[Time Passes] Memories and History of the Waseda-Keio Rugby Games: Reflecting on the Birth of "Soulful Rugby" After the 100th Anniversary Match

2024/02/19

Photo: The 100th Waseda-Keio Rugby Games (November 23, 2023, National Stadium)

Following the 100th anniversary match of the Waseda-Keio rivalry on November 23 last year, the Rugby Football Club celebrates its 125th anniversary this year. I would like to turn back the clock to the Showa era when I was an active player, and look back at the eve and behind-the-scenes of the Waseda-Keio rivalry, focusing on the head coach at the time.

"Think of it as Waseda and eat it all up!"

The famous head coach Takashi Shibata (Class of 1956, former All-Japan player), known as "Gonroku," stood tall like a Deva statue, glaring at the cold dinner and shouting encouragement. It was an autumn evening in 1977, during my junior year, when the forwards, dragging their heavy bodies after intense practice, finally made it up to the training camp dining hall at a very late hour.

Even off the field, the head coach would question the members. "Why are you playing rugby at Keio?" The coach's Zen-like dialogue would continue until the player gave the correct answer: "To defeat Waseda."

At the time, there were about 60 members, and almost none had experience at Hanazono (the national high school tournament). The Juku, which included members who started rugby in college and was inferior in experience, physique, physical strength, and technique, was built up to a level that could compete with Waseda and Meiji through intense practice. The "conviction" that they would surpass them with mental strength was maintained by the coaching staff and alumni as the pride of the root school of Japanese rugby.

The forwards were thoroughly forged by a "demon coach" who was the incarnation of conviction. In my freshman year, I was a ball boy on the back main stand side during the Waseda-Keio rivalry; from my sophomore year, I became a reserve player and received my baptism of coaching as a forward member alongside the senior regular players. It was an extraordinary sight: steam rising from a moving scrum formed endlessly on the dark dirt ground in the autumn chill, with the hot-blooded coach watching over us in tears. Even after the hellish summer training camp at Lake Yamanaka, intense practice without any tapering continued until late autumn.

It was much later that I realized and was struck by the fact that this was the Rugby Football Club's version of "Cultivate the human heart after forming the animal body." The coach's plan to "eat Waseda" was steadily being built up. For some reason, the five characters of "Defeat Waseda" written in bold ink and displayed at the training camp were easier to absorb than many words, and we fell right into the Showa-era leader's transparent visualization tactics.

On November 23, 1977, at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium, the Kanto University Rugby League match and the 54th Waseda-Keio Regular Rugby Match took place. The small but well-trained steel forwards in black and yellow jerseys moved dynamically with quick and low support, pushing back the mass of red and black jerseys in the scrums. The backs repeated piercing tackles, resulting in a double score of 34 to 17. It was a convincing victory for the first time in 15 years and a feat that blocked Waseda's 60-game winning streak in the league. With the "no side" whistle, Rugby Football Club members in school uniforms flooded onto the field, hugging whoever was near and choking back tears of joy. I have never seen such a sight at the Juku Rugby Football Club before or since.

Amidst the Keio stands in a whirlpool of joy, the hot-blooded coach immediately barked at the captain on the field, "It's disrespectful to the Waseda team, get off the field quickly!" The members came to their senses and left the field. A review in the Waseda side's newsletter stated, "The coach's stoic attitude, not getting carried away even by a sweeping victory, was strangely refreshing to the observer." The coach's comments: "We were blessed with luck and were able to win today. Waseda was a very good team. I am happy that the students could add a page to their lives saying that if you try, you can do it. Today's victory is due to teamwork and the efforts of the members working behind the scenes. We are happy to have been able to play a game without regrets against teams with different colors like Waseda and Meiji. I would like to play against Waseda and Meiji again in the New Year."

From there, through the New Year, the team continued its rapid progress aiming to be the best in Japan. They defeated Hosei in an exchange match, moved on to the University Championship, beat Doshisha in the first round, and won a come-from-behind victory against Nippon Sport Science University in the semifinals to reach the final. The final match against Meiji, held after the New Year with snow remaining from the previous day, ended in a narrow 6-7 loss, and we ultimately missed the championship. The coach's comments after the defeat: "If Meiji is about power and Waseda is about skill, then Keio's is soulful rugby." The next morning's newspaper headline featured the losing school as the protagonist: "Keio's Soulful Rugby Blossoms." Seventy-eight years after the club's founding, "Soulful Rugby" became socially recognized and a synonym for the team from that moment on. Despite being the root school of Japanese rugby, it is the attitude of a gritty challenger. This is what resonates with everyone who supports Keio rugby.

Now, regarding the alumni, why is there such a passionate spirit and blood bond among the Kokukokai members even after graduation? This is the assessment of former President Tadao Ishikawa: "When I think of the tradition cultivated over many years by the people who studied at this Juku and loved and nurtured rugby, I feel a strong sense of what can be called an exquisite harmony. This is because the factor that creates tradition is not physical 'time' itself, but 'people,' and to put it more precisely, it is nothing other than the accumulation of 'souls.'"

I was heartened to have the President evaluate our tradition as an "accumulation of souls," which hits the core of the matter.

What were the early days of the Waseda-Keio rivalry like? Before the 1st Waseda-Keio match, the ban on sports exchange between the two schools, which originated from a cheering trouble during a Waseda-Keio baseball game in 1906, lasted for 16 years. Four years after the founding of Waseda Rugby, the 1st Waseda-Keio Rugby Games finally took place in 1922, thanks to the proactive will of Waseda and the strong determination of Keio in its leadership position. The thawing of sports between the two schools began with the bond of Waseda-Keio rugby. For the 2nd match, the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred in September, and while public opinion mostly favored cancellation, it was decided to go ahead on November 23—a date chosen in the 1st match for its high probability of good weather—with the belief that "it is meaningful to hold it during such chaotic times." The match at Waseda Totsuka Ground breathed the spirit of recovery into all of Japan. Regarding the 3rd match, after long and difficult discussions between Waseda, which proactively proposed the issue of paid matches, and Keio, which would not break its stance on amateurism, it was held as Japan's first paid match, becoming the starting point for Japanese rugby today.

The predecessors of Waseda-Keio rugby set out to open up the era not only as rugby players but as leaders of society. After retiring, Coach Shibata moved to the cheering side, and the place where he would shout encouragement from the cheering stands in front of Chichibunomiya was now directed at his grandchildren's generation. He became a hot-blooded cheerleader shouting "Keio Forward!" and was a Keio fixture for a long time. As students of Coach Shibata, we, who were present when the evaluation of "Soulful Rugby" became established internally and externally, must ensure that we pass it on to the younger generation. With the human drama hidden in each of the 100 matches and the souls of all generations as our strength, and with the expectation of leading and opening up the future era and the development of amateur university rugby, I want to throw the ball firmly into their chests, just as I was taught in the era of leather balls.

Waseda-Keio rivalry: Total record of 20 wins, 7 draws, and 73 losses.