Japanese Sports Words and Vocabulary

This section covers Japanese sports words and vocabulary and those related to sports in Japan.

Japanese Sports Words: Judo

I'm sure you have seen on television some of the traditional sports of Japanese such as 相撲 (sumou - Sumo Wrestling), 柔道 (juudou - Judo) and 空手 (karate - Karate), etc.

While Japanese sport like Sumo can only be seen in Japan, Judo has long been one of the sports in Olympics.

However, the most popular sports in Japan are imported sports like Baseball and Soccer because they have the most spectators.

Both Baseball and Soccer in Japan have their own professional sports leagues, Nippon Professional Baseball League and Japan Professional Football League respectively.

As many sports are imported from other countries, they are mainly named using katakana as you shall see in the following Japanese sports word list.

Let's see the common Japanese sports words in our list.

Kanji Hiragana or
Katakana		 Romaji Meaning
1. スポーツ supo-tsu Sport
2. 運動 うんどう undou Exercise / Sport
3. 体育 たいいく taiiku Physical Education
4. 野球 やきゅう yakyuu Baseball
5. 相撲 すもう sumou Sumo Wrestling
6. 柔道 じゅうどう juudou Judo
7. 剣道 けんどう kendou Kendo / Japanese Fencing
8. 合気道 あいきどう aikidou Aikido
9. 空手 からて karate Karate
10. 水泳 すいえい suiei Swimming
11. 体操 たいそう taisou Gymnastics
12. 乗馬 じょうば jouba Horse Riding / Horseback Riding
13. 射撃 しゃげき shageki Shooting
14. 釣り つり tsuri Fishing
15. 登山 とざん tozan Mountain Climbing
16. 卓球 たっきゅう takkyuu Table Tennis / Ping-pong
17. ピンポン pinpon Ping-pong / Table Tennis
18. サッカー sakka- Soccer
19. テニス tenisu Tennis
20. ゴルフ gorufu Golf
21. バスケットボール basuketto bo-ru Basketball
22. バレーボール bare- bo-ru Volleyball
23. フットボール futto bo-ru Football
24. アメリカンフットボール amerikan futto bo-ru American Football
25. アメフト amefuto American Football
26. ラグビー ragubi- Rugby
27. バドミントン badominton Badminton
28. ホッケー hokke- Hockey
29. アイスホッケー aisu hokke- Ice Hockey
30. ボーリング bo-ringu Bowling
31. ボクシング bokushingu Boxing
32. レスリング resuringu Wrestling
33. サイクリング saikuringu Cycling
34. ランニング ranningu Running
35. ジョギング jogingu Jogging
36. マラソン marason Marathon
37. ダンシング danshingu Dancing
38. スケート suke-to Skating
39. スキー suki- Skiing
40. アーチェリー a-cheri- Archery
41. クリケット kuriketto Cricket
42. エアロビクス earobikusu Aerobics
43. 将棋 しょうぎ shougi Shogi / Japanese Chess
44. 碁 ご go Go (Board Game)
45. ネットボール nettobo-ru Netball
46. ソフトボール sofutobo-ru Softball
47. サーフィン sa-fin Surfing
48. 弓道 きゅうどう kyuudou (Japanese) Archery
49. 水上スキー すいじょうスキー suijousuki- Water Skiing
50. ダイビング daibingu Diving
51. 試合 しあい shiai Game / Match / Event
52. ゲーム ge-mu Game
53. チーム chi-mu Team
54. トーナメント to-namento Tournament
55. 選手 せんしゅ senshu Player
56. 準準決勝 じゅんじゅんけっしょう junjun kesshou Quarter Final
57. 準決勝 じゅんけっしょう jun kesshou Semi Final
58. 決勝戦 けっしょうせん kesshou sen Final
59. 勝ち かち kachi Win
60. 負け まけ make Loss / Losing (a game)
61. 引き分け ひきわけ hikiwake Draw / Tie

These are some common Japanese sports words collected in the word list. I will continue to look for other Japanese sports words and add to the list.


And if you wonder what are the popular summer sports in Japan and how to pronounce them correctly in Japanese, make sure you check out this page on Japan's top 10 summer sports.

By the way, this link above is an affiliate link, which means that I would earn a commission if you do end up purchasing the related learning course. It's at no extra cost to you, and please if you have any questions related to this learning course, please let me know and I would be happy to answer them for you.

 

 

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