Shinzo Koizumi and Sports: On the 125th Anniversary of the Athletic Association

2017/11/01

Image: Shinzo Koizumi at the ceremonial first pitch of the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League (April 10, 1965, collection of the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Modern Japanese Studies)

I am Soji Kanki, as introduced. I am honored to have this opportunity on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Athletic Association.

I graduated from the Juku in 1992, marking my 25th anniversary this year. Rather than saying "I graduated from such-and-such faculty," I feel more like "I graduated from the Tennis Club," as I believe the Athletic Association truly raised me. In my four years, we only beat Waseda once, but the days of my youth spent fighting as a united team with the goal of defeating a strong Waseda will never fade.

Today's theme is "Shinzo Koizumi and Sports." Speaking of Shinzo Koizumi, his commemorative lecture at the 70th anniversary ceremony of the Athletic Association 55 years ago is incredibly famous. For me, who was born after his passing and did not know him directly, it was deeply moving to participate in this 125th anniversary ceremony of the same Athletic Association where that famous speech, "Practice makes the impossible possible," was delivered.

Recently, on April 23, Keio Foundation Day, the "Keio University Athletic Association 125th Anniversary Ceremony" was held at the Hiyoshi Commemorative Hall. The Keio University Athletic Association began in 1892. It unified the previously individual clubs of swordsmanship, jujutsu, baseball, and rowing, and newly established and organized clubs for archery, drill (military gymnastics), and walking, launching with the aim of "the healthy physical development of all Keio students."

Yukichi Fukuzawa believed in "first forming the animal body and then nourishing the human heart," and incorporated Western physical education philosophy into the education of Keio University. In the rulebook of the Juku during the Shiba Shinsenza era, it is written: "After dinner in the evening, students should climb trees, play ball, and perform various games according to the methods of gymnastics, striving to exercise the body." There were exercise tools such as swings, seesaws, and horizontal bars on the premises, and he even went on excursions with the students. Even after moving to Mita, he encouraged students to exercise, equipped the premises with various mechanical tools, and hired experts to teach students exercise. I feel Yukichi Fukuzawa's foresight in incorporating the idea of athletic sports into education, rather than the traditional training of martial arts and discipline that involved enduring pain to acquire skills.

In the March 23, 1893 issue of Jiji Shinpo, the year after the Athletic Association was founded, Yukichi Fukuzawa wrote an article titled "Do Not Forget the Purpose of Physical Education." He stated that education is not just about knowledge but also the physical development through exercise, and while it is good that students have a trend of valuing physical education, he wanted them to never forget its original purpose. Physical training creates a strong body free of disease, and the spirit also becomes active and refreshing. If one is healthy in mind and body, one becomes able to act and overcome all the difficulties of society, but this is merely "a means for success in life." He argued that making physical education the goal of life would be confusing the means with the end.

There is a close relationship between the body and the spirit. One does physical education because making the body healthy through athletic activities is necessary when striving in academic studies. Therefore, doing only physical education while neglecting academics, and then engaging in unhealthy or immoral behavior relying on a robust body, is out of the question. This is likely why Yukichi Fukuzawa did not make physical education a regular subject but kept it as an extracurricular activity.

The phrase "Bunbu Ryodo" (the dual path of academic and martial arts) can be said to be a direct inheritance of Yukichi Fukuzawa's thinking. It is the idea that "before being a member of the Athletic Association, one is a Keio student." Since then, the Keio University Athletic Association has played an important role in the Japanese sports world as a pioneer of numerous sports.

During the 125th anniversary ceremony, a video titled "Messages from 43 Clubs Carrying the Future of Student Sports" was screened. Photos of each club during competition were projected on the screen one after another, and the captains wrote their club's slogan on a board to show the audience. I empathized and resonated with the various slogans of each club, was moved by the desperate expressions of the students, and tears overflowed many times. Among them, it was very impressive that only the Tennis Club wrote Shinzo Koizumi's "Practice makes the impossible possible" on their board.

The nameplate for the "Tennis Club" at the entrance of the clubroom was created using characters from Shinzo Koizumi's own handwriting. Despite seeing that nameplate and the monument inscribed with "Practice makes the impossible possible" next to Court No. 1 every day, I am ashamed to say I knew nothing about what kind of person Shinzo Koizumi was during my student days. The phrase "Practice makes the impossible possible" was so close that it felt distant.

A major turning point for me was being involved in the 100th anniversary events of the Tennis Club in 2001 and editing Shinzo Koizumi's essays for the commemorative book "100 Years of Keio Tennis." This work became a precious opportunity for me to come into contact with Shinzo Koizumi's literature. Then, at the 100th anniversary celebration, we were honored by the presence of the current Emperor and Empress. As a member of the guest reception staff, I was able to greet Their Majesties up close at the venue's reception. I can still never forget this thrill. Why were Their Majesties able to attend a commemorative event for a single athletic club of a private university? I felt firsthand at that time that it was undoubtedly because of the presence of "Shinzo Koizumi." Triggered by this excitement, I began reading Shinzo Koizumi's works and became captivated by his writing.

