Editing Rock paper scissors (section)

=== Spread beyond East Asia ===
By the early 20th century, rock paper scissors had spread beyond East Asia, especially through increased Japanese contact with the west.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ogawa|first=Dennis M.|title=Jan Ken Po: The World of Hawaii's Japanese Americans|year=1978|publisher=University of Hawaii Press|location=Hawaii}}</ref> Its English-language name is therefore taken from a translation of the names of the three Japanese hand-gestures for rock, paper and scissors;<ref name="長田須磨・須山名保子共編 1977.4"/> elsewhere in East Asia the open-palm gesture represents "cloth" rather than "paper".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://my-seoul-searching.blogspot.com/2009/11/kai-bai-bo.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728170214/http://www.myseoulsearching.com/2009/11/kai-bai-bo.html|url-status=dead|title=Mims on the Move|archivedate=July 28, 2020|website=Mims on the Move}}</ref> The shape of the scissors is also adopted from the Japanese style.<ref name="長田須磨・須山名保子共編 1977.4"/>

A 1921 article about [[cricket]] in the ''[[Sydney Morning Herald]]'' described "stone, scissors, and paper" as a "Teutonic method of drawing lots", which the writer "came across when travelling on the Continent once".<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Sydney Morning Herald |date=1921-01-07 |page=8 |title=Test Match |first=L. C. S. |last=Poidevin}}</ref> Another article, from the same year, the ''[[Washington Herald]]'' described it as a method of "Chinese gambling".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Chinese Gambling |journal=Washington Herald |date=1921-08-28 |page=28}}</ref>
In Britain in 1924 it was described in a letter to ''The Times'' as a hand game, possibly of Mediterranean origin, called "zhot".<ref>After the Rome correspondent of a British paper described the traditional Italian hand-game of ''[[morra (game)|morra]]'', which has some similarities to rock paper scissors, a brief correspondence began on the subject. One contributor described a game he had seen played in Mediterranean ports, called 'zot' or 'zhot', which was clearly identical with the modern Rock paper scissors": 'In this game the closed fist represents a stone, the open hand with fingers outstretched paper, and the closed fist with two fingers outstretched scissors...The players stand facing one another, and commence playing simultaneously by raising and lowering the right arm three times rapidly, coming to rest with the fist in any of the three above-mentioned positions. If you keep your fist closed and your opponent flings open his hand then you lose, as paper wraps up stones, and so on.' {{cite news|last=Garwood|first=G.L.P., Paymaster Lieutenant, R.N. |title=Letter to the editor|work=[[The Times]]|date=1 March 1924|page=15}}</ref>
A reader then wrote in to say that the game "zhot" referred to was evidently Jan-ken-pon, which she had often seen played throughout Japan.<ref>{{cite news|author=Miss F.C.Pringle|title=Letter to the editor|work=[[The Times]]|date=6 March 1924|page=8}}</ref> Although at this date the game appears to have been new enough to British readers to need explaining, the appearance by 1927 of [[Gerard Fairlie]]{{'}}s popular [[Thriller (genre)|thriller]] [[novel]] with the title ''Scissors Cut Paper'',<ref>[[Gerard Fairlie]], ''Scissors Cuts Paper'', Hodder and Stoughton, (1927)</ref> followed by Fairlie's ''Stone Blunts Scissors'' (1929), suggests it quickly became popular.

The game is referred to in two of Hildegard G. Frey's novels in the [[Camp Fire Girls (novel series)|''Campfire Girls'' series]]: ''The Campfire Girls Go Motoring'' (1916) <ref>[[Camp Fire Girls (novel series)|Hildegard G. Frey]], ''The Campfire Girls Go Motoring'', A. L. Burt Company, (1916)</ref> and ''The Campfire Girls Larks and Pranks'' (1917),<ref>[[Camp Fire Girls (novel series)|Hildegard G. Frey]], ''The Campfire Girls Larks and Pranks'', A. L. Burt Company, (1917)</ref> which suggests that it was known in America at least that early. The first passage where it appears says "In order that no feelings might be involved in any way over which car we other girls traveled in, Nyoda, Solomon-like, proposed that she and Gladys play 'John Kempo' for us. (That isn't spelled right, but no matter.)"  There is no explanation in any of the places where it is referenced of what the game actually is. This suggests that the author at least believed that the game was well known enough in America that her readers would understand the reference.

In 1927 ''La Vie au patronage : organe catholique des œuvres de jeunesse'', a children's magazine in France, described it in detail,<ref>{{cite news|title=Jeux actifs et mi-actifs pouvant être joués en classe|work=La Vie au patronage|date=January 1927|page=73}}</ref> referring to it as a "jeu japonais" ("Japanese game"). Its French name, "Chi-fou-mi", is based on the [[Old Japanese]] words for "one, two, three" ("hi, fu, mi").

A 1932 ''New York Times'' article on the Tokyo rush hour describes the rules of the game for the benefit of American readers, suggesting it was not at that time widely known in the U.S.<ref>'New York Times', May 22, 1932 - The ''New York Times Magazine'', article by Marion May Dilts: "COMMUTING WITH TOKYO'S SUBURBANITES; Their Morning Ritual Is Characteristically Japanese, but In Their Mode of Travel There Is Western Technique"</ref> Likewise, the [[trick-taking card game]] “Jan-Ken-Po”, first published in 1934, describes the rules of the hand-game without mentioning any American game along the lines of “rock paper scissors”.  The 1933 edition of the ''[[Compton's Encyclopedia|Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia]]'' described it as a common method of settling disputes between children in its article on Japan; the name was given as "John Kem Po" and the article pointedly asserted, "This is such a good way of deciding an argument that American boys and girls might like to practice it too."<ref>''[[Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia]]'', 1933, Volume 7, p. 194. [[F. E. Compton]] & Company, Chicago</ref>