Tsunamachi Field

2024/12/27

Leaving the West Gate of Mita Campus and turning right at Chutobu Junior High School, you will find Tsunamachi Field on your right. Currently, it houses a field, a karate dojo, tennis courts, and the Tsunamachi Budokan, and is mainly used by the Chutobu Junior High School and the Athletic Association. In the southwest corner, there are also animal experiment and breeding buildings for the psychology major.

Tsunamachi is said to be the birthplace of Watanabe no Tsuna, a military commander from the mid-Heian period, and on the grounds of the Australian Embassy, there is a well where Tsuna is said to have had his first bath. The area was extensive, stretching from beyond Tsunazaka in front of the West Gate to the Furukawa River, and extending south to the area of the current Girls' Senior High School. It was named Mita Tsunamachi in 1872 (Meiji 5).

Yukichi Fukuzawa had encouraged physical exercise since his days in Shinzenza, and in 1892 (Meiji 25), an Athletic Association was quickly organized at Keio, with annual track and field meets held near Inariyama on Mita Hilltop Square. However, as space became limited due to the construction of school buildings, the Tsunamachi Athletic Field was established in 1903 (Meiji 36) on land purchased from the Hachisuka family in Tsunamachi. Dojos for the Judo Club, Kendo Club, and Kyujutsu (archery) Club were completed one after another, and the annual track and field meet also came to be held here. It is well known that the first Waseda-Keio baseball game was held here in the same year, and a monument has been erected to commemorate it. Subsequently, land was purchased on two more occasions, and the area was steadily developed into a comprehensive sports ground.

In 1930 (Showa 5), a fully tiled 25m x 13m swimming pool was completed. It was divided into three sections with depths of 4m, 2m, and 1m, and featured underwater windows for side viewing. An opening ceremony and an intra-Keio swimming competition were held in June. This pool not only served as a practice facility for the swimming club, which had previously been forced to use off-campus facilities, but was also available to general Keio students outside of the swimming club's practice hours (12:30 to 16:30) for a pool maintenance fee of 50 sen.

After the opening of Hiyoshi Campus, where fields, pools, and various other sports facilities were developed, a division of roles with Tsunamachi Field progressed. Furthermore, in 1962 (Showa 37), the Keio University Athletic Meet, which had been held since 1886 (Meiji 19), was discontinued. It had been held continuously, moving from Mita Hilltop Square, Tsunamachi, and the Ebara Athletic Field to the Hiyoshi Field. Incidentally, the pool, which had long been out of use, was demolished in 2014 (Heisei 26).

When one thinks of Tsunamachi, the Tsunamachi School Building and the Tsunamachi Research Laboratory also come to mind. The Keio Futsubu School Tsunamachi building, whose relocation to 2 Tsunamachi was decided and construction began in 1916 (Taisho 5), was destroyed by fire during the war in 1945 (Showa 20). The Chutobu Junior High School later opened on that site. Additionally, the Tsunamachi Research Laboratory (including the Faculty of Letters' Psychology Research Lab and the Faculty of Law's Legal Appraisal Department), established in 1940 (Showa 15), was set up in the former residence of Tatsutaka Tokugawa, which had been purchased the previous year. In 1943 (Showa 18), the Asia Research Institute (with President Shinzo Koizumi as its Director) was newly established there. However, most of it was destroyed by fire during the war and was subsequently abolished. The Girls' Senior High School was later established on that site.

(Atsuko Ishiguro, Former Head of the Office of Communications and Public Relations)

*Affiliations, job titles, etc., are as of the time of this publication's original issue.