15：スケートを楽しむ人々 　ーPeople enjoying skatingー

「避暑地・日光」のイメージが強いかと思われますが、気候・風土を活かした冬場の楽しみもありました。
Nikko may have a strong image as a summer resort, but there are also winter activities that take advantage of the city's climate and local customs.


写真から、当時の楽しさが伝わってきます。
古河電工や金谷ホテルのスケートリンク整備を皮切りに、日光でのスケートも、全日本学生氷上競技会が開催されたり、山内や門前等のまちなかにもいくつもの天然のリンクが設置されたりと、その後広がりをみせていきます。
The photographs convey the fun of those days.
Starting with the construction of skating rinks at Furukawa Electric and Kanaya Hotel, skating in Nikko continued to spread, with the All-Japan Student Ice Championships being held there and several natural rinks being built in towns such as San-nai (now the area of World Heritage ) and Monzen (the area from present-day Nikko Station to Shinkyo Bridge).

▶︎日光市史から抜粋　Excerpt from Nikko City History
日光では明治四十年頃、小林庄重郎が、米国ウィンスロー製のスケート靴をつけて友人金谷真一（※）と小倉山の池で滑ったのが最初といわれる。大正にはいって、古河電工日光電気精銅所長鈴木常三郎が和楽池をリンクに改造して、若い者にスケートを奨励した。大正五年（一九一六）十月、金谷ホテルを訪れるイギリス人グレイストンの提案をうけてホテルのテニスコート二〇〇坪をリンクに改造し宿泊客を中心に利用させた。
It is said that the first skaters to skate in Nikko were Kobayashi Shojuro, who put on American Winslow-made skates and skated on a pond on Ogurayama with his friend Kanaya Shinichi (*) around 1907. In the Taisho era, Suzuki Tsunesaburo, the director of Furukawa Electric's Nikko Electric Copper Refinery, converted Waraku Pond into a rink and encouraged young people to take up skating. In October 1916, following a suggestion from the Englishman Greyston who was visiting the Kanaya Hotel, the hotel's 660-square-meter tennis court was converted into a rink for use mainly by guests staying at the hotel.

（「日光市史・下巻」P693）　("Nikko City History, Volume 3", p. 693)
※原文ママ