Shiki High School During the Agricultural High School Era

2020/05/27

Image: Taken in 1951 (Showa 26)

The house at the far right of the group of Juku residences visible in the upper right of the photo is my birthplace (near the current Shiki High School gymnasium). That house was a Juku residence leased to my father (the late Seiji Odate), who was involved in the founding of Keio University Agricultural High School and later taught at Shiki High School. This photo is an aerial shot from 1951 (Showa 26), before I was born. Since the facilities were inherited from the Toho Keio Economic Observatory (KEO), the campus made clever use of former factory workshops and substation rooms, and was characterized by the magnificent main building with a triangular roof (near the current convenience store under the Shiki Overpass). The detached buildings to the left of the ground were also each assigned as homerooms.

By the time I was born, it had already become a regular high school, but because there were agricultural classes, the livestock barns for cattle, horses, pigs, and chickens from the agricultural high school era and the vast farm remained. Management staff lived with their families in the poultry and pig barns (near the former Yurin Dormitory), the cattle and horse pasture (near the current Kyoraisa and Yokosha), and the farm (current ground), forming a single village that supplied fresh eggs, milk, and vegetables. Since it was an era when there were no telephones in the Juku residences, I remember that when a call came into the guardroom in front of the main building, the guard would come to notify us on foot even at night. There were no outer walls, so neighbors would use the campus paths as a shortcut to go toward the town or station of Shiki; it is a truly nostalgic and peaceful scene of the Showa era.

The nature-rich campus was also a perfect playground for the children of the Juku residences and the neighborhood (collectively called "Shiki Gaki" by the Shiki High School students). In spring, mugwort and wild rocambole grew, and in autumn, persimmons and mountain chestnuts ripened in abundance, which we often harvested. Only the persimmon trees still remain on campus today, bearing plenty of fruit in the fall. The Nobidome Canal flowed through the grounds, fireflies flitted about, and there was even a small waterfall where a waterwheel once turned in a place with a drop in elevation. Later, the Yurin and Kosho Dormitories were built (now Shiki Garden Hills), and my house moved to the housemaster's residence in front of the dormitory. Then, 52 years ago, with the completion of the current campus, the buildings from the agricultural high school era disappeared and the site was reduced to about half its size. Looking at the persimmon trees and other trees from that time that still remain, I would be happy if you could feel that Keio University Agricultural High School once existed here, along with the pastures and farms.