In Japanese culture, synchronized group walks called "Shuudan koudou" have been a tradition at the Nippon Sport Science University for over 50 years.
The University—日本体育大学 in Japanese and abbreviated as Nittaidai or 日体大—is a private university with locations in Setagaya, Tokyo and Aoba-ku, Yokohama. The school's roots date back to 1893 and it was chartered as a university in 1949.
The school is renowned for many famous athletes—including multiple Olympic medalists—among its alumni.
A video of a Shuudan koudou performed by Nittaidai students in 2014 has recently gone viral on Twitter.
The video shared on November 6, 2022 has since gained 2.2 million views.
These Japanese students are performing “synchronized crossings”. Mind-blowing… pic.twitter.com/YdZK42PxuN
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) November 6, 2022
"Shuudan koudou" means collective action or group movement.
It requires the participants to engage in synchronized formations in the form of highly choreographed group walks. What may look simple to the viewer is, in actuality, an extremely precise set of movements that takes countless hours of practice.
Many people were asking the same question—how long did it take to get to this level of precision?
Surely not hours or days.
Weeks?
Months?
Years‽‽
All I can think of is when they first started learning this routine. Ouch 😣
— LAVeganNative 🏹 🧜♀️🐬🐳🐋🌊 (@LAVeganNative) November 6, 2022
That was amazing. I wonder what the first training session looked like though.
— JBD (@jbdel2) November 6, 2022
I can't hit my head and rub my stomach at the same time.😅
— mountain girl (@hayes1942) November 6, 2022
This traditional event is held annually and aims to showcase the students' athleticism and ability to work unanimously as a team.
The students practice multiple days a week for months to perfect the performance. This performance is considered the equivalent of cheerleading or drill teams in Japan.
The internet's reaction to the recently revived 2014 video is exactly what we would expect from such a performance.
Holy moly. The next Olympics opening in the US (2028) should feature just college football marching bands doing crazy shit like this
— 𝘫𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘺 𝘭. (@Jeremy10036) November 6, 2022
Just may watch this on a loop all day long.
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) November 6, 2022
Wow! How absolutely fabulous in every way
— CJ Artemisia Fierce Canadian💙💙💙 (@Chiffonelle29) November 6, 2022
While most people were in awe of the synchronized walk, some were less than impressed.
Although isn't there always those people who have to criticize everything while crowing about their own prowess like it's not possible for two things to bd great at the same time.
Y'all act like the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band hasn't been doing this during halftimes for decades... pic.twitter.com/FjCJdhITtb
— James B. Webb (@BrainRage) November 6, 2022
Let’s see em do while playing tuba and whatnot pic.twitter.com/Am3JDQpFs7
— TIAtheTERRIBLE (@tia_benson3) November 6, 2022
So, marching band without the instruments?
— me (@kittyinthecity7) November 6, 2022
My @marines Silent Drill Team does this while carrying rifles and swords.
— Fred Schick (@fschick1249) November 6, 2022
The beautiful simplicity of the performance is proof of just how focused and dedicated the students are.
What could easily have turned into a huge mess, instead shows us what can be done through dedication, practice and working together as a synchronized team.
We hope to see more videos like this that showcase the interesting and amazing from around the world.
