The game of strip rock-paper-scissors is mentioned in 甲子夜話 Kasshiyawa, a Japanese collection of essays first put out in 1719.
The Ehime team lost the game 6–0, and its manager, senryū poet Goken Maeda (前田伍健), improvised a cheerleading dance from the tune of classical kabuki Botan ni Chōougi no irodori (牡丹蝶扇彩) to boost the morale of his humiliated team.
In 1954, singers like Ichiro Wakahara (若原一郎) and Terukiku (照菊) from King, Yukie Satoshi (久保幸江) and Kubo Takakura (高倉敏) from Nippon Columbia, and Harumi Aoki (青木はるみ) from Victor Japan each adapted the dance and its lyrics into record singles named "Yakyuken" (lit.
In 1970, the banquet dance was transformed into the more popular sansukumi-ken parlour game that continued to today, which the Matsuyama people regarded as honke (lit.
In 1969, Nippon TV introduced a skit as part of its hugely popular owarai variety show Conte #55's Counterprogram Strikes!
by comedians Kinichi Hagimoto and Jirō Sakagami, 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 for charity.
This skit was successful enough in terms of ratings that later in the year it became its own separate show called Conte #55's Yakyuken!!