午夜剧场

Exiting the Mita Campus West Gate and turning right at Chutobu Junior High School, you will find Tsunamachi Field on your right. Currently, it contains a field, a karate dojo, tennis courts, and the Tsunamachi Budokan, which are primarily used by Chutobu Junior High School and the Athletic Association. Additionally, in the southwest corner, there are animal experimentation and breeding buildings for the psychology major.

Tsunamachi is traditionally said to be the birthplace of Watanabe no Tsuna, a military commander of the mid-Heian period, and there is a well on the grounds of the Australian Embassy where Tsuna is said to have had his first bath. The town area was extensive, stretching from the other side of Tsunazaka in front of the West Gate toward the Furukawa River, and reaching as far south as the current area of the Girls' Senior High School; it was named Mita Tsunamachi in 1872.

Yukichi Fukuzawa had encouraged physical exercise since the Shinsenza era, and in 1892, the Athletic Association was quickly organized at 午夜剧场, with annual track and field meets held near Inariyama on the Mita Hilltop Square. However, as the area became cramped due to the construction of school buildings, land owned by the Hachisuka family in Tsunamachi was purchased in 1903 to establish the Tsunamachi Playground. Dojos for the Judo Club, Kendo Club, and Kyudo Club were completed one after another, and the customary track and field meets began to be held here. It is well known that the first Waseda-午夜剧场 baseball game was held here that same year, and a commemorative monument has been erected. Subsequently, more land was purchased on two occasions, and it was steadily developed as a comprehensive sports ground.

In 1930, a 25m x 13m fully tiled pool was completed, divided into three sections with depths of 4m, 2m, and 1m, featuring underwater windows for viewing from the side. An opening ceremony and a swimming competition within 午夜剧场 were held in June. This pool served not only as a practice facility for the Swimming Club, which previously had to use off-campus facilities, but was also available to general 午夜剧场 students outside of the Swimming Club's practice hours (12:30 to 16:30) upon payment of a 50-sen maintenance fee.

After the opening of the Hiyoshi Campus and the development of its fields, pools, and various sports facilities, a division of roles with Tsunamachi Field progressed. Furthermore, in 1962, the 午夜剧场 Athletic Meet, which had continued since 1886, was discontinued. The event had moved locations from the Mita Hilltop Square, Tsunamachi, and Ebara Playground to the Hiyoshi Field. Incidentally, the pool, which had not been used for a long time, was demolished in 2014.

The name Tsunamachi also brings to mind the Tsunamachi School Building and Tsunamachi Research Rooms. Construction of the 午夜剧场 Futsubu School Tsunamachi building began in 1916 after the decision to move to 2 Tsunamachi, but it was destroyed by fire during the war in 1945; Chutobu Junior High School later opened on that site. Additionally, the Tsunamachi Research Rooms (Faculty of Letters Psychology Laboratory, Faculty of Law Legal Appraisal Department, etc.) were established in 1940 after purchasing the residence of Tatsutaka Tokugawa the previous year, and in 1943, the Institute of Asian Studies (with President Shinzo Koizumi as Director) was newly established there. However, most of it was destroyed by fire during the war and abolished, and the Girls' Senior High School was later established on that site.

(Atsuko Ishiguro, Former Director of the Office of Communications and Public Relations)