Later, when I wrote an article for the Yochisha publication "Ko'uma" while being very conscious of Shinzo Koizumi's style, I was contacted by Professor Keita Yamauchi, whom I had never met before, and we decided to edit Shinzo Koizumi's essays together. This led to the 2004 book "Practice Makes the Impossible Possible" (Keio University Press), a collection of essays related to sports. Subsequently, in 2008, I conducted and edited a two-year oral history with his second daughter, Ms. Tae Koizumi, which was published as the book "Talking about My Father, Shinzo Koizumi" (Keio University Press).

In May 2008, at the "120th Anniversary Shinzo Koizumi Exhibition" (Old University Library, Mita Campus), I served as an executive committee member along with Professor Yamauchi and Professor Takeyuki Tokura of the Fukuzawa Memorial Center. We welcomed the visit of the Emperor and Empress, and I explained the exhibition booth related to tennis. After viewing the exhibition, I was granted the honor of chatting with the Emperor and Empress over tea. As I watched them say "Shinzo-sensei" many times, saying "Shinzo-sensei really helped us at that time (at the time of their marriage 50 years ago)" and "Shinzo-sensei supported us," I felt strongly that Shinzo Koizumi was indeed Their Majesties' teacher.

Then, in the summer of 2014, I published my first work, "A Biography of Shinzo Koizumi" (Keio University Press), and presented a copy to the Emperor via the Grand Steward of the Imperial Household Agency. This book received many responses from the generation that knew Shinzo Koizumi directly, and seniors who had been in his presence read it fondly, as if stroking precious memories.

After Shinzo Koizumi passed away, the "Shinzo Koizumi Memorial Keio University Academic Promotion Fund" was established in 1967 with the aim of promoting academic affairs at Keio University and related projects. The "Koizumi Sports Awards" system was established with the purpose of "honoring groups or individuals belonging to the Athletic Association who are of excellent character, healthy, and have enhanced the reputation of Keio University through sports." The Koizumi Sports Award is given for achievements in all-Japan or international matches, and the Koizumi Sports Encouragement Award is given for comparable good results or winning the Kanto student championships. I think the students of the Athletic Association are doing a great job with Bunbu Ryodo, striving to beat Waseda and become number one in Japan. However, while current members aim for the Koizumi Sports Award, they do not know who that "Koizumi" is. I was appalled to hear that some students think it is Junichiro Koizumi's award. But it cannot be helped that today's students do not know Shinzo Koizumi. I myself belong to the generation born after his death and was never taught about him by anyone during my student days. Therefore, I believe it is our responsibility to convey to the next generation that a person named Shinzo Koizumi existed at Keio University and in Japan.

Last month, I conducted a survey of all 844 Yochisha students (excluding absentees) asking if they knew "Shinzo Koizumi." I asked those who knew him to write "what kind of person he was." One first-grader knew (0.7%), and 46 sixth-graders knew (32.0%). Overall, it was 139 students (16.5%). I am not sure if this number is high or low.

At Yochisha, we do not dogmatically teach about Yukichi Fukuzawa in classes, but it is a school that conveys the various tangible and intangible spirits left by Fukuzawa. However, regarding Shinzo Koizumi, he is even less likely to be used as teaching material, and except for the classes I teach, students do not learn about him in school life. I hope to convey his legacy to the Yochisha students, who are young Keio students, whenever I have the opportunity.

Yukichi Fukuzawa was born in 1835, and Shinzo Koizumi was born in 1888, a difference of 53 years. Shinzo's father, Nobukichi Koizumi, came to Edo from Wakayama to study at the Fukuzawa Juku and was deeply trusted by Fukuzawa, who appointed him as the head of the Juku. Nobukichi passed away at the young age of 45 on December 8, 1894. Around that time, Yukichi Fukuzawa visited the Koizumi residence in Sakuragicho, Yokohama, to check on him. It is speculated that the first time Shinzo met Yukichi Fukuzawa was at the Koizumi residence then. Shinzo was about 3 or 6 years old and had almost no memory of it, but he reportedly remembered that Nobukichi called Yukichi Fukuzawa "Sensei," and wrote, "I naturally knew through a child's intuition that this was a person my father respected."

After Nobukichi's death, Yukichi Fukuzawa had the Koizumi family live in a building within his estate on Mita Hilltop Square. At this time, Yukichi Fukuzawa was 60 and Shinzo was 7. At 60, Yukichi Fukuzawa engaged in a surprising amount of exercise. It was his daily routine to wake up before dawn every morning and take a walk, and he even built a rice-husking hut on the estate, where he would husk rice every morning while groaning "un-un." He also practiced Iai (quick-draw swordsmanship). He would quickly draw and swing a large sword with a blade length of about 75 cm and a weight of about 1.2 kg (much heavier than a baseball bat).

