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From the Olympics Toward Tomorrow
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Visions of younger times in Sapporo
- A chance to participate in the Olympics lost due to war
The downhill site was a thicket-grown, northward-facing slope. The 1.5km long course had barely been set up atop the snow. There was only between 200 and 300 meters from top to bottom.
The "Tenth Annual Manchurian Nation Commemorative East Asian Ski Competition" was held in February 1943 in what was previously known as Manchuria (the northeastern part of China). Tadashi Katagiri (77), from Nozawa Onsen Village, who was 23 years old at the time, had been conscripted into the army, carrying sandbags on his back and driving bamboo stakes.
From June 1974 to June 1992 he was the president of Nagano Prefecture's Skiing Association. He spent his days in joint China-Japan skiing activities, helping in Nagano's bid for the Olympics games. He went to China to bolster support for an "Asian Winter Olympics." The first international competition Katagiri (who after the war lead the Shinshu Skiing Association) attended as an athlete was the Commemorative East Asian Ski Competition.
 Tadashi Katagiri says that during the war he was able to continue skiing because of its "contribution to national defense." He is seen here at the Japan Skiing Museum in Nozawa Onsen Village holding a ski used during the war period.
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It had been his dream to be in the Olympics. As a fifth-year student in the Nagano Commercial School he entered the All-Hokkaido Skiing Championships in the youth bracket and won the downhill and slalom events. He also took first-place in the slalom and combined events in the youth bracket at an all-Japan tournament the same year, and was chosen to be a part of Japan's national team at the upcoming Sapporo Winter Olympic Games in 1940.
However, on July 15, 1938 due to the China-Japan conflict, Prime Minister Konoe and his Cabinet decided that the previously planned Tokyo 12th Summer Olympic games would be cancelled. The Sapporo 5th Winter Olympic Games were also to be cancelled.
"What have I been doing up to now?" A cloud of darkness covered his future outlook. No matter had hard things were one could in no instance say anything in opposition to the country's policy. While standing up strong against his disappointment he was told about the Asia competition.
Katagiri says, "I felt like I'd been saved." But unfortunately there was a strong military presence. It was far from a "sporting competition."
The only country in attendance other than Japan was "Manchuria." Athletes from the two "nations" altogether numbered about fifty. More than a thousand soldiers stationed on the Chinese mainland were gathered at a military skiing race held at the same time and at the same venue. Soldiers brandishing weapons were running through the same hills.
He brought back to Japan as participation prizes, among other things, Manchurian crystal and an ashtray. He doesn't remember anything about winning or taking a place.
In May 1943, three months after the competition he received a draft notice. He was assigned as a new recruit to Baotou City near the Gobi Desert. After that he transferred to an artillery school in Chiba Prefecture where he saw the war come to an end.
The Fourth Olympic Winter Games were held in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in 1936. The 1940 and 1944 Olympics were both cancelled due to the outbreak of World War II. The Games were once again brought back in 1948 with the Fifth Olympic Winter Games held in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Katagiri continued skiing after the war but had passed his athletic peak and was not given a second chance to participate in the Olympics.
At the end of December 1979 Katagiri welcomed a group of Chinese athletes into his lodge. They were alpine event competitors who would be attending their first Olympics in February 1980 at Lake Placid, U.S.A.. China, who had just reemerged on the international sports scene, had requested earlier in the month to hold a training camp in Japan.
Seizing the opportunity, the Nagano Prefecture Skiing Association began accepting groups of training Chinese athletes at the end of 1980, involving itself in Japan-China skiing exchanges. What first moved Katagiri to action was his "indebtedness" to China.
Under invitation from China, Katagiri visited Jilin (in the former Manchuria) during the summer of 1981. He felt himself growing nervous when the topic of conversation at a dinner meeting turned to the Second World War. A growing consciousness of the atrocities Japan committed against China weighed heavily on him. Although it was difficult for him to speak about the Asia Games, he was able to convey some of his feelings.
The reply of one Chinese in attendance was very straightforward. "As far as the war goes your people were not bad. It's the Japanese military elite at the time who is to blame." Katagiri remembers being moved by the depth of Chinese understanding.
The Sapporo Olympics were held in 1972, 27 years after the end of the war. The Nagano Olympics will be the first "festival of peace" to be held in Japan in 26 years. "Visionary Olympic athletes" continue to have hope in their hearts. "The Olympics is the highest goal among young athletes of any generation. We must make this a world that allows these dreams to continue."
No part of the article, photographs, or illustrations presented here may be printed or used without permission.
Copyright 1999 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun