The purpose of this study was to clarify the process of establishment of basketball clubs at universities in Japan.

The results of the study can be summarized as follows.

1. The origin of basketball competitions at the university ware basketball teams at the Tokyo YMCA and at a former junior high school.

2. Basketball competitions at universities started around 1920.

3. The Tokyo YMCA played an important role in the guidance and facility aspects even after basketball was started at each university.

4. In the beginning, in regards to basketball teams from each university, an automatic accession to the athletic meet was not allowed. At that time each university was required to obtain a certain competitive result to join the athletic meet, and each university was accepted as a result of the competition and were then able to join the athletic meet.

5. The Tokyo YMCA lost its gymnasium due to the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the team was forced to temporarily dissolve. Then, Rikkyo University won over the Tokyo YMCA to reach the top of a national championship. As a consequence, there was an increase in the momentum to establish a Student Association, and an association was established by 3 universities—Rikkyu University, Waseda University and Tokyo Commerce University.