[Book Review] "Complete Record of the Waseda-Keio rivalry: The Intense Battle Between Two Traditional Universities" (Edited by Satoshi Tsutsumi)

2020/02/12

This is simply an amazing book.

Currently, 44 clubs belong to the Waseda University Competitive Sports Center, and 43 clubs belong to the Keio University Athletic Association. Each club represents its university in student tournaments and competes in intercollegiate matches. This book covers the records of the Waseda-Keio rivalry across 40 different sports, making it a valuable resource for the history of student sports.

The origin of the Waseda-Keio rivalry is said to be the baseball game held at Tsunamachi Field on November 21, 1903. It was realized after the Waseda University Baseball Club, which had just been founded two years earlier in 1901, sent a letter of challenge on the 5th of the same month to the Keio University Baseball Club, which had a history predating the 1892 founding of the Athletic Association.

Following this, intercollegiate matches between the two schools were held in many sports such as regatta (rowing) and rugby. These were widely reported by newspapers and later by radio and television, and were enthusiastically followed not only by students and alumni of both Waseda and Keio, but by many Japanese people. It can be said that this led to the development of student sports, starting with baseball, and laid the foundation for the prosperity of professional and corporate sports.

In the introduction, the author states, "The Waseda-Keio rivalry began with baseball and has been called one of the world's three great college games, alongside the Oxford-Cambridge boat race and Harvard-Yale American football." This is exactly right. It is no exaggeration to say that the Waseda-Keio rivalry is a "national sport" and even "one of the representative Japanese cultures."

The author attended Waseda University in the early 1960s and served as the third editor-in-chief of "Waseda Sports," a sports newspaper edited and published by students. He reported in detail on the activities of Waseda's athletic departments, focusing on baseball. For that reason, the history of the baseball Waseda-Keio rivalry seen from the Waseda side occupies most of this book, but that is unavoidable.

The members of each club at both schools are "friendly rivals" who strive to improve through competition, thinking "I don't want to lose to this opponent specifically." After matches or after graduating and entering society, they have led society together as lifelong friends.

Depending on the sport or the period, there are times when skills are evenly matched, and times when the levels are far apart, such as one being in the first division and the other in the second or third. However, in the Waseda-Keio rivalry, regardless of such records, both sides fight with all their might, and there is the excitement that "the underdog often wins" (from Chapter 1, "Beyond Time and Space").

In the Tokyo Big6 Baseball League last autumn (2019), Keio won all eight games against the other four schools and won the first game against Waseda to clinch the championship. However, Waseda took revenge in the second and third games, preventing a perfect championship. Meanwhile, in the Waseda-Keio Judo match held about two weeks later, Keio, which had been at a disadvantage with a past record of 10 wins, 57 losses, and 3 draws, defeated Waseda for the first time in six years and sang "Oka no Ue" at the Kodokan, the mecca of judo. Furthermore, the following day in Kendo, after a six-hour intense battle at the newly renovated Waseda Arena, the match came down to the captains, and Keio settled the score.

In any sport, the Waseda-Keio rivalry has a unique kind of excitement, and it can be said to be a battle of the heart where the one with the stronger will to win prevails. Even famous players with achievements in national tournaments or international matches can get nervous and make mistakes; the Waseda-Keio rivalry is a tournament where demons dwell.

Many of the match results from the first year of Reiwa are not included due to the editing deadline, but this book, which summarizes such past history, will likely become a bible for those involved in the athletic departments of both schools.

It is packed with valuable data, not just match results, but also the ages and post-graduation titles of numerous figures. In addition to the author's own meticulous research and analysis, this book was made possible through the cooperation of "Waseda Sports" juniors who wrote articles and helped with data entry and supplementary research, as well as the administrative offices of both universities and alumni organizations of each club that provided materials. Chapter 7, "Waseda-Keio rivalry Records by Athletic Department," is something you never tire of looking at, no matter how many hours you spend flipping through it.

The Waseda-Keio rivalry is what can fill the stands of a stadium that holds thousands or tens of thousands of people for a match between just two schools. On the other hand, depending on the sport, there are also Waseda-Keio rivalries fought quietly in small practice areas on one of the campuses. Each club is different, but each is filled with its own drama, representing an unforgettable page of youth and carving out the history of Japanese sports.

From the Keio side, out of the 43 clubs, the mountaineering club (which has no match format), rubber-ball baseball (which only joined the Athletic Association in 2016), and water skiing do not appear in this book. For sumo, there are Waseda vs. Keio matches in league play, but it is not a regular dual meet, so it is not covered. Records for skiing, which suspended its Waseda-Keio rivalry, and softball, which is not a member of Keio's Athletic Association, are included. As a result, the drama of "40 sports" was constructed.

With this much data, there are bound to be missing records, differences in opinion, or misunderstandings. When I took the liberty of asking the author about a few such points, I received a reply saying, "As the editor and author, I take this seriously." I truly felt that this sincere attitude was a great force behind this major undertaking.

We, the juniors, must build upon this achievement and work on a "sequel" to record history. I feel as though I have been given such a heavy responsibility.

"Complete Record of the Waseda-Keio rivalry: The Intense Battle Between Two Traditional Universities"

Edited and authored by Satoshi Tsutsumi

Keibunsha Shobo

256 pages, 1,800 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.