Shinzo wrote as follows:

"I have also seen the Master perform his favorite Iai in the garden. In the evening, while I was in the garden, the Master appeared wearing a yukata with a sash, his hem tucked up, wearing sandals, and a sword at his waist. After stopping and adjusting his posture, he drew his sword with a shout, swung it over his head, stepped forward, stepped forward, and made a cutting motion. Then, in an instant, he returned the sword to its scabbard. I watched in amazement as the blade flashed white in the air. The Master repeated the same motion many times." ("My Residence")

In Yukichi Fukuzawa's diary, it says: "Performed a thousand Iai draws. Finished between a little after 8:30 AM and 1:00 PM without rest." During this time, if one steps forward and moves back and forth in a certain place, the distance amounts to about 10 km.

Shinzo inherited Fukuzawa's scholarship and business, adored Fukuzawa from his heart, and protected the Keio University that Fukuzawa built with his life. Yukichi Fukuzawa was Shinzo's lifelong goal. Shinzo read Yukichi Fukuzawa's books, spoke Yukichi Fukuzawa's words, and studied diligently to get even a little closer to the Master. In other words, Shinzo Koizumi lived his life deeply conscious of Yukichi Fukuzawa.

"I believe the fact that I grew up in Mita, and moreover in the neighborhood of the Fukuzawa residence, governed my whole life. Even setting aside difficult matters of scholarship and thought, in trivial points of daily lifestyle, I have been unconsciously transformed by the atmosphere of Yukichi Fukuzawa or the Fukuzawa household." (Ibid.)

He wrote this. This was the original landscape of Shinzo Koizumi's sports, and it might be considered that the image of Yukichi Fukuzawa as an athlete was unconsciously imprinted on him. I believe it is not at all wrong to think that "Shinzo Koizumi loved sports because Yukichi Fukuzawa was a person who loved sports."

In 1902, the year after Yukichi Fukuzawa's passing, 14-year-old Shinzo transferred into the second year of the Keio Futsubu School. His home was at the foot of the hill where they had moved in 1895 from the Fukuzawa residence on Mita Hilltop Square. It is currently the site of the wooden Horikoshi Orthopedic Clinic next to the fire station on the way from the main gate to the Chutobu Junior High School.

At that time, the Keio Futsubu School was on Mita Hilltop Square. If he left home and opened the back gate, he was on the campus. If he ran up the slope, he was immediately at school. Shinzo joined the Tennis Club the year after its founding. "It turned out that I was the one who put away the nets last when the sun went down, and I was the one who rolled up and removed the frost-protection mats on winter mornings." ("My Residence"). After all, since his house was just down the cliff from the tennis courts, he stayed on the courts all day practicing. "My advancement as an athlete was fast. In exchange, the practice was unimaginably intense." ("Tennis and I").

Tennis at that time was soft tennis. The pioneer was the Tokyo Higher Normal School ("Koshi," later Tokyo University of Education, currently University of Tsukuba), which founded its club in 1886. That was 15 years before Keio. The Tokyo Higher Commercial School ("Kosho," later Tokyo University of Commerce, currently Hitotsubashi University) followed. The two schools began dual matches in 1898. Keio followed with its club founding in 1901, and Waseda in 1903. At the time of founding, the strength of "Koshi" and "Kosho" was overwhelming, and even if a school like Keio applied for a dual match, they were rarely taken seriously.

Two years after joining, 16-year-old Shinzo was active as the captain of the entire Juku despite being a Keio Futsubu School student. This means he became stronger than the university students. In 1904, when they beat "Kosho" for the first time, Shinzo played a major role as captain. As he wrote, "1904 should be remembered as the year of the advance of private school sports against government schools" ("Our Era"), in this year, Keio defeated Kosho for the first time, and Waseda also defeated Koshi.

Shinzo's practice was fierce. Shinzo was given the nickname "Tadon" (charcoal ball). This was because at the moment he tried to hit a hard ball, his eyes would round and bulge, resembling a black charcoal ball. In Jiji Shinpo, it was recorded: "Koizumi's backcourt play was flawless, the hot balls flying stronger than bullets" and "a formation so tight not even water could leak through."

However, when Shinzo turned 17 and progressed from the Keio Futsubu School to the university preparatory course, he began to find interest in studying. Furthermore, upon entering the college, he became engrossed in listening to lectures and was completely captivated by the charm of scholarship. Around that time, the Keio Tennis Club became strong as a team, and they would win before it was even time for Shinzo, the captain, to take the court. Against those "Koshi" and "Kosho" teams, they fought five times in the year from 1907 when Shinzo entered the college and did not lose once.

Thinking "Keio wins even if I don't play in the match," he became increasingly enthusiastic about scholarship. Furthermore, since his skills had originally been forged through fierce practice, as he became more enthusiastic about studying than practice, his tennis skills naturally declined. In the year he turned 20, when his turn finally came in matches against "Koshi" and "Kosho," Shinzo lost consecutively.

After this, he resigned from the Tennis Club, taking responsibility for the defeat as captain and citing his own poor performance. Because of his stubborn personality—hating to lose, not being satisfied unless he mastered something to the end, and being unable to do things halfway—he probably couldn't do both tennis and study half-heartedly. There is the later phrase "Hard Fighter, Good Loser," and this was exactly its practice. However, the "spirit" cultivated in tennis became his blood and flesh in scholarship as well.

