A View from Keio Futsubu School

2023/05/31

Keio Futsubu School (Boys Junior High School) is located on the west side of Hiyoshi Station, in the area commonly known as "Hiyoura." Follow "Futsubu-dori" (Futsubu Street), one of the five streets radiating from the station front, and pass through the shopping district. You will find the school grounds, surrounded by trees, and a stone monument bearing the school's name in a quiet residential area. As you walk up the stone-paved approach and pass through the jet-black main gate, you are greeted by the gymnasium (completed in 1958), the main building (completed in 2001), and the main school building (completed in 2015) on your left. The Pen Mark adorning the walls of the school buildings is unique to Keio Futsubu School, featuring a slimmer and sharper design than the more familiar version.

When you go up to the roof of the main school building, the Hiyoshi townscape unfolds before your eyes. To the north, a residential area spreads out, with high-rise condominiums towering in the Musashi-Kosugi area. To the east are large buildings on the Hiyoshi Campus such as the Independence Wing, Raiosha, and the Kyoseikan Collaboration Complex, with the athletics stadium visible beyond them. Turning your gaze to the south, a forest spreads out like a green curtain beyond the grounds where the main building and cafeteria are located, creating a sense of relief. And looking west, as your gaze moves from the ground below to the distance, there are few tall buildings, the horizon expands, and you can see the Tanzawa Mountains and Mount Fuji in the distance. At dusk on a clear day, the black silhouettes of the mountains, the sky, and the clouds dyed in beautiful gradations of madder red, indigo, and purple merge with the landscape, creating a scene that feels like admiring a painting.

In 1951, Keio Futsubu School relocated from Mita Tsunamachi to its current location in Hiyoshi, via Tengenji, where it remains today. A teacher who has worked at Keio Futsubu School for many years told me, "The townscape and scenery of Hiyoshi have changed significantly over time, but this view of Mount Fuji and the mountains has not." This view to the west may be a universal (and unchanging) memory etched in the minds of all Keio Futsubu School alumni, current students, and we, the faculty and staff.

This year, Keio Futsubu School celebrates its 125th anniversary as one of the Juku's affiliated schools responsible for secondary education. Under the slogan "Onward to the Future: 125 Years of Keio Futsubu School," various commemorative projects are being planned. On June 8, the "125th Anniversary Ceremony of Keio Futsubu School" will be held at the Hiyoshi Commemorative Hall. With the cooperation of alumni and related parties, we are preparing for the ceremony to be an event that reaffirms the history and traditions we have built to this day under our educational principle of "Amaneku, Tsuzuru" (to communicate broadly and universally). It will also express our determination to constantly evolve as a place for learning that looks firmly to the future and for the formation of well-rounded character.

Things that change and things that do not. As I stand on the roof of Keio Futsubu School and look at the 360-degree view, I find myself vaguely thinking about such things. With their youthful sensibilities, our students will surely perceive much more, and as they talk with their friends, this view will become etched as part of their memories of school life.

(Yoshitatsu Izumi, Administrative Director, Keio Futsubu School)