When it comes to Hakone, Japan, almost everyone immediately thinks of the beautiful Hakone autumn leaves, but they are completely unaware of the Hakone Ekiji.
Hakone Ekiden is a long-distance relay race that is limited to university teams from the Kanto region and is held from January 2 to January 3 every year, and the race is divided into 10 sections with a total length of about 217 kilometers. Each team can have up to 16 players to prepare for the competition, but only 10 players will compete in the end, each playing in a separate section. In other words, each participant needs to complete a long-distance run of more than 20 kilometers in the cold.
Ever since 1987, when Japanese television began broadcasting Hakone Ekiden live, the race has become a household name in Japan, and the event is even more enthusiastic than the city marathon we are familiar with.
The author, Miura Aster, spent six years conducting detailed interviews and material collections on Hakone Ekiden, and completed "Strong Wind Blowing". For sports themes, Japan really has too many bloody comics that counterattack all the way, "Strong Wind Blowing" chose a relatively unpopular but closer to the life of ordinary people, including blood and counterattack, but this is not a story about counterattack, but a story about love.
Sadly and injured, Kiyose inadvertently picked up the homeless long-distance running genius Aku, so, in order to join hakone eki, Kiyose gathered a miscellaneous army, starting from scratch, and approaching Hakone step by step.
sheer
Any game must be won or lost, especially in sports. Rising results, progressive rankings and ever-being recorded seem to be the ultimate meaning of all competitions. When the joy and excitement of victory burns to every nerve ending in the body, it is easy to confuse the meaning of these games with the love of the sport itself, whether it is the coaches and players who are in it, as well as the spectators outside the field.
Competitions can be exciting numbers, tools for fame and fortune, or results-based doctrine, but that's definitely not the case with sports.
Kiyose was also burdened by the utilitarian nature of the game, and blindly pursued a recordless pursuit regardless of his body's ability to bear it, and eventually caused irreparable damage to his right leg. When he could no longer run as he pleased, Kiyose realized that the motivation to "run better" was not rank and record, not fame outside, but heartfelt likes. The motivation inspired by the love of running itself is much more useful than the competitive spirit generated by the blind pursuit of results.
It was because of this enlightenment that Kiyose was able to turn decay into magic and steadily train a miscellaneous army full of laymen into a regular army.
Kiyose's team is a team with no substitutes. In addition to Kiyose and Aku, the other eight members of the improvised team are non-professionals who have no connection with long-distance running—dead houses hiding behind comic books, black international students who don't know what the story is, former track and field players who have become old smoke guns, twins who jump out of their minds, school bullies with poisonous tongues, heavy guessing enthusiasts, and good young people who understand people.
It is already difficult to let such a group of "rabble-rousers" participate in long-distance running, and leading them to attack Hakone Ekiden is tantamount to a fool's dream, but Kiyose uses the means of spring wind and rain to make this group of people who originally did not like long-distance running run to Hakone Ekiden from the heart.
Kiyose abandons the traditionally rigorous training method, and instead of planning training according to each person's ability, he formulates a different training plan for each person according to each person's personality, and provides some advice without trace. Kiyose is tolerant enough, he does not force or punish, and he does not harshly blame people who drag their feet, he just patiently guides everyone to run the way they like, and then slowly likes to run, and finally out of the heart to run better.
In such a kind training environment, even the powerful Aku believes that if Kiyose is his enlightenment coach, he can definitely run faster.
"Do you like running?"
This was the first thing Kiyose said when he first met Ago. The joy of running is not the ever-shortening number on the horse's watch, but the like. Because of like, will love, because of love, will be willing to run the pain and frustration of running, will stimulate the potential, unconsciously surpass themselves, run farther.
From a secular point of view, love is actually useless because it does not bring any substantial benefit. But love is not a utilitarian thing, but a simple and pure thing. When we love something, we will not pursue any returns, as long as we are hooked, we will become indifferent to gains and losses, regardless of results. But the wonderful thing is that useless love always brings unexpected gains and makes people excellent.
coacervation
Since Hakone Ekiden is a team sport, the participants must be cohesive. For Kiyose, a half-way monk, the half-way gangster army that brought them together was of course not the joy of the first glimpse of the charm of running, but the enthusiasm and dedication of Kiyose and Aku to running.
