page_title: Rock paper scissors
section_title: Origins
hierarchical_section_title: Rock paper scissors / History / Origins
caption_attribution_description: English: Representation of three people playing kitsune-ken (fox-ken), an early Japanese rock-paper-scissor or sansukumi-ken game. Published in the Genyoku sui bento in 1774. From left to right: Hunter (猟師 ryōshi), village head (庄屋 shōya), and fox (狐 kitsune). The fox defeats the village head, the village head defeats the hunter, and the hunter defeats the fox.
context_page_description: Rock paper scissors is a hand game usually played between two people, in which each player simultaneously forms one of three shapes with an outstretched hand. These shapes are "rock", "paper", and "scissors". "Scissors" is identical to the two-fingered V sign except that it is pointed horizontally instead of being held upright in the air.
  A simultaneous, zero-sum game, it has only two possible outcomes: a draw, or a win for one player and a loss for the other.
  A player who decides to play rock will beat another player who has chosen scissors, but will lose to one who has played paper; a play of paper will lose to a play of scissors. If both players choose the same shape, the game is tied and is usually immediately replayed to break the tie. The type of game originated in China and spread with increased contact with East Asia, while developing different variants in signs over time. Other names for the game in the English-speaking world include roshambo and other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone".
context_section_description: The first known mention of the game was in the book Wuzazu by the Chinese Ming-dynasty writer Xie Zhaozhi (fl. c. 1600), who wrote that the game dated back to the time of the Chinese Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). In the book, the game was called shoushiling. Li Rihua's book Note of Liuyanzhai  also mentions this game, calling it shoushiling (t. 手勢令; s. 手势令), huozhitou (t. 豁指頭; s. 豁指头), or huaquan (划拳).
  Throughout Japanese history there are frequent references to sansukumi-ken, meaning ken (fist) games where "the three who are afraid of one another" (i.e. A beats B, B beats C, and C beats A). This type of game originated in China before being imported to Japan and subsequently also becoming popular among the Japanese.
  The earliest Japanese sansukumi-ken game was known as mushi-ken (虫拳), which was imported directly from China. In mushi-ken the "frog" (represented by the thumb) triumphs over the "slug" (represented by the little finger), which, in turn prevails over the "snake" (represented by the index finger), which triumphs over the "frog". Although this game was imported from China the Japanese version differs in the animals represented. In adopting the game, the original Chinese characters for the poisonous centipede (蜈蜙) were apparently confused with the characters for the slug (蛞蝓). The most popular sansukumi-ken game in Japan was kitsune-ken (狐拳). In the game, a supernatural fox called a kitsune (狐) defeats the village head, the village head (庄屋) defeats the hunter, and the hunter (猟師) defeats the fox. Kitsune-ken, unlike mushi-ken or rock–paper–scissors, is played by making gestures with both hands.
  Today, the best-known sansukumi-ken is called jan-ken (じゃんけん), which is a variation of the Chinese games introduced in the 17th century. Jan-ken uses the rock, paper, and scissors signs and is the game that the modern version of rock paper scissors derives from directly. Hand-games using gestures to represent the three conflicting elements of rock, paper, and scissors have been most common since the modern version of the game was created in the late 19th century, between the Edo and Meiji periods.
caption: Kitsune-ken was a popular Japanese rock paper scissors variant. From left to right: The hunter (ryōshi), village head (shōya) and fox (kitsune).
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