For a second time since 1963, when the NHK network started the annual, Sunday, historical series "taiga drama"(大河ドラマ), the theme for this year has to do with (relatively) recent events: it's about the 1964 Tokyo Olympics but also about the marathon runner Shizo Kanaguri (金栗四三, 1891-1983) who participated in the 1912 games and about the birth of the Olympic Movement in Japan. Hence, one of its main characters was Jigoro Kano (嘉納治五郎,1860-1938), founder of judo and first president of the Japanese Olympic Committee. Since a part of the plot, especially in the series' first phase takes place in Asakusa and since the first incarnation of Kano's school, the Kodokan (講道館), was near Ueno, Taito Ward in which both these neighborhoods are, had for several months a statue of Kano in its town hall.
And here's a close up.
And its central library featured him, judo and the Olympic Movement. And of course the centerpiece is the poster of the series which, incidentally is called "Idaten"(いだてん) meaning "great runner" or "fast runner" -which explains the graphic of its title.
(For a bigger version of these pictures both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore" set on Flickr).
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