在臺灣，作為現代社會重要內涵之一的體育運動，是從日治時代以後，透過教育制度以及學校與社會中舉辦各種運動競賽才開始有系統性地實施。在殖民統治之下，日本政府以同化臺灣人為主要政策，因此對臺灣人的意識形態和身體觀念做重大的改造，藉以塑造出順服日本的新臺灣人，體育運動便是其改造的手段之一。然而，若將運動作為一種生活形態，則誠如社會學者所言：「休閒運動不只是個人興趣的好惡問題，同時也是社會標準的界線及其演變的歷史過程。」在經過五十年的殖民統治之後，究竟哪些運動項目在臺灣地區最為盛行？居住在臺灣地區的內地／臺灣籍人士從事運動的情況又是如何呢？由於受到經濟、社會、教育等條件的影響，當時有能力以運動作為休閒活動者，大多屬於有錢、有閒又有地位的領導階層人士。是故，本文擬以《臺灣人士鑑》作為分析樣本，先統計其中有關以運動為興趣者，不分內地／臺灣籍，分析各種運動項目的人數，再從年齡、教育程度、臺灣籍接受島內／島外教育者，以及居住地區、醫師行業、傳統日式與現代西式運動等項目進行統計分析及比較，進而歸納整理出日治時期社會領導階層的運動興趣排行榜。最後，再經由報章雜誌、日記及回憶錄所記載，探討當時人從事休閒運動的情況。

In Taiwan, athletic sport became one the important insights of modern society after the Japanese Occupation Period and was systemically put into practice through the educational systems and athletic competitions held in schools and the society at that time. Under colonial rule, the major policy of Japanese government was to assimilate Taiwanese; therefore, Japan reformed the ideology and physical concept of the Taiwanese significantly to create the new Taiwanese who were obedient to Japan. Athletic sport was one of their measures to reform Taiwanese. However, if athletic sport is viewed as a kind of life style, it can be like what the scholar of sociology said, "Recreational sport is not only an issue of personal interest but also the boundary of social standards and its historical process of transformation." After fifty years of colonial rule, what sports activities on earth are the most popular ones in Taiwan? And how is the status of sports engagement of Japanese and Taiwanese? Due to the influences of economy, society, and education, at that time, most of the people capable of engaging in recreational sport were the leading class who were rich and had enough leisure time. Therefore, this study used "Record of Taiwan" as analytical samples and calculated the number of people (whether they were Japanese or Taiwanese) who were interested in sport. The study analyzed the number of people of each kind of sports activities and used five items, including age, educational background, Taiwanese who received domestic education and foreign education, regions of residence, and traditional Japanese and Modern Western sport, to conduct statistical analyses and comparisons to conclude the ranking list of sports interest of social leading class during the Japanese Occupation Period. Lastly, the study used the records of newspapers, magazines, diaries, and memoirs to investigate the status of sports engagement of people at that time in order to obtain a deeper understanding of recreational sport of social leading class during the Japanese Occupation Period.