was an ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 goaltender

Goaltender

In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player who defends his team's goal net by stopping shots of the puck from entering his team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring...

 who represented Japan at the 1936 Winter Olympics

1936 Winter Olympics

The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany. Germany also hosted the Summer Olympics the same year in Berlin...

, held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a mountain resort town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region, and the district is on the border with Austria...

, Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

Honma was 25 years old at the time he represented Japan, as a member of the Manchurian Medical University ice hockey team. Honma was born in Manchuria

Manchuria

Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...

, which was occupied by Japan in 1936.

During the Olympics, Honma was one of the first goaltenders to have worn a goaltender mask. In 1927, Elizabeth Graham

Elizabeth Graham

Elizabeth Graham may refer to:*Elizabeth Jennings Graham, black woman who insisted on being admitted to a streetcar in 1854*Elizabeth Graham , senior lecturer in Mesoamerican archaeology at University College London...

, playing for the Queen's University

Queen's University

Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...

 women's ice hockey team, used a fencing mask at the insistence of her father. Three years later, Clint Benedict

Clint Benedict

Clinton Stevenson "Praying Bennie" Benedict was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who played for the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Maroons. He played on four Stanley Cup-winning squads. He was the first goaltender in the National Hockey League to wear a face mask...

, playing for the Montreal Maroons

Montreal Maroons

The Montreal Maroons was a professional men's ice hockey team in the National Hockey League . They played in the NHL from 1924 to 1938, winning the Stanley Cup in 1926 and 1935...

 of the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

, used a leather mask to protect his broken nose. He quickly discarded it, as the nosepiece obstructed his vision. In contrast, Jacques Plante

Jacques Plante

Joseph Jacques Omer Plante was a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender. During a career lasting from 1947–1975, he was considered to be one of the most important innovators in hockey...

 invented and started regularly using the first practical goaltender mask in 1959, while the last North American professional goaltender not to regularly wear a mask was Andy Brown

Andy Brown (ice hockey)

Andrew Conrad Brown is a retired Canadian ice hockey goaltender. His father, Adam also played hockey in the National Hockey League as a left winger....

, who played his last game maskless in 1974 (he retired in 1977).

His mask was similar to what a baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 catcher

Catcher

Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player. When a batter takes his turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. This is a catcher's primary duty, but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to...

 wore. It was made of leather, and had a wire cage to protect the face. Honma wore glasses when in nets, and the wire cage had two circular eyeholes designed to fit over the glasses and to be narrower than the puck.

Honma played both of Japan's two games. He lost his first game 3–0 against Great Britain, who would go on to win the gold medal. He lost his second game against Sweden, 2–0. Both of the games were played outdoors, and snowstorms caused interruptions in the game.