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:

Thrust-ball-bearing din711 ex

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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