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2)Murakami Eye Clinic, Kumamoto, JapanCorresponding author: Keisuke Sawaki Faculty of Health and Sports Science, Juntendo University1-1, Hirakagakuendai, Inzai, Chiba 270-1695, JapanTEL: +81-476-98-1001　FAX: +81-476-98-1011　E-mail: ksawaki@juntendo.ac.jp〔Received　Apr. 28, 2022〕〔Accepted　Jun. 13, 2022〕J-STAGE Advance published date: Aug. 2, 2022Copyright © 2022 The Juntendo Medical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original source is properly credited. doi: 10.14789/jmj.JMJ22-0019-RJuntendo Medical Journal2022. 68(4), 387-392Key words: kinetic vision acuity, dynamic visual acuity, athleticsReviewsIntroductionThe ability to recognize a moving object differs from that to recognize a stationary object. Kinetic vision acuity (KVA) is an index developed in Japan to measure the ability to recognize moving objects that move back and forth against the observer. Since the 1990s, studies on the relationship between KVA and sports have been conducted at Juntendo University Faculty of Health and Sports Science. However, the overall results remain obscure because they were published in various journals mostly in Japanese. Therefore, this review outlines the history of KVA developed in Japan and studies conducted at the Faculty of Health and Sports Science of Juntendo University, i.e. characteristics 1)Faculty of Health and Sports Science, Juntendo University, Chiba, Japanof KVA in athletes, factors associated with KVA, sports and age-dependent decline of KVA, and effects of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and astax-anthin on KVA.The representative capacity to recognize moving objects includes dynamic visual acuity (DVA) and KVA. DVA is the ability to recognize objects moving in all directions, including left, right, up, and down when the object, the observer, or both, are moving, at an equal distance from the observer. In 1949, Ludvigh showed that stationary objects are more clearly visible than moving ones1). More-over, in 1953, he reported that the DVA decreased as the angular velocity of the test object moving in 387Sports and Kinetic Visual AcuityKeisuke SAWAKI1), Yoshimitsu KOHMURA1), Kazuhiro AOKI1), Mitsuru NAKAMURA1), Shigeki MURAKAMI1, 2), Yoshio SUZUKI1)　Kinetic vision acuity (KVA) is an index developed in Japan that refers to the capacity to recognize a moving object that moves back and forth against the observer. This review outlines the history of KVA and studies on KVA conducted at the Faculty of Health and Sports Science of Juntendo University, i.e. characteristics of KVA in athletes, factors associated with KVA, sports and age-dependent decline of KVA, and effects of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and astaxanthin on KVA. KVA was defined in the early 1960s, and the measurement device was invented in 1968. Studies at the Faculty of Health and Sports Science began in the 1990s. In track-and-field athletics and skeleton, a winter downhill event, higher-ranked athletes had higher KVA than lower-ranked athletes. Although KVA cannot be predicted from static visual acuity or reaction time, a significant correlation was found between KVA and the peak latency of visual-evoked potentials. KVA could not be improved by training and did not change between age of 8 and 17 years. In contrast, habitual practice in kendo may inhibit the age-dependent decline in KVA. DHA may also improve KVA in subjects with low KVA; however, astaxanthin did not improve KVA.Brief history of KVA