Former Athletic Association Headquarters

2020/09/10

Image: The former Athletic Association Headquarters seen from the front (Provided by Mr. Daisuke Matsumoto) [Estimated to be from the 1950s]

The building for the former Athletic Association Headquarters was completed in 1952. According to the "Athletic Association Chronology (85th Anniversary)" and materials borrowed from Athletic Association alumni, the Athletic Association Headquarters, which had been located in a portion of the dormitory on the Mita Hilltop Square in 1917, moved to Vickers Hall (a wooden Western-style building named after Mr. Vickers, a lead teacher in the department of political economy). It remained there as the Athletic Association Headquarters (also known as Athletic Association Hall) for over 20 years throughout the pre-war and wartime periods until it was demolished in 1945 due to the evacuation of wooden buildings (during the war, the Athletic Association sign was also temporarily hung at the Hiyoshi training camp).

Subsequently, for the restoration of the Athletic Association Headquarters, a temporary 20-tsubo single-story wooden structure was built in 1948, and finally, in 1952, the former Athletic Association Headquarters, a two-story wooden building with a total floor area of 89 tsubo, was completed. This former Athletic Association Headquarters contained 14 rooms, including a meeting room, a Vice Principal's office, and a room for female members, as well as a bathroom, a water heating room, and a warehouse. There was also a library (meeting room?) on the second floor, and while it varied by era, there are accounts that a caretaker lived there around 1970 or 1971. The Athletic Association administrative office was located on the first floor of the Jukukan-kyoku (Keio Corporate Administration).

Since the building currently housing the headquarters (West Building; 1st floor is the Athletic Association Headquarters, 2nd floor is the Athletic Association administrative office and archives) was completed in 1993, it means the headquarters remained in that corner of the Mita Hilltop Square for over 40 long years, witnessing the many hardships and joys of the various Athletic Association clubs and headquarters members. During the mid-1960s when I was a student, there were times when the university was locked out due to student movements, but hearing that headquarters activities were carried out solemnly even then, I cannot help but feel that the ideal form of the Athletic Association of Keio University as an institute of learning was maintained.

When looking at the old and new photographs, the image of the former headquarters building feels more right in my heart, despite having served as an Athletic Association director for a long time in the new headquarters building. For me, it might be for the personal reason that I commuted to school and work through that back gate (West Gate) for many years, from my student days to my time as a faculty member.

(Acknowledgments: I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Shizuo Kigawa for lending valuable materials regarding the Athletic Association Headquarters before, during, and after the war; to Mr. Ryosuke Shintani, Mr. Toru Yahata, and Mr. Taizo Kondo for sharing surprisingly detailed memories of those days; and to Mr. Daisuke Matsumoto for providing precious photographs from that time.)

(Professor Emeritus of Keio University, Former Athletic Association Director, Tsukasa Miyajima)