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Background The WHO recommends ≥150 min/week of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) for older adults, while the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare suggests ≥6000 steps/day. However, the potential of meeting these recommendations to reduce the incidence of disability remains unclear.Methods This study included 4079 community-dwelling older people from the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology–Study of Geriatric Syndromes. Physical activity was measured using triaxial accelerometers over 1 month, with 12-month data used in sensitivity analyses. Disability incidence was defined as new certification by the Japanese Long-Term Care Insurance system for 58 months. To compare the cumulative incidence of disability between adherent and non-adherent groups, we applied the parametric g-formula accounting for sociodemographic, physical and medical covariates.Results For MVPA adherence, disability incidence was reduced by −2.17% (95% CI −4.50% to 0.16%). Continuous MVPA adherence over 12 months significantly reduced disability incidence by −3.15% (95% CI −6.08% to −0.22%). A significant reduction in severe disability incidence was observed with MVPA adherence (−1.18%, 95% CI −3.59% to −0.17%). Subgroup analyses indicated greater reductions in disability incidence among individuals aged <75 years (−2.56%, 95% CI −4.81% to −0.31%). For daily step adherence, the largest risk reduction was observed in the subgroup of older adults aged ≥75 years (−4.40%, 95% CI −10.12% to 1.33%), although the CI was wide.Conclusions Adherence to recommendation-based physical activity may effectively prevent disability in community-dwelling Japanese older adults.