As I’m sure many of you have heard by now, Kiiyan ruptured his Achilles tendon during Saturday’s Sapporo show and will be having surgery tomorrow. The two additional shows at Zepp Diver City and Granrodeo’s appearance at Inazuma Fest have all been cancelled, unfortunately.

Not that Kiiyan isn’t game to perform … in fact it’s probably because he would perform, and not stay off the leg that the shows needed to be cancelled. I’m not sure exactly what happened, even though I was watching as it unfolded. As best as I can tell, he either tripped over something, or stepped down really wrong. It happened right after the beginning of move on! イバラミチ, which was the fifth song (second after the first MC). I saw Kiiyan stagger, wondered what was up; he staggered again and just went down, out of view. Consummate professional that he is, he kept on singing, though his voice gave out on a few lines and the fans filled in. It was scary, seeing him disappear like that, though hearing him continue was somewhat reassuring.

After move on! イバラミチ, he got up, and insisted to e-ZUKA that they continue. So he sang Passion standing up. But he was in so much pain that I could see he was crying (he did apparently tell e-ZUKA that it didn’t hurt as much as gout, though), which broke my heart. After Passion, staff came to help him off stage so he could get checked out. I guess they determined nothing was broken, so he came back out, right foot shoeless, and finished the show. They did drop the first two encore songs, but otherwise, it was a full-length concert, and Kiiyan, who should have been standing still and icing his leg, hopped around the stage and still gave us belly during modern strange cowboy. Bless him.

He went to the hospital right after the show, which is when the Achilles tendon rupture was diagnosed. When we saw him next at the Fan Club-only show, his right leg was bandaged from knee to foot, and he was on crutches. At dinner, they used a wheelchair to bring him in to the restaurant, and he went from that to the mini-stage. Monday, he had hot pink crutches, and unfortunately had to move up steps to the stage (why they didn’t make a ramp, I’m not sure); he doesn’t seem to like the crutches at all, and I can sympathize, having used them in the past.

So please, please, think good thoughts for Kiiyan, that the surgery goes well and he rests and heals fully.