This essay discusses Rika Kihira’s skating and coaching, arguing that it is foolish to demand artificial smiles and unnecessary performance gestures from a truly gifted skater of exceptional talent.
It maintains that the essence of figure skating lies in technical perfection, beautiful flow, natural jumping, and the elegance to command the entire rink, while sharply criticizing the danger of mediocre coaching that can diminish genius.

2019-03-20
To begin with, from a skater who is producing world-record scores….
What kind of fool would demand needless and unnecessary smiles from a true talent born for figure skating!

Watching that foreign coach in the American high-altitude training camp demand smiles from Kihira like an idiot made me deeply uneasy….
This coach is no good….
Kihira, as she is now, does not need any extra smiles….
She only needs to deliver a perfect performance….
This coach does not understand what makes Kihira Kihira.
Her body type….
Her extraordinary athletic ability….
The fact that she is a daughter of Murasaki Shikibu….
She is the embodiment of Japanese beauty.
Because Japan, in every respect today, except for such foolish left-wing infantilists as those at the Asahi and NHK, is the most beautiful country in the world, Kihira is also the most beautiful in the world.
She embodies “the Turntable of Civilization” in every respect.
But that foreign coach alone does not understand this.
Here too is the fatal mistake of mere mediocrity trying to teach genius.
If one does such things, it harms the concentration that matters most.
Today’s result was exactly what one would expect.
Seeing that, Zagitova next gained a hundredfold in courage.
She put up a very high score, close to Kihira’s world-best short-program score.
To begin with, from a skater who is producing world-record scores….
What kind of fool would demand needless and unnecessary smiles from a true talent born for figure skating!
Does the skating federation also have absolutely no sense when it comes to selecting coaches?
Would Coach Orser demand smiles from Hanyu during a performance!
What gives spectators emotion in figure skating is the beauty of the performance, that is, beautiful perfection….
Its highest expression is the beauty of the jumps….
How beautifully the jump is executed….
And moreover, as naturally as possible, as if it were being done effortlessly….
That is what creates elegance.
Using smiles as camouflage is what second-rate and third-rate skaters do!
Only smiles that arise naturally are needed….
Even a smile that appears only after carrying out the performance perfectly is enough.
What people seek in figure skating is perfect technique and its beauty….
They seek the perfection of every movement and the beauty of the entire flow….
They seek the beauty of form.
And the fact that speed is added to that is the greatest charm that figure skating possesses.
Manufactured smiles….
And above all, before jumping the triple Axel, the most difficult technique for women….
To persistently demand a forced smile….
What fool attached such an incompetent and stupid coach!
If they keep such a coach, even an absolute queen will be spoiled.