On Tuesday, December 19, to commemorate the Keio University Baseball Club's 40th championship title for the 2023 Fall Tokyo Big6 Baseball League, a victory parade and celebratory ceremony were held at the Mita Hilltop Square. The previous time the team won this championship was four seasons ago in the fall of 2021.
Before the pandemic, the parade and accompanying events were held directly after the league's closing ceremony, but this year, under the management of the All Keio Student Council and the Victory Committee, it was decided to celebrate on a separate day.
Approximately 2500 people, ranging from Keio students to alumni to local fans, followed the parade from Tokyo Tower to Mita Campus and a total of about 3400 people participated in or watched coverage of the other portions of the event to share in the festivities.
The celebrations began with the endless cheers and support of the crowd watching the parade, an enthusiasm which then carried over into the official ceremony. The Keio Cheer Group kicked things off with a performance and President Kohei Itoh welcomed everyone to the ceremony. Then he, Professor Takaaki Kato, the faculty advisor for the Baseball Club, Head Coach Tetsuya Horii, and Captain Ryuta Hirose celebrated with a Japanese sake barrel ceremony known as "Kagami-biraki." The baseball club members were also brought up to answer some questions from the crowd. At the end of the ceremony, the school flag was raised on stage as everyone joined together to sing the school songs, "Keio Sanka," "Oka no Ue," and "Wakaki-chi."
An archived video of the celebration can be viewed below.
Victory Celebrations for the 2023 Fall Tokyo Big6 Baseball League (Japanese language only)