"Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru" by MIURA Shiwon

MIURA Shiwon is a famous Japanese writer. So far I read some essays but a few novels. This is one of her novels, and I enjoyed very much.

The meaning of the title is "It's blowing hard", and it is about 'Ekiden' or a long-distance relay road race. In Japan there are many 'Ekiden' races especially in winter. One of the most famous ones is 'Hakone Ekiden', which is held in 2 and 3 January every year. In that race universities in Kanto area (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, and Yamanashi prefectures) compete each other. On 2 January the runners start from Tokyo, five runners connect their 'Tasuki' or sash and went to Hakone, about 110km away from Tokyo. The second day (3 January) is the return trip. So total ten runners for each group run in this race. We can see on TV and it is one of popular amusements in New Year's holidays in Japan.

The heros of this book is ten students of Kansei Univ. who lives in an old apartment 'Chikusei-sou'. Most of them are amateurs of 'Ekiden' and/or marathon, but they aim to run the 'Hakone Ekiden'. Of course there are many difficulties: getting the right to run the trial race, get a good score in the trial race, and so on...

P.S.
The trial race of this year (2007) seems to be held on 20 October!

(Finished reading on Oct.28, 2007)


The more detailed Japanese version of this article is here!

Japanese character(s) (kanji)
* MIURA Shiwon : 三浦しをん
* Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru : 風が強く吹いている