私が大八木監督の元を訪ねたのは、冬の終わり頃だっただろうか。
「駅伝とは何か、陸上とは何か、知りたいと思っています。
暫くの間、駒澤大学陸上競技部を撮らせて頂けないでしょうか。」
緊張しながら訊ねた私に、大八木監督が答えたのは、たった一言だった。
「いいよ。」
それから私は、玉川に通い、日本中彼等の後を追いかけた。
彼等の競技の邪魔になったら、終了。
そう心に決め、もうすぐ4年が経とうとしている。
私は結局、陸上の事が何もわからない。
ただひとつ、彼等についてわかったことがある。
ただひたすらに格好いいのだ。
時に試合に勝ち、時に敗者になり、
それでもまた翌朝6時、変わらずグラウンドに立つ、彼等が。
選手は今日も走り、スタッフもまた、自分の持ち場に立っている。
この写真集は、駒澤大学陸上競技部を追った4年間の記録である。
 
2015年12月　水上俊介

 
“Heroes” Shunsuke Mizukami
These photographs are works for a sports documentary on the Komazawa University Track and Field Team that I closely followed from 2012 to 2015. They are not only students, but also a prominent group of athletes in Japan. As a team, they are shooting to win the "Hakone long-distance relay race", while a few of their top members are hoping to participate in an Olympics marathon. This work focuses not on the sport itself but instead on capturing the daily practice and lives of the players. Sports documentaries in Japan have a tendency to be made in an emotional way. They focus on the difficulties that the players are put against, how they overcome them and how they are victorious. Such documentaries can be a bit talkative at times and try to push you to be emotional. I didn't want this documentary to be like that. I wanted to first go in without any preconceived notions and learn who these players were. They were very much regular people. The only thing that made them a bit different was that they continued to run every single day. Seeing how extremely well organized they were in their practicing was an absolutely beautiful sight to behold. I took a matter-of-fact approach in recording their daily lives, capturing the chaos of the race and its contrast with their systematic everyday routine.
I am interested in "the everyday lives of those who live unusual lives". I plan to continue making such documentaries for some time to come.