Part 1: Olympians of Keio University / Tennis Club — Ichiya Kumagae and Takeichi Harada

2020/04/24

Image: Ichiya Kumagae (Collection of the Keio University Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Archives)

Exactly 100 years ago, in 1920 (Taisho 9), Ichiya Kumagae, an alumnus of the Keio University Athletic Association Tennis Club, won a silver medal at the Antwerp Olympics. This was an event that basked in the "glory" of being Japan's first-ever Olympic medal.

Kumagae was born in 1890 (Meiji 23) in Omuta Town, Fukuoka Prefecture, and encountered tennis as early as elementary school. After attending Denshukan Middle School and Miyazaki Middle School, he entered the preparatory course of the Keio University college department of political economy in 1910 (Meiji 43) and joined the Tennis Club.

At that time, there were almost no organizations in Japan that played lawn tennis (hard-ball tennis), and the Juku Athletic Association Tennis Club, founded in 1901 (Meiji 34), also played soft tennis. However, in 1913 (Taisho 2) while Kumagae was a student, the club switched to lawn tennis at the strong recommendation of Tsuneyoshi Asabuki and others, who would later become the first president of the Japan Lawn Tennis Association, and Kumagae gradually adapted.

The year after graduating from the college department of political economy in 1916 (Taisho 5), Kumagae took a job at the banking department of Mitsubishi Goshi Kaisha. This was because he was "ordered" by Asabuki and other Keio seniors to join Mitsubishi Bank as a choice that prioritized tennis, and he followed their mediation. A few months later, he was assigned to the New York branch, placing him in an environment where he could compete in the United States. Using his powerful left-handed drive as a weapon, he achieved excellent results in tournaments across America and quickly rose to become a top-class player. In 1919, he was ranked 3rd in the United States.

It was under these circumstances that the 1920 Antwerp Olympics arrived. Japan first participated in the modern Olympics, which began in 1896, at the 1912 Stockholm Games; this tournament was held after a cancellation due to World War I (1916 Berlin). Due to his overwhelming track record, Kumagae was selected for the national team without a qualifying round and entered Europe directly from New York.

Leading American players such as B. Tilden and B. Johnston did not participate as the dates overlapped with tournaments in their own country. Furthermore, Europe had a blank period due to the long-lasting World War I. Therefore, Kumagae was regarded as a top favorite for the singles title alongside Australia's G. Patterson, as reported in the August 14 issue of The New York Times just before the opening: "Patterson and Kumagae Are Favorites in Olympic."

In fact, he won all five matches in straight sets (3-0) to reach the final. However, in the final against South Africa's L. Raymond, although he won the first set, he lost 1-3 and finished with a silver medal. He also lost the doubles final the following day. Kumagae looked back on this defeat as being "filled with tears of indignation and deep regret" and "the greatest blunder of my entire tennis life."

The following year, when Japan lost all matches to the United States in the final of the Davis Cup (an international tennis competition) in its first participation, he reflected that even though it was the same runner-up finish, "it could at least be called a scene worthy of decorating a man's life." Compared to this, his sense of regret regarding the Olympics is palpable. To Kumagae, the two silver medals were not "glory."

Around the time Kumagae was active in America, future Olympian Takeichi Harada entered Keio University. Born in 1899 (Meiji 32) in Nakasu Village, Tsukubo District, Okayama Prefecture (now Kurashiki City), Harada began playing tennis seriously after entering the college preparatory course in 1917 (Taisho 6). At that time, there was a court at the dormitory in Tengenji, and Harada recalled, "Starting life in the dormitory was the biggest reason that led me to start tennis." In 1922 (Taisho 11), Shinzo Koizumi became the director of the Tennis Club, and the club eventually grew to be called the "Tennis Kingdom Keio," with Harada leading its earliest period. After winning the All Japan Championships in 1923 (Taisho 12), he dropped out of Keio University the following year after seven years of enrollment and repeated failures to advance (becoming a Special Keio University alumni in 1931) and moved to the United States. He moved his base to America as a special student at Harvard University and competed in Wimbledon and the Paris Olympics (1924).

Harada advanced to the fifth round (quarterfinals) in singles. However, he lost to Italy's U. Morpurgo and was eliminated in the best eight. He also lost in doubles and failed to win a medal. Rather, Harada's peak came after the Olympics, and in 1926, he was ranked 3rd in the United States.

Afterward, the Tennis Club continued to produce Davis Cup players such as Jiro Yamagishi, Jiro Kumamaru, Goro Fujikura, and Osamu Ishiguro. However, because Olympic tennis was removed from the competition categories after the Paris Games in which Harada participated, they never competed in the Olympics (it was reinstated at the 1988 Seoul Olympics).

The Tennis Club pioneered the uncharted territory of lawn tennis, and the seeds they sowed bore fruit in the form of the birth of two Olympians. It was a success story from the dawn of Japanese tennis that will be remembered forever at Keio University.