Kanehiro Takaki, the founder of The Jikei University School of Medicine suggested that a nutritional factor was important for preventing beri-beri, which was a common disease in the Meiji era in Japan and Southeast Asia. He improved the rations fed to crews of the Imperial Japanese Navy to include wheat and meat. The rations he devised effectively prevented beri-beri. Some 30 years later, vitamin B₁ was discovered, and a deficiency of vitamin B₁ was found to be the cause of beri-beri. Takaki believed that nutrition and exercise were important for keeping our bodies fit. He often gave lectures on how people could keep fit to prevent diseases. Thus, his activities are considered to be the beginning of preventive medicine in Japan. The contributions of Takaki to the physical fitness of the Japanese people have been continued by the graduates of The Jikei University School of Medicine. Some of the graduates became professors of The Jikei University School of Medicine and Tokyo University of Education (now, Tsukuba University). Thus, both universities have the common basis and tradition for research and education in the fields of physical fitness and sports medicine, and have collaborated with each other in these fields. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the history of the development of research regarding physical fitness and sports medicine in Japan. We discuss the contribution of various persons including our graduates, to the health and physical fitness of the Japanese people.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the usage of the lower limb muscles (quadriceps femoris : QF, m. vastus lateralis : VL, m. rectus lemons : RF, m. vastus medialis : VM, m. vastus intermidialis : VI, hamstring : HM, m. gastrocnemius : UN, tihialis anterior : TA) and blood lactic acid concentration during uphill ( : UR +5 %) and downhill running ( : DR - 5 %) . We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as one of the major indices. Seven healthy male volunteers participated in this study. T 2-weighted MR imaging, muscle surface temperature and blood lactic acid concentration were measured before and after UR and DR. In MRI imaging, the T2 value was defined as the area in which a high signal appeared after exercise.
The value of the blood lactic acid concentration of UR was higher than that of DR (p<0.001) . After DR, the muscle surface temperature of RF was lower in comparison with other muscles (p< 0.05) . After UR, the T2 value of RF (p<0.05), HM (p<0.01) and UN (p<0.05) was higher than after DR exercise. During UR, a positive correlation (r=0.818) existed between the T 2 value of GN and blood lactic acid concentration (P<0.05) . During DR, a positive correlation (r=0.739) was also observed between the T 2 value of QF and blood lactic acid concentration (p<0.05) .
From these results, we conclude that (1) the pattern of usage of lower limb muscles differs during UR and DR, (2) the most mobilized muscles in the lower limbs for UR are GN and HM, and (3) the most mobilized muscle in the lower limbs for DR is QF, respectively. These findings show that different exercises affect the blood lactic acid concentration differently.

The purpose of this study was to analyze morphological and functional changes in the left ventricular muscle mass and vessel diameters of the arteries in young competitive athletes of various sports and evaluate the correlation between the heart and arterial vessel under the training environment in this latter half of the growth period. The subjects were 51 male college student athletes (mean age, 19.6±0.4 years) of 6 competitive sports (archery, weight lifting, swimming, short-distance races, middle-distance races, and long-distance races) . The diameters of the right and left common carotid arteries, right and left radial arteries, right and left foot dorsal arteries, and the aorta and the left ventricular muscle mass (LVM) were measured by Doppler echocardiography. To minimize the influences of the physique and body weight associated with growth and sport types, all data obtained by measurement were corrected by body surface area. The sum of the diameters of all the above arteries (total arterial diameter : TAD) was obtained to evaluate its correlation with the left ventricular muscle mass. The diameter of the foot dorsal artery was significantly higher in the long-distance runners than in the sprinters (P<0.05) . The diameter of the radial artery according to the 6 types of sport was the highest for weight lifting, followed in order by archery, longdistance races, middle-distance races, swimming, and short-distance races, showing a significant difference between weight lifting and short-distance races (P<0.05 ) . TAD was high for generalized endurance sports and correlated with the left ventricular muscle mass (r=0.893) . Thus, the arterial diameters significantly differed among competitive sports and were particularly increased for endurance exercise. The diameters of the local arteries used for local exercise were also increased. When TAD as a new parameter and its ratio per body surface area were calculated, there was a high correlation between the heart (left ventricular muscle mass) and the arterial diameter. These results suggest that exercise adaptation can he evaluated in the arterial system in svstemic circulation as well as the nervous and muscular systems.

This study examined peculiarities in both muscle strength and cross-sectional area (CSA) among soccer players in comparison with those of archers as contrasting athletes. Subjects were 15 male soccer players and 9 male archers at N University. Measurement items were height, body weight (BW), isokinetic muscle strength (knee extension, knee flexion, hip extension, hip flexion) and CSA (psoas muscles). Isokinetic muscle strength (30, 120, 240°/sec.) was measured by Cybex6000 (Lumex Co.), and the psoas muscle CSA was determined using magnetic resonance imaging (Hitachi, Japan). Results were as follows : 1. There was no significant difference in isokinetic knee extension and flexion strength/BW at all angular velocities between soccer players and archers. 2. On isokinetic hip flexion strength/BW, the average values of soccer players were significantly higher at all angular velocities than those of archers. However, there was no significant difference in the average values of isokinetic hip extension strength at all angular velocities between the two groups. 3. The average value for the psoas muscle CSA in soccer players was significantly higher than that of archers. In this study, the biggest difference in muscle strength between soccer players and archers was hip flexion strength, and the CSA of the psoas muscle in soccer players, which is the main component of hip flexion, was significantly larger than that of archers. These findings showed the peculiarity of soccer players due to the constant demands of movements involved in ball kicking and running during practice and competition.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between activity pattern and temporal changes in the oxygen dynamics of human femoral medial vastus muscles. Oxygen dynamics were evaluated from the surface of the body by near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) . Arterial occlusion tests were performed in the femoral region at a cuff pressure of 300 mmHg. Exercise type and speed were controlled by CYBEX 6000. The exercise types examined were concentric contraction (CON) and eccentric contraction (ECC) . The 3 angular velocities of 90, 120 and 180 degrees were used as the exercise speeds. Exercise was performed continuously 60 times at maximum effort. The subjects were 7 healthy males with a mean age of 19.6±0.5 years. A transient decrease in oxygen concentration was observed during circulatory occlusion ; and rapid hyperemia occurred immediately after the removal of pressure. Oxygen concentration peaked above the control level and then returned to the initial level. In the CON exercise, the initial decrease in oxygen concentration was the largest at CON 90, and a gradual increase in oxygen concentration was clearly observed during exercise. In the recovery stage, after exercise at CON 90, 120 and 180, oxygen concentration exceeded the control level before exercise, then peaked and returned to the initial level. In the ECC exercise, an initial decrease in oxygen concentration was similar to that in the CON exercise, but a gradual increase in oxygen concentration was not observed during the exercise ; nor did oxygen concentration exceed the control level in the recovery stage after the exercise.
These results indicate that an increase in oxygen level after the removal of arterial occlusion, during and after the CON exercise was much higher than the control level before the exercise, sug-gesting the involvement of reactive hyperemia and exercise hyperemia.