is a Japanese game based on

rock–paper–scissors Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each p ...

. Three players compete. The host cries out "Play ball". The contestants dance to music played on the

shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...

and

taiko are a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments. In Japanese, the term refers to any kind of drum, but outside Japan, it is used specifically to refer to any of the various Japanese drums called and to the form of ensemble drumming m ...

. The host chants "Runner ni nattara essassa." ("Hope the batter gets to run"). The crowd cries out "Out! Safe! Yoyonoyoi", as the three contestants show a fist, and then "Jankenpon" as they reveal the gesture they chose. Once the winner is clear, the crowd cries out "Hebo noke Hebo noke. Okawari koi" ("Losers leave, and newcomers come"). If there is a tie that needs breaking, the players shout "Aiko de bon!" ("Tie, so again!"). By the late 1950s, it became common for the loser to have to remove an item of clothing. ''Yakyūken'' gets its name from a

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

chant which is still a local

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

today. It is quite common to see ''yakyūken'' on Japanese television

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

s especially at New Years.

Origin

The game of strip

rock-paper-scissors Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each p ...

is mentioned in 甲子夜話 Kasshiyawa, a Japanese collection of essays first put out in 1719.高橋浩徳 (2014-06-30). “日本の拳遊戯(中)”. 大阪商業大学アミューズメント産業研究所紀要 (大阪商業大学アミューズメント産業研究所) 16: 202-203. The term 'yakyuuken' originated from a Shikoku

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

game in October 1924, between the local teams of

Ehime is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Ehime Prefecture has a population of 1,342,011 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,676 km2 (2,191 sq mi). Ehime Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the northeast, Tokush ...

and

Kagawa may refer to: * , the smallest prefecture of Japan by area, located on the island of Shikoku * , a district in Kagawa Prefecture * , a town located in Kagawa District * , train station in Chigasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture * Kagawa (surname) Kagawa (w ...

. The Ehime team lost the game 6–0, and its manager, ''

senryū is a Japanese form of short poetry similar to haiku in construction: three lines with 17 (or , often translated as syllables, but see the article on for distinctions). tend to be about human foibles while haiku tend to be about nature, and a ...

'' poet , improvised a

cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

dance from the tune of classical

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

to boost the morale of his humiliated team. This dance later became an iconic feature of the Ehime team. In 1954, singers like and from

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, and from

Nippon Columbia , often pronounced ''Korombia'', operating internationally as , is a Japanese record label founded in 1910 as Nipponophone Co., Ltd. It affiliated itself with the Columbia Graphophone Company of the United Kingdom and adopted the standard UK C ...

, and from Victor Japan each adapted the dance and its lyrics into record

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

s named "Yakyuken" (lit. "baseball fist"), and the term quickly became known nationwide. In 1966, the city of

Matsuyama file:Matsuyama city office Ehime prefecture Japan.jpg, 270px, Matsuyama City Hall file:Ehimekencho-20040417.JPG, 270px, Ehime Prefectural Capital Building is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in Japan ...

, where the cheerleading dance originated, introduced it as a representative

dance for Matsuyama in Shikoku's annual August banquet. In 1970, the banquet dance was transformed into the more popular ''

sansukumi-ken Sansukumi-ken (三すくみ拳) is a category of East Asian hand games played by using three hand gestures. Ken games went into a period of decline in Japan after World War II. One of the few surviving sansukumi-ken games is jan-ken, which was broug ...

parlour game A parlour or parlor game is a group game played indoors using speech (from French Parler). They were often played in a parlour. These games were extremely popular among the upper and middle classes in the United Kingdom and in the United States d ...

that continued to today, which the Matsuyama people regarded as ''

honke The is the main household of Japanese family. It is part of the system of family branching that establishes a multiplied structure to create familial relationships. The head of a household and his successor reside in the ''honke'', while col ...

'' (lit. "senior branch" or "orthodox") ''yakyūken''. In 1969,

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

introduced a skit as part of its hugely popular ''

owarai is a broad word used to describe Japanese comedy as seen on television. The word ''owarai'' is the honorific form of the word ''warai'' (by adding o- prefix), meaning "a laugh" or "a smile". ''Owarai'' is most common on Japanese variety shows ...

comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...

Kinichi Hagimoto is a Japanese comedian. He is active as a stage performer, emcee, and manager of the amateur Ibaraki Golden Golds (''ibaraki goruden gōruzu'') of the Japanese Baseball Association (''nippon yakyuu renmei''). Born in the Taitō ward of Tōky� ...

and

Jirō Sakagami (16 April 1934 – 10 March 2011) was a Japanese comedian, actor, and singer. Career Sakagami was born in Kagoshima Prefecture but spent most of his childhood in Manchukuo. Winning an NHK song contest at age 19, he headed to Tokyo to t ...

, where beautiful female guests were invited to play ''sansukumi-ken'' on stage, and the loser would undress and auction off her clothes to the

studio audience A studio audience is an audience present for the recording of all or part of a television program or radio program. The primary purpose of the studio audience is to provide applause and/or laughter to the program's soundtrack (as opposed to canned ...

for charity. This skit was successful enough in terms of ratings that later in the year it became its own separate show called , named such as Hagimoto was a keen baseball fan. ''Yakyūken'' came to associated with strip games. Because of this, Hagimoto himself personally visited Matsuyama in 2005 and apologized to , the fourth-generation ''

iemoto is a Japanese term used to refer to the founder or current Grand Master of a certain school of traditional Japanese art. It is used synonymously with the term when it refers to the family or house that the iemoto is head of and represents. Th ...

'' of ''honke yakyūken'', for unintentionally distorting ''yakyūken''. ''Yakyūken'' ''

eroge An ''eroge'' ( or , ''erogē''; ; a portmanteau of ''erotic game'' , ''erochikku gēmu'') is a Japanese genre of erotic video game. In 1982, Japan's Koei, founded by husband-and-wife team Yoichi and Keiko Erikawa (and later known for strategy ...

'' are also popular in Japan and many

East Asian East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea a ...

countries, with the first ''yakyūken'' video game being created by Hudson Soft for the

Sharp MZ-80K The Sharp MZ is a series of personal computers sold in Japan and Europe (particularly Germany and Great Britain) by Sharp beginning in 1978. History Although commonly believed to stand for "Microcomputer Z80", the term MZ actually has it ...

in 1981. ''Yakyūken'' as a stripping game was further propagated by the prolific Japanese adult video industry, which often used the ''yakyūken'' chant in their videos.

References

{{Reflist Japanese games Nude recreation