This study is focused on basketball played before the war by students teams (which was the main form of basketball in Japan at the time), and aims to make clear the factors that led to its decline and temporary discontinuation during the war.

The results of the study can be summarized as follows.

① On the 1st of July, 1938, due to the Sino-Japanese War, cowhide leather was needed to produce military supplies, so its use in sports equipment creation was banned, and after that, materials like rubber and wool/cotton were also restricted, so there was a shortage of equipment like balls, shoes, and sportswear.

② Cultural exchange with America was cut off, and new techniques and strategies stopped entering the country, so Japan’s basketball scene had nothing to use as a reference, so its development stagnated.

③ When the war situation deteriorated, basketball was criticized for the fact that it originated from an enemy of Japan, and for sport’s liberal aspects.

④ As the state of the war worsened, the number of players decreased due to the student mobilization, so it became difficult to practice.

⑤ In 1939, after a notice was issued to state-run, private, and public schools by the Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, tournaments were reduced/prohibited, which led to basketball games being temporarily suspended.

In this way, Japan’s student team basketball was affected by the equipment shortage caused by resource restrictions, the cutting off of cultural exchange with America, criticism of the “enemy’s sport” and liberal aspects, reduced players due to student mobilization, less games due to the scaling down of tournaments, and tournaments being prohibited afterwards, which led to the temporary suspension of basketball games.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the process of establishment of basketball clubs at universities in Japan.

The results of the study can be summarized as follows.

1. The origin of basketball competitions at the university ware basketball teams at the Tokyo YMCA and at a former junior high school.

2. Basketball competitions at universities started around 1920.

3. The Tokyo YMCA played an important role in the guidance and facility aspects even after basketball was started at each university.

4. In the beginning, in regards to basketball teams from each university, an automatic accession to the athletic meet was not allowed. At that time each university was required to obtain a certain competitive result to join the athletic meet, and each university was accepted as a result of the competition and were then able to join the athletic meet.

5. The Tokyo YMCA lost its gymnasium due to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the team was forced to temporarily dissolve. Then, Rikkyo University won over the Tokyo YMCA to reach the top of a national championship. As a consequence, there was an increase in the momentum to establish a Student Association, and an association was established by 3 universities—Rikkyu University, Waseda University and Tokyo Commerce University.