Vol. 8: Olympians of Keio University / Rowing Club

2021/04/14

Image: Los Angeles Olympics rowing representatives. Namba (front row, far right), Shibata (back row, far left), Murayama (3rd from left), Kono (5th from left), Ban (7th from left), Takahashi (5th from right), Suzuki (2nd from right) [Collection of Fukuzawa Memorial Center for Archives, donated by Mr. Taizo Hiranuma]

Within the Keio University Athletic Association, the Rowing Club has produced the largest number of Olympians. From the pre-war era until the Tokyo Olympics, due to the nature of the sport, Olympic rowing representatives were often not formed by selecting the best individual athletes, but rather the winning crew of the selection race became the Japanese national team. Therefore, Keio crews often competed as the Japanese national team, and many Keio students became Olympians.

The Rowing Club was founded in 1889 as the Keio University Rowing Club and has participated in the Athletic Association since its inception. After its founding, the stage where club members put the most effort was primarily the Water Sports Meet, which began in 1892. This was a university-wide event hosted by the Rowing Club held annually, moving locations from Shibaura to the Sumida River, Tama River, and Toda. The rivalry race between the Keio Futsubu School and the School of Commerce and Industry became a famous highlight, and the rivalry races between the Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Law, School of Medicine, and the High School Division were also very exciting. Even after the Japan Rowing Association was established in 1920 and the club joined the following year, the ultimate goal for members was to win the Water Sports Meet as representatives of their respective faculties rather than the Intercollegiate Championships (Incal). However, the crews selected from each faculty after the Water Sports Meet struggled to achieve good results at the Intercollegiate Championships. Consequently, in 1927, a competitive team was formed to focus on the Intercollegiate Championships without participating in the Water Sports Meet, and the Rowing Club gradually began to distinguish itself.

The Meiji Jingu Regatta in the fall of 1931 served as the qualifier for the coxed four representatives for the Los Angeles Olympics the following year. From Keio, three crews entered this race: the competitive team's "Sanshokuki Crew," the "Jison-kai," and the "Dragon Club." "Jison-kai" was a private crew centered on alumni and current students of the School of Commerce and Industry, while the "Dragon Club" was a rowing circle from the Keio Futsubu School; although they were members of the Rowing Club, both participated independently from the Athletic Association. At this tournament, "Jison-kai" made great strides, defeating the Athletic Association's representative "Sanshokuki Crew" in the semifinals, beating the University of Tokyo in the finals to conquer the Kanto region, and also winning the All-Japan title against the "Hokkai Seikan Crew," securing the position as the top candidate for the Olympics. Subsequently, "Jison-kai" was reorganized and strengthened to compete in the representative deciding match as "Keio," officially becoming the crew for the Los Angeles Olympics. The representative members were Shokichi Namba (coxswain), Rokuro Takahashi (stroke), Umetaro Shibata (No. 3), Norio Ban (No. 2), Daikichi Suzuki (bow), Matayoshi Murayama, and Shiro Kono. Takahashi, Ban, and Murayama were from "Jison-kai," while Namba and Kono were from the "Dragon Club." It could be said that the broad base of rowing at Keio was one of the factors in their victory.

However, the actual Olympics were not easy. In the first heat, they finished 3rd in a group with Poland and the United States, and in the repechage, they finished 4th after competing with New Zealand, Germany, and the United States. Takahashi recalled that in the latter half, "My body simply stopped moving as I intended, and with a sense of fatigue I had never experienced in domestic races, the pitch did not rise as I hoped, and the gap simply grew wider and wider."

The next time the Rowing Club participated in the Olympics was the Helsinki Games, which marked Japan's return to the Summer Olympics after the war. The Rowing Club won the 1951 All-Japan Eights, which also served as the selection for the Helsinki Olympic representatives, marking their first victory since they first won the All-Japan Championship in the eights in 1934. However, due to budget issues, an eight could not be sent, and a coxed four crew was formed instead. Under manager Jiro Kusaka, five members were selected: Kosuke Matsuo (coxswain), Ryuji Goto (stroke), Kazuo Kanda (No. 3), Toshiya Takeuchi (No. 2), and Tamotsu Kogure (bow). In this tournament with 17 participating countries, the Keio crew finished 4th in the heat against Czechoslovakia, Norway, and the Netherlands, and was eliminated in the repechage after finishing 3rd in a group with Italy and New Zealand. Kusaka pointed out foreign advantages such as differences in physique, enthusiastic warming up, a mindset that disregarded bad weather, and the performance of the boats.

The third chance for the Rowing Club, which had again been bounced back by the high wall of the world, was the well-known Melbourne Olympics, marking the first appearance in the eights. Under manager Hiroshi Ifi, the following were selected: Toshiji Eda (coxswain), Junichi Kato (stroke), Masao Hara (No. 7), Yasuhiko Takeda (No. 6), Takashi Imamura (No. 5), Yoshiki Hiki (No. 4), Sadahiro Sunaga (No. 3), Yasukuni Watanabe (No. 2), Yozo Iwasaki (bow), and Toru Sasaki. In the heats, they were in the same group as Czechoslovakia and France and passed in 2nd place. Although they were eliminated in the semifinals against the United States, Australia, and the Soviet Union after finishing 4th, it was Japan's first-ever advancement to the semifinals. Later, at the Tokyo Games where a selected crew was formed, Hajime Ishikawa, Ryuichi Kikuchi, Naoji Sato, and Osamu Mandai were selected, and Shunsuke Horiuchi competed in the single sculls at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.