| KANAGAWA, Jan. 5 – Tokyo University of Agriculture returned to this year’s Hakone Ekiden (Tokyo-Hakone Round Trip University Ekiden Race) for the first time in ten years in the year of the 100th anniversary of the annual athletic event. So did the iconic dancing of the university’s cheering squad. The dance is called Aoyama Hotori or more commonly, Daikon Odori (Japanese radish dance). A farmer who provided the radishes for the dance and a teacher who helped the cheering group members grow radishes praised the runners for completing the race and the cheering group for supporting the runners, saying they were proud of them.
The farmer in Kokubunji City, Tokyo, an ex-member of the cheering team, offered 50 daikon radishes for the dancing. “I could deliver perfect daikon to them. I’m proud that I could support the runners achieving their best performance,” he said. The Laboratory of Horticultural Science professor who fully supported the students’ growing radishes said, “They worked really hard and produced excellent 40 daikon,” he recalled. “I’m so proud to see them doing their best,” he said while watching the runners and cheering squad on the TV. |
Tokyo University of Agriculture’s cheering squad performing “Daikon Odori” dance along the ekiden route (January 2, in Hakone Town, Kanagawa Prefecture)