I see you’re doing well. You’ve been away from Toyo University for a while. What do you think?

The dormitories and fields are very clean and orderly, very different from my time here.
Next year’s Hakone Ekiden will be the one-hundredth. You ran in the race when you were a student. What was it that led you to enter Toyo University?

A high school sempai of mine was running in the Ekiden for Toyo University. The university’s coach at the time came by the high school to scout for other runners, and that’s what led me to come here.

What was your first Hakone Ekiden like?

It was like, “This is the Hakone Ekiden.” We couldn’t get the kind of information that is available now, so I listened intently to my sempai and developed a mental image of what they were talking about. That was kind of interesting in itself. I had been running in the race since my freshman year, but I was plagued by anemia and had many injuries, so I finished all of my legs ranking in the double digits. In my senior year, I was supposed to run the 10th leg as the captain, but I was not chosen because I was not in tip-top condition. Back then, a captain not running was considered a jinx.

I seem to remember you cried when Toyo University won its second consecutive Hakone Ekiden in your first year as coach. Were you thinking back to your student days?

Perhaps I was (laughs).

I remember well seeing you run with clenched teeth. The following year, you were selected to represent Fukushima Prefecture in the Inter-Prefectural Men’s Ekiden, in which I was also competing. But you had to be substituted due to anemia. I remember talking to you about your career path and ways of dealing with anemia.

My hemoglobin level was quite low then. I took your advice and stuck to eating liver, which I hate, as well as fish and other iron-rich foods to deal with it. And my times improved.

In July of your third year of high school, we ran together in Fukushima Prefecture’s track and field championship. I beat you in the 5,000-meter race on the first day but lost in the 10,000-meter race the next day.

I was so disappointed to lose in the last spurt of the 5,000 meters. So I asked to be allowed to go again and entered the 10,000-meter race. Until then, I had been fine with second or third place. But in that race, I thought, “I want to win. I want to pull away.”

That race was what led me to decide to retire from active competition. At that time, Toyo University was still scouting for runners for the following year, so I immediately contacted the coach in charge. After he visited you, you were headed to Toyo University.
And then Toyo University was selected as a participant in the 85th Hakone Ekiden. When I heard that you, a freshman, would be running the 5th leg, my family and I went to cheer you on. Why was it 5th leg that you wanted to run?

Only that I was happy. I felt so good I was smiling the entire time. I couldn’t walk the next day, though.

That sounds like you, giving all you have until you can’t walk. And Toyo University went on to win the overall title for the first time. It was wonderful.

The following year, you became our coach. I was a sophomore.

It wasn’t something I was even considering. I was approached when it was decided the previous coach would step down. I was just starting a new system in the track and field department of the high school where I was working, and it was causing me a good deal of anxiety. But I had gone through hardships when I was competing, and I decided I wanted to use the knowledge I had gained afterward for the benefit of my alma mater. That was after the university had won its first overall title. What was your feeling at that time?

I felt I had to lead our winning team again.

The year I became coach, we took first place overall in the 86th Hakone Ekiden. That was the university’s second consecutive win. But in the 87th Ekiden, we came in second, losing to Waseda University.

Waseda was fast. But I don’t think that was the only reason why we didn’t win.

We were just 21 seconds behind Waseda. And that was where our slogan of “shave off that one second” was born. The aim was to get our entire team involved and for each person to apply all possible effort and ingenuity to get to the top.

And then I was asked to be captain in my senior year. I said I didn’t want to do it. I was the laziest captain of all time. I left things like communication and coordination, which I’m not good at, to the other members and just talked to you, the coach.

A good captain is one who gets others to do the work. It’s when everyone plays their role that the one second gets shaved off.
The experience of losing in the 87th Hakone Ekiden gave us a chance to make some improvements. Everyone was pumped up by our aim to take the Ekiden Triple Crown of Izumo, All-Japan, and Hakone.

We didn’t win the Triple Crown, but we did take the overall title again at the following year’s Hakone Ekiden.

Nowadays, diet and training are more effective than in our time, and it seems the results are showing.

Today, we can address our running performance by coming to grips with data and analyzing ourselves. Also important is the fighting spirit of each individual. When our emotions run strong, our facial expressions change. Ekiden is a team sport, so we have to build a relationship where we can always communicate our thoughts and feelings to each other. I think your old phrase “comrades, not friends” was a good one.

How many times has Toyo University competed in the Hakone Ekiden, counting next year?

Next year will be our 82nd. I’m pretty sure no universities participated in all 100 races. In this year’s race—the 99th—we came in 10th place. We managed to get seeded with that result, so we want to bounce back at all costs. We’re now focused on building a team capable of aiming for the title. We hope to appear on television pressing forward without fear, passing on our symbolic navy blue "tetsukon" sash from runner to runner, and that the sight will energize and excite everyone watching. That’s the kind of Hakone Ekiden we want to create.

I’m looking forward to seeing that.

Our aim is not restricted to the Hakone Ekiden. The track and field team’s eye is always on the world stage. We train every day with the goal of representing Japan and winning gold medals at the Olympics and international competitions.