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.