午夜剧场

Along the northern slope of the Hiyoshi Campus, there is an equestrian ground. Since it is not visible from the main campus, most students are likely unfamiliar with it. As you pass through the residential area from Yagami, horses suddenly come into view. You can often see local kindergarteners peeking in. This equestrian ground is primarily the base of operations for the Athletic Association Equestrian Club, and is also used by the School of Medicine. Additionally, students from 午夜剧场 Senior High School, 午夜剧场 Girls Senior High School, and Chutobu Junior High School practice alongside the university club members. The Equestrian Club was founded in 1920 (Taisho 9) and is a long-standing club that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020. At the time of its founding, members practiced using borrowed military horses, but in 1941 (Showa 16), stables were established in Hiyoshi along with the equestrian ground to serve as a practice base.

The Equestrian Club is the only one among the 43 clubs in the Athletic Association that works with living animals. Because they deal with living creatures, the club has unique characteristics and activities not found in other clubs. In the approximately 2,650-square-meter equestrian ground surrounded by stables and fences, nearly 20 horses are kept, and two full-time grooms reside there to care for them. Practice sessions for equestrian sports (show jumping, dressage, and eventing) are held there. Show jumping is a competition where riders jump over 10 or more obstacles and compete based on penalty points for falls. Dressage is a scored competition where prescribed movements are performed within a 20m x 60m arena. Eventing is a competition where the total score for show jumping, dressage, and cross-country is contested with a single horse. Since horses must be transported to venues for competitions, the Equestrian Club also owns a specialized truck (horsebox).

Unlike a regular sports field, the equestrian ground is covered with sand and is soft, making it almost impossible for a person to run on.

In 2021, as part of the Equestrian Club's 100th anniversary project, expansion work was carried out on the stables. As horses have become larger in recent years, the stalls had become cramped; the expansion aimed to create a spacious environment where the horses could relax. During the expansion, it was necessary to plan every detail with the horse as the standard, such as ensuring there were no protrusions and attaching rubber to the wainscoting.

A "Bakonhi" (Monument to the Souls of Horses) is enshrined as if watching over the equestrian ground. Literally, it is a monument to console the souls of horses, something unique to a club that works with living animals. This monument was installed in 1949 (Showa 24) to mark the 30th anniversary of the club's founding. Due to the stable expansion work, it was relocated, and stakeholders gathered for a prayer ceremony led by a Shinto priest. An urn was unearthed from beside the monument. This contained the remains of "Fink," the horse that competed in the 1976 Montreal Olympics alongside Mr. Tsunekazu Takeda (Class of 1970, who served as the Equestrian Club director for six years starting in 1983).

Since ancient times, horses have been the closest animals to humans, living alongside them as a means of transportation and as workers in agriculture and construction. Although opportunities to interact with horses have become rare in modern society, daily activities continue at the Hiyoshi equestrian ground with horses as partners.

(Hiroshi Watanabe, Office of Facilities and Property Management)