著者

関口 雄飛

出版者

体育史学会

雑誌

体育史研究 (ISSN:09144730)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.40, pp.1-15, 2023 (Released:2023-08-13)

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The purpose of this study is to consider the significance of the 2nd Japan Recreation Congress (JRC) for Nagoya City by clarifying the progress of preparations for the 2nd JRC, focusing on the trends of Nagoya City. Since the announcement of the 2nd JRC the city has invested 1.6 times the amount spent on the 1st JRC was for hosting the congress, including athletic events at the municipal general stadium under construction. The city expects about 100,000 people to attend the event. Nagoya City, has formed a preparatory committee to plan the 2nd JRC, Nagoya City decided to set up a specialized subcommittee, and prepare a draft congress for each of the four departments, except general affairs. However, even after about three months, as of July 1939, not much progress was made in the drafting of the congress agenda. Furthermore, the establishment of a specialized subcommittee, which was mentioned several times, was not realized. It is probable that the sluggish preparations can be attributed to personnel problems involving city hall leaders. Shortly after the decision to hold the 2nd JRC in Nagoya, the city hall leaders resigned. In response, the city hall was forced to take action for about eight months to replace the mayor, first and second assistants, and four of the five directors who were supposed to organize the convention preparatory committee. With the reforms initiated by the newly appointed mayor, preparations for the 2nd JRC, which were in a stalemate, began to progress. However, the 2nd JRC continued to be embroiled in controversies. In mid–July, the session was delayed from early October to mid-November, and the venue was shifted from the general playground to the Tsurumai Park playground. Owing to the change of the session to mid–November, the plan to hold the 2nd JRC in connection with the municipal anniversary was abandoned, and the venue was changed to Tsurumai Park Athletic Field, Correspondingly, all the athletics events were changed. As for the acting event that were expected to be covered, it was inevitably necessary to consider the ones that can be conducted in the Volleyball court, Basketball court, Athletics field, Football court, Tennis court, etc. that are located in the park. In addition, the session was shortened to four days instead of five days, and the participation status of German and Italian representatives was changed to non–participation due to the influence of World War II. Dainikai Koshin (The second march) at the 2nd JRC was not criticized for mobilizing a large number of citizens. Meanwhile, Shimin Kosei Kyogi Taikai (The Citizens' Recreation competition) was severely criticized for not being able to mobilize a large number of citizens, and Kosei no Yube (Entertainment event) for not being able to think through the placement of the acting discipline. Subsequently, the event was held on a small scale in an unintended manner, and in terms of mobilizing citizens, it can be said that the tournament can be considered a failure.