Hi, thank you for visiting this blog!
Have you ever heard of “EKIDEN (駅伝)”?
Since I myself belong to track & field circle, I would like to introduce you “EKIDEN”!!

    (ekiden runners)

1) First of all… what is Ekiden?

Ekiden is long-distance relay road race.

But what makes it different from typical relay races??

In a typical relay race, a baton is passed from a runner to the next. However, in ekiden races, runners pass a sash called “tasuki (襷)” that identifies the belonging of runners to each team.

    (Passing a sash, “Tasuki” 襷)

There are variety of ekiden races in Japan such as high school or university ekiden, local or regional ekiden, and even prefectural, corporate, or community ekiden. Various amateur and professional teams of runners compete against each other in different ekiden races throughout the year.

2) History of Ekiden

The first ekiden was held in 1917 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Tokyo becoming the capital city of Japan. It was a 3-day race from Kyoto to Tokyo for more than 507 km!! Can you imagine a 3-day relay race of 507km?! Must’ve been a fascinating one!!

The word ekiden is composed by two Japanese Kanji, “駅” and “伝” meaning “station” and “transmit”. It was the name given to the old Japanese transportation system by relay of horses and men.

 3) Hakone Ekiden, a New Year’s Tradition

  (Starting point of Hakone ekiden)

  (Logo of Hakone ekiden)

There are many winter sports in Japan, but Hakone ekiden is undoubtedly one of the most popular sporting events in Japan.

It is a 2-day round-trip race of 217.1 km between Otemachi (Tokyo) and Lake Ashinoko (Hakone, Kanagawa Prefecture), held on January 2nd and 3rd every year.

The first half of the race from Otemachi (Tokyo) to Lake Ashinoko (Hakone) is held on January 2nd and the latter half of the race from Lake Ashinoko to Otemachi is on January 3rd. There are 5 sections each day.

Having fast runners in a team is not enough, because of the steep up and down slopes in Hakone, which require specialist runners for these routes!!

     (Hakone ekiden course)

The total of 20 universities plus 1 in the Kanto Region can participate in Hakone ekiden. The top 10 teams earn an automatic berth for the following year’s ekiden race and 10 other teams are selected in the qualified round called Yosenkai (予選会), held every October (Our University, Sophia University ekiden team also participated in the race!!). The remaining team is a Kanto Region university united team, which includes top individual runners from different universities in Kanto Region whose teams did not qualify.

  (Qualifying race, “Yosenkai” 予選会)

The race held this year (2019) was the 95th of this honored tradition! To commemorate its 95th anniversary, 22 universities plus 1 selected team joined, which was the biggest in its history.

As you may know, winter in Tokyo is harshly cold and dry. Despite this harsh weather condition, millions of ekiden fans from all over Japan go to see the race along the ekiden course to cheer the runners! Being the most popular ekiden race in Japan, the entire race is broadcasted on TV and millions of Japanese people watch it every year over their New Year’s holiday.

  (People cheering for the runners)

                   (Passing a sash, “Tasuki” 襷)

4) Participating Universities this year (2020, Jan 2-3)
~ The Top 10 teams that received berths previous year ~
  1. Tokai Univ.
  2. Aoyama Gakuin Univ.
  3. Toyo Univ.
  4. Komazawa Univ.
  5. Teikyo Univ.
  6. Hosei Univ.
  7. Kokugakuin Univ.
  8. Juntendo Univ.
  9. Takushoku Univ.
  10. Chuo Gakuin Univ.
~ Teams selected in the qualifying race (予選会) ~
  1. Tokyo International Univ.
  2. Kanagawa Univ.
  3. Nippon Sport Science Univ.
  4. Meiji Univ.
  5. Soka Univ.
  6. Tsukuba Univ.
  7. Nihon Univ.
  8. Kokushikan Univ.
  9. Waseda Univ.
  10. Chuo Univ.
＜ Not only ekiden!!! Hakone is a very famous place for its beautiful sceneries and great hot springs! ＞

    (Hakone)

~ Popular tourist spots in Hakone ~
  • The Hakone Open-Air Museum
  • Lake Ashi (Ashinoko)
  • Hakone Ropeway
  • Pola Museum of Art
  • Owaku-dani Valley
  • Hakone Tozan Railway
  • Hakone Shrine    　and more…

I definitely recommend you to visit there someday and see the ekiden race with your own eyes!

5) New-year Ekiden

New-year Ekiden is one of the most famous ekiden races in Japan, which started in 1957. The race is held on January 1st every year in Gunma Prefecture (my hometown!!). The total of 37 professional teams including lots of Japan’s top long-distance runners participate and each team complete 100 km course divided into seven sections.

It is also broadcasted on TV and a lot of people will be glued to its exciting race!

     (Starting point of New-year ekiden)

    (Passing a sash, “Tasuki” 襷)

Hope you enjoyed reading my blog and taken some interest in EKIDEN!!
Thanks a lot! AND let’s look forward to the up-coming Ekiden race in 2020!! (^O^)

 

3 thoughts on “Ekiden : Japan’s incredible long-distance relay road race!! Must see it!”

  1. I watched Hakone Ekiden on TV this year, and it was undescribably good! It was really emotional when some of the schools weren’t able to give the sash to the next runner. I was also amazed with Aoyama Gakuin University’s win on both the 1st and 2nd day. I never really watched Ekiden that seriously until now, but it was really fascinating! I’m really interested in the other Ekiden you introduced.

    Reply

  2. I’ve watched A New Year Ekiden once. I don’t like running and the program makes me feel running with them, so I don’t really like it… I know their running is awesome though. Which university team do you like?

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  3. I do not watch Ekiden and I do not know about it very much, but it was very interesting reading your blog post~!! I once went to watch New Year Ekiden with my father when I was in elementary school, and I want to go see it again after reading about this info 🙂

    Reply

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