Shinzo remained at the university after graduation, becoming a teacher and continuing his scholarship. In the year Shinzo graduated and became a teacher, there was a debate in the Tennis Club about whether to switch from soft tennis to hard-court tennis. Since Keio was sufficiently strong in the soft tennis world at the time, it was difficult to discard the skills and status they had acquired and challenge the new hard-court style. Shinzo, having just lost the Kosho match, also opposed it, saying, "Doing hard-court tennis in such a spiritless state will lead to nothing. At least wait until we have pacified the land," and the move to hard-court was postponed. Later, the Keio Tennis Club won big in all dual matches against Koshi, Kosho, etc., and finally decided to adopt hard-court tennis. In 1913, it was the first switch to hard-court in the Japanese tennis world.

It was during this period that Shinzo studied abroad in Britain and Germany. Shinzo joined a tennis club in London and experienced hard-court tennis. The intense strokes of hard-court tennis he saw at Wimbledon were so amazing they seemed beyond human capability. He then realized that his thinking in opposing the switch to hard-court had been wrong. He wrote and sent a report on watching Wimbledon to his friends from his Tennis Club days, and encouraged the Tennis Club by sending a book titled "The Art of Lawn Tennis" by the player Wilding, who had won four consecutive men's singles titles at Wimbledon.

Shinzo felt proud that the students had taken the step to switch to hard-court. Due to this switch, they temporarily had no opponent schools to play dual matches with, but eventually, other universities followed suit and adopted hard-court tennis one after another a few years later.

Shinzo served as the Tennis Club Director for ten years from 1922 until the year before he became President in 1932. Between the ages of 34 and 44, as Director, he shared much time with the club members. Even when they lost the Waseda-Keio rivalry, while he was in a position to soothe the students as Director, the young Director in his 30s empathized and resonated with the members. Therefore, a united team came to be formed.

He modestly said, "The method by which I encouraged the players was simple, being nothing more than the single fact of always being with them," but during the Koizumi Director era, he raised the club from Waseda's golden age to being called the "Tennis Kingdom Keio." Initially, they lost six consecutive times in the Waseda-Keio rivalry, but he was the Director during the turning point when the history of consecutive losses shifted to a history of consecutive wins. He reportedly called these Waseda-Keio matches of perseverance, which laid the foundation for later glory, the "Glorious Six Consecutive Losses."

One summer vacation, Shinzo, who was busy with six hours of translation and writing work a day, would put down his pen even if he was in the middle of a line when the clock on his desk hit four o'clock, and go from his home in Gotenyama to Omori, where the courts were located at the time. He would watch the final smash practice, hear about the day's situation from the players, and sometimes treat them to Chinese food. On the day before the Waseda-Keio rivalry, he made a lot of potato salad and brought it to the members who were at a training camp near the Omori courts.

The Waseda-Keio rivalry in the fall of 1926, which became the last of the "Glorious Six Consecutive Losses," was decided 5-3 in favor of Waseda, and as the sun set, the match of number one Koichiro Ishii remained for the following Monday. In a five-set match, he was two sets down (0-6, 2-6), and the third set was 3-3, so he was at a considerable disadvantage. Shinzo, who had a lecture at Mita the next day, drove his car from Tamachi to the Waseda courts in Totsuka. In the end, this match was won with a great comeback of three consecutive sets after being two sets down. The significance of winning this number one showdown was great, and it became the foundation for the consecutive wins starting the following year. Even though it might have ended with three games taken, I feel the spirit of Director Koizumi who rushed to the court. The students were inspired by this action of the teacher. It was that match that created "Tennis Kingdom Keio." Director Koizumi may have known the magnitude of the meaning that match held.

I would like to mention Japanese tennis here. So far, only six Japanese male players have been ranked in the world top ten (Ichiya Kumagae, Zenzo Shimizu, Takeichi Harada, Jiro Sato, Jiro Yamagishi, and Kei Nishikori). Among these six, besides Zenzo Shimizu of Kosho, Jiro Sato of Waseda, and the currently active Nishikori, the three players Ichiya Kumagae, Takeichi Harada, and Jiro Yamagishi are all alumni of the Juku Athletic Association Tennis Club. Isn't the fact that 50% are Keio-related a feat that Keio University can be proud of?

Kumagae, who joined the Tennis Club the year Shinzo Koizumi graduated, worked in the banking department of Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha after graduating from Keio and moved his base to America as a New York resident. At the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, he won silver medals in both singles and doubles, becoming the first Japanese Olympic medalist. However, for Kumagae, a silver medal was a loss. In his book "Tennis as a Lifelong Friend," he states, "I have never been moved to tears of indignation and bitter resentment as much as on this night (the night of the final)" and "It is no exaggeration to say it was the blunder of a lifetime in my tennis life." When Kei Nishikori won the bronze medal in men's singles at the Rio Olympics last year, the commentator said, "It is the first medal for a Japanese in 96 years," and the player 96 years ago was Ichiya Kumagae.