When we love something without distraction, it actually shines. And this sparkling light will quietly illuminate the people around you.
Known as the "Prince", the manga dead house was originally a complete sports idiot, but he completed his mission even if he threw up while running. To say that he likes running, the prince does not particularly like it, and the reason why he can persist to the end is because he thinks it is not bad to accompany his friends to build a dream once in a lifetime.
The twins could not tell whether they were forced to participate or volunteered to participate, and when they came back, they had already aimed directly at Hakone Ekiden, and the younger brother was even more happy because he experienced the happiness of Ago's running, so he liked running and joined the track and field team.
Under the influence of Kiyose's enthusiasm, Ayuki discovered his talent for running, tasted the beauty and loneliness of running, and even understood Kiyose's statement that "running is not to become faster, but to become stronger." But running is not Ah Xue's destination after all, his task is only to help his friends complete an unfinished wish.
The sympathetic "prodigy", in order to reduce Kiyose's burden, took the initiative to take on many affairs, unfortunately tired before the game, but still with a high fever. This is not only to give yourself an explanation, but also to live up to the hard work of friends.
The old smoker Nicole was limited by his physical fitness, and quit the track and field team in his early years, so he gave up long-distance running. Until Kiyose taught him that even if he couldn't become a track and field athlete, he could still continue running. The purpose of running is not to participate in the race, as long as you like, you can continue to run.
Running is a sport that can be done alone, a sport that can be quietly cultivated by oneself, but running is by no means a lonely sport, it contains a force that can bring individuals and partners together.
"Strong Wind Blowing" is easily reminiscent of "This is Hip Hop". Although this is a lively show for insiders to watch the doorway and laypeople to watch, it does not prevent it from being hot. Just like Hakone Ekiden, the contestants are dazzling because of their love.
Dancing, like running, can be fought alone or collectively, but whether it is a solo fight or a team battle, the dancers are more brilliant than the lights on the stage. When dancers who are good at different dance types must cooperate in collective dance, they continue to run into improvements, willing to take away their own sharp edges for the team, and even excellent players said after being eliminated that they were not here for the championship, and if they could send the team here, their mission was completed.
Everyone is alone in the face of what they love, but we always meet like-minded partners. Although these partners will not always accompany us, they will definitely spend time with us side by side. In the near future, when we look back on the past, we will definitely miss the days when we fought together because of love.
True meaning
With a tenth-place finish, the Zakaku army qualified for the seeded team, and Ago lived up to expectations to set a new record in the ninth section, but Kiyose sacrificed his life to fulfill his wish to participate in Hakone Ekiden.
When Kiyose crossed the finish line with pain, his right leg also reached the end of eternity. The right leg, which has not yet fully recovered, has no possibility of recovery, so Kiyose has become lame. But this is not the end of Kiyose's running career, and his love of running has not stopped there, but has continued in another way - Kiyose became a coach after graduation.
Kiyose is suitable to be a coach. Given Kiyose's past, he understands both the pain of the human heart and the cruelty of competitive sports, and has been pursuing the meaning of running.
"What is the true meaning of running?"
This question appears many times in the dialogue between Kiyose and Ago, but the answer is never clear. Every runner has a reflection and exploration of running, sports and even themselves in running, and each runner will have different understandings and interpretations of this because of their own experience. It is these multi-dimensional thinking that makes the running itself appear more diverse and plump, and if every runner's answer is the same, the running will lose its luster and become less fascinating.
Maybe the true meaning of running is fairness, whether it is an unknown team or a layman, as long as there is strength and enthusiasm, you can run, without succumbing to rigorous training, as long as you step out with your feet, you can run to any place you want.
Perhaps the true meaning of running is its own charm, can exercise the body, can vent emotions, or maybe some people see the heroic figure of the runners, will be interested in running.
Or perhaps, the true meaning of running is just a simple love, to find a thing that the heart desires, it is a lucky, as long as you love, continue to run, it is good,
And if you want to ask what is the true meaning of love, I think, it is probably that there is joy in love, there is pain, there is achievement, there is frustration, there is persistence, there is wavering, there is loneliness, there is companionship, there is everything about us.
It is a pleasure to meet you, more wonderful articles welcome to pay attention to self-media: nothing forever, multi-platform with the same name.