Unknown “Recording Session” 14:23 on August 21 to protect sports from war

A player who swims alone while the audience stares.
This is a new photograph taken in 1941.
What exactly is a copy of it?
When I proceeded with the interview, I found out that it was a “recording event” to protect sports from war.
(Sports Information Program Department Kensuke Nakamoto)

Photos found from the remains

The picture was found in the relics of Yasuhiko Kojima, a pre-war swimmer.
Three pieces were found. The date was “(Showa) September 21, 2016”.

Kojima participated in the 1936 Berlin Olympics as the representative of Japan at the youngest age of 17. He was expected to become an ace at the Tokyo Olympics four years later (1940) after winning the 6th place with a 100-meter backstroke.

Special “recording party”

What are the photos found in Kojima's relics?
During the interview, I was able to listen to people who knew the swimming world during the war.

Mr. Katsuzo Hakusan, 96 years old.

The photograph is said to be a special “recording event” held 78 years ago.
At that time, Hakusan was a student at Rikkyo University. I belonged to the swimming club and participated in the recording as a free-form player.

Shirayama-san saw Kojima-san swimming alone.
The situation is still strong in the heart.

“Mr. Kojima was a beautiful swim. I think I swam before going to war. This was the last, and this was the last. I wanted to keep a record in my life. I think (Mr. Hakusan)

The Sino-Japanese War that broke out in 1937.
Japan has become internationally isolated, and the Olympics scheduled to be held in Tokyo in 1940 will be canceled.

In July 1941, the country banned nationwide competition to prioritize war. In the next two years, all competitions were banned in principle, and sports were lost.

Mr. Hakusan says that the record session was a special place to officially keep the records of the top players while the competition was banned.

“For players who were losing their goals, it was a big news to have a recording event. It was different from the usual swimming competitions. ”

“Recording Session” What it means

Why was such a record meeting held?
This month I found a document that shows it.

This is a 14-year diary of Mr. Kazutsuka Matsuzawa, who was the representative director of swimming before the war.

Director Matsuzawa is the person who founded the current Japan Swimming Federation together with Mr. Politics Tabata who was instrumental in inviting the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.

As the coach of the Japanese national swimming team, he won the world's highest number of medals in two consecutive Olympic Games, the Los Angeles Games in 1932 and the Berlin Games in 1936.
It is also drawn in the taiga drama “Idaten” currently broadcast on NHK.

In the diary of Director Matsuzawa, he found that he had held several “recording sessions” since the summer of 1941, when the country banned national competitions.

Moreover,
"Three new records are born"
"The tournament is a success"
"It's fun"
There was also a description.

Regarding the record meeting held during the war, Professor Tetsuo Nakamura, who is familiar with the history of sports, stated that he had a strong desire to keep swimming.

“In order to keep the athletes motivated to keep swimming even during the war, we were thinking about the succession and development of tradition while holding such a recording session even in difficult times.” (Prof. Nakamura)

The photo was kept by Masao Kojima's father.
I didn't know at all that the “record session” was held during the war, and that Kojima-san was there.

“It may have been determined that we wanted to do our best to keep a record at the record meeting. I have a refreshing face, so I would like to ask you what you felt.”

After “Record Session”, players go to the battlefield

The players who participated in the recording session will then be involved in the fire.

The country uses the sport itself for military training.
Swimmers were asked to teach their soldiers to swim.

Kojima was one of them.
The following year the military service for the record session began to travel around the country, making it impossible to make time for practice as a swimmer.

In 1944, he was assigned to the Okinawa Naval Air Corps, and the following year he died in Okinawa. I was 26 years old.

Many athletes lost their lives in the Pacific War.

Mr. Kojima swam the record party by himself while the audience was staring.

The figure talks about the preciousness of the present era that can sing sports freely.

Sports Information Program Director Kensuke Nakamoto