Tennis Club members were greatly stimulated by having an alumnus like Ichiya Kumagae. In 1927, the members playing in Tennis Club matches included six All-Japan players. It is said that Kumagae played two sets of singles against each of these six players and won all 12 sets. I believe there is no doubt that having such an incredibly strong alumnus raised the awareness of the spirit of practice and the actual ability of the entire Tennis Club. It can be said that Keio University's switch to hard-court produced the world-class Kumagae, created a Japanese team that could compete globally, and built the Tennis Kingdom Keio.

In 1933, at the young age of 45, Shinzo became President. When he was recommended for President, he reportedly hesitated a great deal. However, having known the happiness of sharing joy and sorrow with students and educating them through winning and losing against Waseda during his ten years as Tennis Club Director, he told himself, "It's like a large Tennis Club." As President, Shinzo conveyed a message to the students: "I want you to train both mind and body, say what you believe, always carry out what you have said without failing, and become people who are strong and robust in both heart and body." One can see his determination to put forth his full effort with a new resolve toward the aspirations that Keio University has cherished since Yukichi Fukuzawa.

When the Pacific War began on December 8, 1941, the government and military put pressure on the free education of universities. Keio University was particularly targeted by the government. The founder, Yukichi Fukuzawa, was the person who introduced the culture and civilization of the West, the enemy they were now fighting, and they made false accusations that the school built by such a man was outrageous. Shinzo desperately protected that Keio University.

On October 22, 1942, the year after the war began, his son Nobukichi Koizumi, who had gone to the front as a Navy Lieutenant, was killed in action. He was hit by a shell during a decisive battle with enemy ships on the front lines of the South Pacific as part of the Navy. Over the course of more than a year starting the following spring, Shinzo wrote a memoir for Nobukichi, reflecting on his 25-year life, titled "Navy Paymaster Lieutenant Nobukichi Koizumi."

In the following year, 1943, the Ministry of Education issued a league dissolution order for the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League on the grounds that it was a sport of the enemy country. The member schools of the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League were gradually forced to suspend activities. Furthermore, with the worsening war situation, an imperial edict was issued in October to suspend the deferment of conscription for students in the humanities, and "student mobilization" began. At Keio, many students had to go to the battlefield in the middle of their studies without waiting for graduation. Hearing the students' desire to play baseball one last time and have a Waseda-Keio match, Director Shin Hirai proposed the holding of a Waseda-Keio match to President Shinzo Koizumi. He exerted himself to realize it as a send-off for the students.

When Mr. Choichi Aida, who was the manager of the Waseda University Baseball Club, tried to invite President Koizumi, who was at Totsuka Stadium on the day of the "Send-off Match for Mobilized Students," to a special seat, he was told, "I have more fun being with the students," and Shinzo-sensei sat in the student section. Mr. Aida wrote as follows:

"I felt my eyes instinctively grow hot. Thinking of the consistent and splendid attitude of the Keio side under the Master's brave decision in holding this send-off match, and the Master's consideration for the students, I had never seen Keio students look so happy or felt so envious that they had such a splendid person as the Master as their President."

When President Koizumi went to Hiyoshi once a week to see the state of the preparatory course classes, he would go down to Mamushidani and make a round to see tennis, judo/kendo, sumo, karate, boxing, and archery. The students would stop practicing, line up, and bow. While there are 43 clubs in the Athletic Association now, there were 23 clubs during President Koizumi's time. Shinzo saw the Waseda-Keio matches for most of them. "Among the Japanese university presidents at that time, probably no one appeared on the athletic fields as much as I did" ("Sports in General"). During his time as President, he reportedly wanted to win all the Waseda-Keio matches, and his dream was to have a grand celebration if that happened (laughs).

As for the current activities of the Athletic Association, looking at the 2016 Waseda-Keio Regular Match Win-Loss Table ("Athletic Association Journal" 2017), the men have 13 wins and 33 losses. The women have 1 win and 17 losses. They are being beaten quite a bit by their arch-rival Waseda. In our Tennis Club, the men are on a 39-match losing streak in the Waseda-Keio rivalry since the fall of 1997, having been away from victory for 20 years. In other words, in these 25 years since I became an alumnus, it's 2 wins and 49 losses. But they are really working hard.

Most universities have a Director's recommendation quota without exams. In the Kanto University Tennis League, Keio is desperately trying to stay in the upper part of the first division and aiming to be number one in Japan, but among the first and second division schools, Keio University is about the only one without a Director's recommendation quota. Within that, I think Keio students are doing really well.

"The Tennis Club is not content with merely producing excellent tennis technicians. Through the refinement of technique, we aim to cultivate respectable character and be the source of elegance and integrity in our athletic world" ("Tennis Club Report," during his time as Director in 1929). Shinzo left these words.

In March this year, a fire broke out from the garden of a house neighboring the Mamushidani tennis courts, and the Tennis Club was honored by the Kohoku Fire Station for performing the initial firefighting. All the Tennis Club members gathered 14 fire extinguishers from all over the campus and stopped the fire by performing a bucket brigade over a distance of 70 meters from the clubroom. Even if they haven't become number one in Japan for now, I think the team power that can put out a fire is wonderful. I want to give a big round of applause to the students of the Tennis Club. If Shinzo Koizumi were here, I think he would have been quite pleased.

