US-Based Historical Studies of Sports and the Academe of Japan and China

Abstract

Abstract:This overview, based on the categorization by Mark Dyreson at Pennsylvania State University of researchers into "historians of sports" and "sports historians" reveals that, in the United States, a close relationship between the two groups that originated in the 1970s is now facing a critical moment. In Japan, both groups have maintained a steady relationship since the 1980s, while historians of sports have taken a leading position as reflected in their dominant role in writing the Japan Journal of Sport History (JJSH)'s articles. In China, a gradual shift to sport history seems to be taking place, as its academia, having started from the orthodox historical discipline, is currently giving ground to social and natural sciences. It is high time for scholars of the United States, Japan, and China to meet together in one place to look back on their pasts and carve out new horizons.This is an important step in developing a global history of sports.