Skates? Forget them. In the frozen heart of Hokkaido, a different kind of ice hockey takes center stage — one played not on blades, but in sturdy rubber boots.
At the 20th annual All-Japan Rubber Boots Ice Hockey Finals, Keijiro Kiriyama slips past the keeper and scores the winning goal in dramatic fashion — tumbling behind the goal like a scene out of NHL folklore. But the real stars of the game aren’t sticks or saves — they’re the rubber boots.
Invented in 1978 by former Olympian Katsuji Morishima, this quirky sport relies on what every local already owns: a love of hockey and a pair of rain boots. Players race across outdoor ice in colorful, often oversized rubber boots, skidding, sliding, and stumbling in pursuit of a small pink ball.
“Rubber boots hockey is chaos, but beautiful chaos,” says Kazuhiro Kudo, a goalkeeper in bright blue boots. The lack of skates makes control harder, but it also levels the playing field. No expensive gear, no need for years of skating lessons — just boots, balance, and boldness.
For locals, it’s more than a sport. It’s a winter ritual. And for organizers, the next goal is global. “We want to take this to the world,” said Atsuhiro Nishikawa. “Rubber boots hockey belongs everywhere.”