I would like to introduce a few examples of how Shinzo-sensei viewed sports other than tennis. At age 12, Shinzo was learning archery at the archery range on Mita Hilltop Square. Actually, this was during his Mita Elementary School days before entering the Keio Futsubu School, so he was not yet a Keio student, but as the son of a former President living in Mita under Fukuzawa's protection, he probably used the campus as his playground as a special case. Shinzo hit the golden target in the tournament in his first year and won the first-prize gold medal. That article also appeared in Jiji Shinpo, and he nonchalantly became the subject of an article as a player who won a gold medal despite not being a Keio student. Actually, it was a sport he did before tennis.

Next is baseball. Shinzo was an enthusiastic college baseball fan and watched the first Waseda-Keio rivalry held at Mita Tsunamachi in November 1903. Even after the war, he would carry binoculars and watch matches other than Keio's, calling it reconnaissance of the enemy situation. "To a biased eye, he looked like a commander, but he also seemed like a spy chief," his second daughter Tae Koizumi wrote. When he was in a bad mood after losing a Waseda-Keio match, he would console himself saying "It can't be helped. Even Japan lost," and eat munchingly, and when they won, he was in a good mood and ate well.

In Shinzo's student days, there was no Sailing Team yet, but he wrote, "If there had been a club, I might have been asked to join." In the foreword to the first issue of the revived Sailing Team report, "Following Nature and Controlling Nature," he wrote:

"Nothing makes one feel the appropriateness of the phrase 'following nature and controlling nature' more than sailing a yacht. In any case, the sail cannot go against the wind, but we can go against the wind simply by following the wind. Humans might listen to unreasonableness, but nature never does. Nature is generous only toward those who are obedient to it. It could be said that here lies the severity and kindness of nature. This exquisite principle or philosophy is unconsciously mastered by those who handle a yacht."

I think it is a masterpiece of writing. I believe it is certain that Shinzo-sensei never raced yachts as a competitive sport, but he had this much insight into a sport outside his specialty; I am very attracted to his sharp powers of observation and writing. He also wrote, "The skill of handling a sail is a device that humans can be proud of" ("Sports in General"). Changing the angle of the sail to run in a zigzag and advance from downwind to upwind is called "magiru" in boatmen's terminology, and Shinzo-sensei was interested in this "magiru" yacht sailing and loved the scenery of white sails moving on the sea or lakes.

Other sports he expressed with literary excellence include ice hockey. "Brilliant lights are shining on the ice surface. Occasionally, mist rises from the ice surface, and the players' faces appear and disappear. It was truly beautiful" (Ibid.). Regarding swimming, he wrote: "A match of a competition is decided. The cheers, applause, and the roar of the whole place do not stop for a while. At this time, on the water surface disturbed by the swimmers, the shadows of the lights are scattered into pieces and sparkle. Eventually, as the roar quiets down, the surface of the water also gradually settles, and each light shadow is reflected clearly, long, quietly, and sways" (Ibid.). Regarding soccer, he wrote of the goalkeeper's appearance, "There is an air of facing a national crisis with one's own body, which is truly good" ("Miscellaneous Talk on Sports").

Regarding the Alpine Club, he wrote that a special spirit and style can be felt. He wondered if it was because they spend their days embraced in the bosom of nature. "Although I loved the special elegance of the Alpine Club members, from their perspective, I might not have been a principal they could talk to much" ("Sports in General").

Shinzo-sensei viewed sports with such sharp observation and outstanding insight.

A good example of the Koizumi style of viewing sports is baseball. When an infielder hits a ground ball and is out at first, one sees the catcher running back to home, but the sight of the catcher throwing off his mask and running to back up first base the moment the batter hits the ground ball in that play is a play that no one sees or notices. Also, even if he prepares to support, the first baseman probably misses the ball less than once in ten times. Preparing for this low-probability but possible case, and not neglecting the play of the unsung hero as a team—he believes this is teamwork and the spirit of a sportsman. "In the countless scenes of real life that are not sports, we must make this catcher's preparation and effort" ("On 'Teamwork'"). He states what teamwork is, a precious lesson that sports give us, from his sharp insight. This "On 'Teamwork'" is one of my favorite Koizumi essays.

Shinzo also had this view. In baseball, it is now common to take a double play on an infield grounder with a runner on first, but in the old days, such a play did not exist. It was enough to get one out. When someone boldly tried for a double play, they were able to get it. In this way, plays discovered by chance by people who refuse to give up and are enthusiastic about research have now become common sense. For Shinzo, it was not just watching sports, but seeing the world of scholarship, such as the progress of human technology, in sports. It can be said that he had outstanding insight into sports.

