3) The social and cultural changes in the last two decades of the 19th century in the USA led to an awakening of a new era of physical education and sport. Thus the game of basketball, originally designed to be played as an indoor ball game during the winter season to sublimate students' "play instincts" at the International YMCA Training School at that time, finally grew to become a global sport.

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Until about 1920, swordsmanship was known as kenjyutsu or gekiken (gekken). Now, however, it is well known as kendo. This article attempts to clarify the reasons why kendo took the place of kenjyutsu. As the Japanese Ministry of Education first adopted gekiken in 1911 as a field of gymnastics, the Ministry ran a special school for swordsmen selected from middle schools across the entire country. Such a move was necessary because most swordsmen were not qualified as school instructors. Fortunately, a book written by a participant who recorded the lectures from this special school remains. From the manuscript, it is clear that, despite the fact that swordsmanship which consisted of fencing with bamboo swords was renamed gekiken, the Ministry instructed that the aim of swordsmanship practice was not to advance its techniques, but to build up spiritual endurance. A lecturer at the school, Sasaburo Takano, the first swordsmanship instructor at the Tokyo Higher Normal School, did not comment about the naming of swordsmanship, because he used both the terms bujyutsu (martial arts including kenjyutsu) and budo (martial arts including kendo) to describe the relationship between practice and the aim of martial arts. However, it is very interesting that another lecturer at the school, Michiaki Nagai, who was the only professor of gymnastics, argued that because the characters geki and ken emphasised technique over spirituality, gekiken should not be used at all. Thus what he emphasised was not gekiken but kendo.

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In the year 1886, the Hockey Association of England made history by adopting an ordinary cricket ball painted white as the official hockey ball. As hockey continued to gain global acceptance, its widespread diffusion served to maintain the trend of using a ball made of cricket-ball material. However, by the end of the nineteenth century, English hockey players had already begun to question the suitability of this ball. This debate led to a trial match being organized to test new balls that were intended to replace the cricket ball. Judging from the chronology of events and the result of this crucial trial match, this article aims to elucidate the initial circumstances that surrounded the ultimate decision to retain the cricket ball as the official hockey ball. The insights gleaned from this study can be summarized as follows: (1) The Hockey Association claimed that the cricket ball was not adopted until various other balls had been well tried. However, hockey players had not found the basis for this adoption very persuasive. It was the consensus of hockey players, rooted in their experience of playing the sport, that paved the way for this experiment with new balls. (2) H. F. Battersby and the Hockey Association arranged for the trial match to be played on Wimbledon Common with the aid of F. H. Ayres, a well-known manufacturer from London. Needless to say, the match had a single predetermined purpose: to ascertain whether the new balls were more suitable than the cricket ball. However, the new balls failed to live up to their much-touted advantages, and did not find favor with the players. In other words, from the viewpoint of those who wished to introduce the new balls, the trial match was an utter failure.

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Dieser Artikel versucht, anhand der Dokumente, Zeitungsartikel und Fotos die sportlichen Betatigungen deutscher Kriegsgefangener im Kriegsgefangenenlager Aonogahara in der Prafektur Hyogo wahrend des Ersten Weltkriegs aufzuzeigen. Als Ergebnis der Untersuchung lasst sich zusammenfassend aussagen: 1) Bei den Disziplinen, die die Kriegsgefangenen im Lager trieben, handelte es sich hauptsachlich um Turnen, Fussball, Tennis, Kegeln, Faustball, Schlagball, Billiard und Ausfluge. Im Vergleich mit den anderen Kriegsgefangenenlagern in Japan bestent kaum ein Unterschied in den Disziplinen. 2) Unter den Sportorganisationen im Lager etablierte sich der Turnverein am besten. 3) Das Turnfest und das Leichtathletikturnier zahlten zu den grossten Veranstaltungen im Lager. 4) Als sportlicher Austausch mit der einheimischen Bevolkerung wurden Fussballspiele mit Mannschaften des ortlichen Gymnasiums und der Lehrerbildungsanstalt durchgefuhrt. 5) Einem Ersuchen der Kriegsgefangenen, aktiv Sport treiben zu durfen, wurde von der Lagerverwaltung stattgegeben. Jedoch waren die Bedingungen fur die Ausubung von Sport nicht fur alle Gefangenen einheitlich. 6) Der Waffenstillstand bot den Gefangenen die grosse Gelegenheit, ihre sportlichen Betatigungen weiter zu entwickeln. 7) Die Lagerverwaltung hielt der Sport fur effektiv, nicht nur um die Gesundheit der Gefangenen zu erhalten, sondern auch um ihre Langeweile vorzubeugen.

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