statistics sports/budo japan?

[mediumsnowshoe]

I am looking for statistics regarding sports and martial arts in Japan to back up some statements in an academic work. I am looking for an overview with regards to the development of the martial arts versus "foreign" sports like baseball, golf, soccer etc. Number of practitioners, popularity, growth/decline, anything. Has the position of kendo and judo changed over the last 20-30 years compared to "imported" activities?

Of course I have my own view and some general knowledge on this, but that is of no use in a scholarly context.

I am 46 and have practised iaido for over 20 years, and kendo for 10, so I am not looking for basic and general knowledge, just some sources with vital numbers and some academic/public credibility.

I have not succeeded in finding material in english, that can be due to my skills and/or my impatience with google, and my local university library has not been to any help so far. Any advice on where to look, good people?

:-)

[Neil Yamamoto]

This is further back in time frame than you asked for, but it's a start.

http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth_1202.htm

EJMAS probably has more on the topic too, but you will have to dig into the site archives a bit.

[mediumsnowshoe]

Thanks, highly appreciated, and an interesting read. :-)

[Joseph Svinth]

Try http://www.sirc.ca/newsletters/july07/sub_feat1d.cfm . If you can get Japanese translated, the Wikipedia works, too.

SIRC's standard is a bit high, though. They expect a person do the activity at least 30 minutes per day, two times per week. Thus, as you'd expect, no martial art or combat sport makes the top ten. Only grandmasters practice that little, yet claim they're still doing the activity.

Bottom line? Martial arts are mandatory in school PE classes. After they become optional, most folks are off to other activities.