When you first want to take up pickleball, the reliable sources of information in Japan have so far centered on YouTube, blogs, and word of mouth at trial sessions. Now a new option is joining that mix: a book. Around July 13, 2026, Kojinsha will release the introductory title "Hajimete Miyou! Pickleball" (Let's Try Pickleball). It's an A5-size, 152-page volume priced at 1,800 yen (before tax). Covering everything from illustrated rules to how to hit a dink and eight practice drills in a single book, it finally gives beginners who have taught themselves by following videos a "textbook" they can keep at hand.
Out around July 13, written by former tennis coach Futa Ueno
The publisher is Kojinsha, a Kyoto-based house. The author is Futa Ueno, born in 1977 in Wakayama Prefecture. After serving as a founding member of a sports management company, he worked as a tennis coach, and he now focuses on spreading and coaching pickleball. The ISBN is 978-4-7709-0081-4, the publication date is July 10, and it is expected to reach bookstores and online retailers around July 13.
The book is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 covers the sport's origins, Chapter 2 the rules, Chapter 3 how to get started, Chapter 4 "10 points for beginners to improve," Chapter 5 practice methods, and Chapter 6 moves on to the health side. From the serve, return, groundstrokes, and volley to the dink that is unique to pickleball, it explains the "knack" and technique for each shot with illustrations. The dink, in which players float the ball just over the net to break down their opponent, is a technique that tends to trip up experienced tennis players who tense up and pop it too high, and it's exactly the kind of area where the strength of print, letting you check the trajectory in a still image, shines.
Why a print introductory book now?
Pickleball has really only started to gain attention in Japan over the past year or two. Because a book takes anywhere from six months to a year from planning to publication, publishing hadn't kept pace with the sport's rapid growth. There had been almost no serious print introductory book you could read in Japanese, so beginners had no choice but to piece together their learning from English rulebooks and individual videos. This title fills that gap as one of the first serious introductory books of its kind in Japan.
Video has the strength of being able to show "movement," but it isn't well suited to covering the necessary items systematically and in order. Which shot to learn first, and which drills to lock it in with — laying out that learning path as a single line is the role of a book. Someone who has tried a rally once at a trial session reviews the rules and etiquette at home the next day. A print manual fits neatly into that "before and after the video" use.
The techniques and drills it covers
Organizing the elements the book covers brings the full picture of the learning into view.
| Domain | How the book treats it |
|---|---|
| Rules | Illustrated diagrams of the two-bounce rule, the non-volley zone, and more |
| Getting Started | How to find trial sessions, points for choosing gear, and on-court etiquette |
| Shot technique | The knack for seven types of shots including serve, return, groundstroke, volley, and dink |
| Practice methods | Eight drills including serve target drills, dink games, and skinny singles |
| Health side | The sport's characteristics that make it enjoyable regardless of age or fitness, and how easy it is to keep up |
The way "getting started" even includes how to find trial sessions and how to choose gear is especially practical. Paddles vary widely in both price and feel, and many beginners struggle to pick their first one. Combined with a place to demo paddles, this creates a flow where you learn the criteria from the book, then compare grips in person at the store.A specialty shop in Shibuya where you can demo 300 kinds of paddlesThe growing number of places like this also encourages the move to "study up with a book before choosing."
How players and instructors are receiving it
From the side of those teaching beginners, there's a ready welcome for having a common language. For an instructor who used to explain the rules out loud at every trial session, a book they can hand over saying "read Chapter 2 of this before you come" lightens the burden of preparation.
For those switching over from tennis or table tennis, being able to read it in print is no small thing. Precisely because it's a similar-yet-different sport, there has been demand for a medium where you can calmly work out how to adjust the feel of an existing sport. At the same time, there's a realistic view that actual ball speed and footwork are hard to convey in still images, so pairing it with video is a given. Many see books and video not as competitors but as complements that play different roles.
As the base of the sport widens, YouTube-originated learning content is also lively.A YouTube project pairing a comedian with a playerThe more entry points grow on the video side, the more demand there is to then "learn it all in a systematic way," and the more room there is for a print manual.
How players in Japan can use it
The book's practical value lies with both self-learners and beginner communities. Someone starting on their own can read through the rules and etiquette before heading to a trial session and jump into a rally from the first time without inconveniencing those around them. Someone launching a circle or a workplace club can use it as a "shared text" to hand out to participants, cutting down on the effort of explaining while getting everyone on the same page.
If you're unsure of the order to learn things, first nail down the rules in Chapter 2 and how to get started in Chapter 3, then, once you're on the court, come back to the 10 points in Chapter 4 and the drills in Chapter 5 — this back-and-forth boosts the efficiency of self-study. Subtle techniques that decide wins and losses, like the dink and the third shot, tend to stick better if you understand the theory from a book first and then try it out with your body, rather than mimicking a video cold.
What it means to have an introductory book, and its ripple into the market
As the playing population grows, it's a natural flow for the learning infrastructure to diversify from a video-heavy layout into books, trial sessions, and specialty shops. Once a single print manual is out, there's room for a second and third book, and instructor-oriented texts, to follow on its foundation. As Japan's grassroots infrastructure comes together,The Japan federation's JSPO approvalProgress on the institutional side like this, advancing at the same time as a richer learning side in the form of books, thickens the foundation that lets beginners enter the sport with confidence.
The very fact that a pickleball book sits on the general shelves of a bookstore is itself a step in shifting the sport's image from a "passing boom" to a "sport you can keep learning." If a path forms that leads readers to trial sessions and stores, publishing works as a gateway to wider adoption.
Practical Information and Related Links
"Hajimete Miyou! Pickleball" is published by Kojinsha, A5 size, 152 pages, 1,800 yen (before tax). The ISBN is 978-4-7709-0081-4, and it is expected to be available at bookstores and online retailers nationwide from around July 13, 2026. It suits not only those about to start, but also those who have tried it once at a trial session and reached the point of wanting to know more.
Summary
A single book you can read systematically is joining Japan's video-dependent learning environment. If you're going to start, the realistic route is now to first nail down the rules and how to get started with a book, then head to a trial session. Self-learners can keep a copy at hand after release, read through Chapters 2 and 3, and then look for the nearest trial session. Those starting with friends may want to consider handing it out as a shared text. If you're unsure about choosing a paddle, learning the criteria from the book and then comparing grips at a specialty shop where you can demo is the way least likely to go wrong.
