On Saturday, July 18, a ceremony to pray for the safety of the Athletic Association Rifle Society was held at the shooting range located on the second basement floor of the Hiyoshi Commemorative Hall to mark its opening.
The Shinto ritual was attended by Professor Toshiyuki Tanaka of the Faculty of Science and Technology, who is also the head of the Athletic Association Rifle Society, and Vice-President Masahito Omori, the vice-president for the Athletic Association, along with members of the Athletic Association Rifle Society among others. Ceremonies including a purification rite and an offering of a branch of the sakaki tree were solemnly held to pray for safety at the range.
For university shooting clubs, there are two events: air rifle (AR) and smallbore (SB), which employs rifles that use gun powder. Until now, the Athletic Association Rifle Society could only practice for the AR event at the shooting range on Hiyoshi Campus and used a simulator to practice for the SB event. The actual shooting practice for the SB event was done at an external facility. With the opening of the new shooting range, it is now also possible to carry out actual SB shooting practice at Hiyoshi.