In my class at Yochisha, we now play dodgeball every day after school. I tell them that if someone on our side is hit, try to catch that ball before it bounces. If you can catch the ball that bounced off someone before it hits the ground, you can make the teammate who was out safe. I call this beautiful technique that saves a teammate a "super fine play," and if they can do it, I praise them immensely and give them a reward sticker. People might just be impressed by seeing this accidental play and think "That's lucky." But I think it's because they were prepared to catch it that they were able to catch it. Without the mindset of "I'm going to catch it," the body cannot react. In fact, in my class, this super fine play has appeared 27 times by 16 people in this half-year. I also think of the evolution of sports in the super fine plays of the children in my class.

As a theme of "Shinzo Koizumi and Sports," there is one episode that must not be forgotten. In the spring of 1952, learning that patients at a leprosy sanatorium, who were isolated and felt lonely with little entertainment, wished to see a baseball match of top-tier players, Shinzo-sensei mediated, and the Keio Baseball Club held an intra-squad match at Tama Zenshoen in Higashimurayama. The players were moved by this project, and it reportedly became a good game.

The person who was pitching well at this time was Yukichi Maeda, who later served as the manager of the Keio Baseball Club for a long time and passed away last year. It is said that when a home run was hit against him, seeing the residents sending the best applause they could to the batter with their disabled hands wrapped in bandages, he whispered "Thank you" to the batter.

Shinzo-sensei himself suffered severe burns in the air raid on May 25, 1945, and while he was in a disabled state, Mr. Maeda later wrote, "I can still never forget the emotion of that time," regarding the Master's heart thinking of the pitiful people suffering from illness with little comfort. Shinzo-sensei gave a precious experience not only to the patients but also to the baseball club members. He probably created such an opportunity because he knew the great power that sports possess.

Exactly 55 years ago, in the commemorative lecture "Three Treasures Given by Sports" at the 70th anniversary ceremony of the Keio University Athletic Association in 1962, Shinzo-sensei preached three things: "Practice makes the impossible possible," "The spirit of fair play," and "Lifelong friends."

Shinzo-sensei believed that by "practicing" and training the spirit and body, there are countless things that can make the impossible possible. For example, if you compare someone who has never ridden a bicycle with someone who can, their abilities are tremendously different. Also, a person who does not know how to swim will drown and die if they fall into water. Drowning and dying in water versus floating and living are as different as different species of creatures. Furthermore, he says that a person who sees a small child fall into water before their eyes and must just watch because they cannot swim, and a person who jumps in and saves them, are morally different kinds of human beings. What separates them is "practice."

The confidence acquired by repeating practice, that strong heart, is the elegance of a beautiful human being. We must not think that the mental and physical abilities we currently possess are all the abilities we have. Shinzo believed that "if you practice, you can become a person who keeps time; if you practice, you can become a person who values integrity." Humans are born with a heart that loves, but there is a huge difference between polishing and strengthening it versus neglecting and leaving it alone. The character for "practice" (shū) is written as "white wings." It is a character that represents a fledgling bird that cannot fly flapping its wings to learn how to fly, but like a fledgling bird flapping its wings, I think there are things we might forget if we do not flap the wings of our hearts.

The school called Yochisha is a school where students exercise very often, with scenes of various exercises such as sports days, school tournaments, swimming lessons in summer, and morning running and jump rope in winter. Sometimes children write essays using the phrase "Practice makes the impossible possible." It is certainly true that they won because they practiced, became able to do a back hip circle, or became able to swim 1,000 meters, but the true meaning of "Practice makes the impossible possible" that Shinzo-sensei spoke of is actually not just about exercise. I want to convey to the children that it is about our dignity and elegance.

For example, giving greetings, grooming oneself, not forgetting things, being kind to friends, and being careful about commuting manners. Whether or not one can say "Please take a seat" and give up one's seat when an elderly person or a person with a disability gets on a train or bus is a matter that concerns our dignity. I think that always telling oneself to have that tiny bit of courage is what becomes possible through practice. Only by continuing to think about giving up one's seat on a train or bus does the word "Please" come out instantly. That strong heart is the beautiful elegance that can be made possible through practice.

Shinzo-sensei said, "Through practice, we can also enhance our dignity." Valuing appearance and etiquette was Shinzo's conviction and what he considered the mission of the Juku. Knowing what is right but not doing it is the same as not knowing what is right. I believe that training the heart, morals such as appearance and etiquette, the nobility of the heart, the elegance that exudes, courage, kindness, and patience—those qualities of character are the true meaning of "Practice makes the impossible possible."

The IOC (International Olympic Committee) expresses the values of the Olympics with three keywords: Excellence, Friendship, and Respect, and asks young people around the world not only to understand these intellectually but to act upon them personally. Aren't these "Excellence," "Friendship," and "Respect" exactly the same as Shinzo Koizumi's "Three Treasures Given by Sports"? The Olympic Charter's "Fundamental Principles of Olympism" states, "The Olympic spirit requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." I believe the essence of sports lies in such things, and the culture of the Juku Athletic Association, where the atmosphere and spirit of Fukuzawa and Koizumi's teachings remain, can be said to be a truly blessed environment.

