Particularly in the prewar era, Japan decided that Western sports should have native Japanese names, so this ranking survey from goo Ranking looks at Japanese names for sports that it would be impressive to know.
Most of these names have faded into history with the usually English name imported into the language; about the only one to survive is field-ball, yakkyu, baseball. Table tennis is table-ball, takkyu (which everyone knows), but I presume that comes from Chinese, so it doesn’t count.
Note that the results appear twice; first without the original English so you can try your hand at guessing from the literal translation.
Googling “thrust ball” gives me this, which might not be a sport:
Ranking result
Q: What Japanese name for sports would it impressive to know? (Sample size=941)
Rank Kanji Literal Votes 1 撞球 Thrust-ball 268 2 排球 Expel-ball 104 3 鎧球・米式蹴球 Armor-ball, American style kick-ball 101 4 避球 Evade-ball 71 5 籠球・籃球 Basket-ball 61 6 打球・孔球 Hit-ball, hole-ball 51 7 杖球 Cane-ball 50 8 闘球・ラ式蹴球 Fight-ball, Ra-style kick-ball 49 9 塁球 Base-ball 47 10 送球 Throw-ball 44 11 蹴球・ア式蹴球 Kick-ball, A-style kick-ball 33 12 庭球 Garden-ball 25 13 洋弓 West-bow 14 14 羽球 Feather-ball 8 14 拳闘 Fist-fight 8 16 氷球 Ice-ball 7 Q: What Japanese name for sports would it impressive to know? (Sample size=941)
Rank Kanji Literal Sport Votes 1 撞球 Thrust-ball Billiards 268 2 排球 Expel-ball Volleyball 104 3 鎧球・米式蹴球 Armor-ball, American style kick-ball American Football 101 4 避球 Evade-ball Dodgeball 71 5 籠球・籃球 Basket-ball Basketball 61 6 打球・孔球 Hit-ball, hole-ball Golf 51 7 杖球 Cane-ball Hockey 50 8 闘球・ラ式蹴球 Fight-ball, Ra-style kick-ball Rugby 49 9 塁球 Base-ball Softball 47 10 送球 Throw-ball Handball 44 11 蹴球・ア式蹴球 Kick-ball, A-style kick-ball Football 33 12 庭球 Garden-ball Tennis 25 13 洋弓 West-bow Archery 14 14 羽球 Feather-ball Badminton 8 14 拳闘 Fist-fight Boxing 8 16 氷球 Ice-ball Ice hockey 7
Demographics
Between the 5th and the 19th of February 2021 941 visitors to the goo Ranking site and associated properties completed a public questionnaire. No further demographics were given.
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