Shinzo-sensei left various writings at the time of the previous Tokyo Olympics (1964). He said we should strive as a nation to show "how kind the Japanese are, how they know courtesy, how they welcome guests pleasantly, how well various facilities in Japan are maintained, and above all, how clean the land of Japan is and how well-cleaned it is." On the other hand, he wrote that in the depths of the hearts behind all that, there is a heart that wishes to win the match, to record even one more win, and to look up at the national flag and hear the performance of "Kimigayo" even one more time ("Message").

However, Shinzo-sensei's idea was not to win at any cost. Practice not only makes the impossible possible but also adds a mysterious elegance to the attitude and movements of a sportsman. For example, in sumo, there is a kind of radiance in the body of a wrestler who has practiced sufficiently, while on the contrary, a certain dullness is felt in a wrestler who has neglected practice. He wrote, "I hope that all Japanese athletes in the upcoming Olympics will be only those who possess the special elegance that comes from training and training" (Ibid.).

This is it, Shinzo's wish. It's not just "get a medal." It's that he wanted them to possess elegance by accumulating rigorous practice. As the Olympics approached, Shinzo felt the atmosphere in the country changing. It was a very natural, fair feeling of not only praying for the success of Japanese athletes but also wishing for the success of foreign athletes. Shinzo rejoiced that the Japanese people as a whole were learning the spirit of fair play through the opportunity of the Olympics.

The Tokyo Olympics ended successfully. The Olympics taught the youth of Japan what the national flag and national anthem are. When the national flag was raised, they naturally straightened their posture and "knew to think that this is our national flag and our national anthem. At the same time, people also came to know the national flags and national anthems of other countries, and knew that just as we love our country, they also love their countries" ("Confidence and Lessons from the Tokyo Olympics"). Shinzo-sensei was satisfied that it was a truly precious opportunity for the Japanese people to think of Japan and experience respecting the feelings of people from other countries.

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics are three years away. If Shinzo-sensei were alive, I would like to ask him what he would expect from these Olympics.

Sports were inseparable from Shinzo's life. It can be said that they had a great influence on his personality and character formation. For example, after the war, when he was involved in the education of the current Emperor during his time as Crown Prince as a regular participant in the education of the East Palace, covering everything from scholarship to manners and elegance, he gave the Crown Prince intense special tennis training for three to four hours once a week. Koichiro Ishii, an alumnus of the Keio Tennis Club, became the Crown Prince's tennis instructor. Shinzo-sensei did not give the Crown Prince special treatment and instructed him to always pick up the balls he missed himself. He also made him act as an umpire for the next match if he lost a match. This was because he believed the heart could be trained by knowing the severity of winning and losing.

After the war, Shinzo wrote in the "Tennis Club Report" that the decline in Japan's tennis strength was due to a lack of study. While valuing rigorous practice had been a strength of the Japanese, as a reaction to the defeat, the idea arose that speaking strictly about practice and discipline was feudalistic, and being self-indulgent or lenient was democratic, and people stopped speaking strictly about the enforcement of practice. He wrote that such "democratic slackness" was the cause of the slump.

During his time as Tennis Club Director, he told the members, "I want you not to be satisfied merely with winning matches, but to cultivate a respectable character through the refinement of technique, and to show through your own actions what a true sportsman is—one who is sturdy and sincere, brave and calm, and who dares not consider self-interest for the sake of integrity." This was the ideal of student sports held by Shinzo-sensei. Shinzo learned about "effort" as a tennis player. And he learned the experience of not being discouraged in adversity. He mastered the fact that "nothing in sports can be done by being lazy." Also, through being the Tennis Club Director, he knew the joy of seeing the growth of youth. He loved sports, and in his everyday way of thinking, he always rejoiced in the harmony of spirit and body, valued fair play, and did not approve of grandstanding. This can be called Koizumi's great theory and philosophy of sports.

Shinzo had the conviction that "a match should not be neglected until the very end; never give up." In the World Series, there was a case where the defensive side had a three-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, with two outs and the bases loaded, and the count was three balls and two strikes, and the batter swung and missed for a strikeout. It should have been game set, but while the catcher missed the ball, all the runners and the batter returned home for a great walk-off comeback. "This is, of course, a rare example. However, it can happen in the world of winning and losing, and it actually did happen" ("Sports and Education"). He seemed to hate the words of giving up, "It's no use anymore," the most.

Shinzo-sensei was an athlete in his student days and remained a deep understander and defender of sports thereafter, but I think he was never a bystander and was always a participant. The "win-loving" Master was a brave fighter who made efforts to grasp victory without giving up until the end. What rouses one's weak self when one's heart is about to break in a disadvantageous situation is the confidence and courage cultivated through practice, and that "courage" that does not lose to difficulty was the elegance mastered through practice.

There, one can feel Shinzo-sensei's spirit and humanity and see his way of life. Having the courage to do good, valuing truth, not permitting falsehood, having feelings of gratitude, and also having the courage to admit one's own faults. I believe these were exactly the treasures of "elegance" that the sport of tennis gave to Shinzo-sensei through rigorous practice.

Thank you very much for your kind attention today.

(This article is based on a lecture given at the Shinzo Koizumi Memorial Lecture held on June 27, 2017.)