Japanese High School Baseball Championship

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The National High School Baseball Championship (全国高等学校野球選手権大会, Zenkoku Kōtō Gakkō Yakyū Senshuken Taikai) of Japan, commonly known as "Summer Koshien" (夏の甲子園, Natsu no Kōshien), is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament. It is the largest scale amateur sport event in Japan.

The tournament, organized by the

In the past teams from overseas have participated in the tournament. Korea fielded teams from 1921 to 1940; both Taiwan and Manchuria had teams participate from 1923 to 1940.

The 49 schools taking part in the final tourney represent regional champions of each of the prefectures of Japan (with two from

For tournaments previous to 1958 there were no extra inning limits for a game tied after nine innings of play. In 1933, Masao Yoshida had pitched a complete game during a 25 inning shutout in the semifinal, an all-time record. Yoshida had thrown 336 pitches during that game.

In 1958, games were limited to 18 innings, with a full replay required after that on a future day. The first pitcher to pitch a complete game 18 innings was

In 2018, the Japan High School Baseball Federation capped regular play to 12 innings (except in the championship final), but games will continue with the World Baseball Softball Confederation baseball tiebreaker with runners on first and second base (the previous two players relative to the current player in the batting order) starting with in the 13th inning.

• If the game is suspended because of inclement weather or curfew while the game is in the tiebreaker, the game is declared a tie and a replay will be implemented at the earliest possible date.
• Pitchers are limited to fifteen innings.
• There is a 15 inning limit in the championship final. A championship final replay will be scheduled in the next possible day.
• The championship final replay will use the tiebreaker at the 13th inning.

Traditions

The tournament theme song is "The Laurels of Victory Shine on You" (Japanese: 栄冠（えいかん）は君（きみ）に輝（かがや）く, Hepburn: eikan wa kimi ni kagayaku).

Usually air sirens are used to signal the start and the end of the games, the earlier registers of this tradition are from 1936. Its origins are unknown, but considering the time of its origin, before the advent of mass communication, it is considered that its use was the same as it is nowadays; to signal the start and the finish of a match for spectators and stadium workforce.^[2]

Every five years, the tournament celebrates the anniversary of the founding of the tournament, and a deep crimson is used for the championship flag for commemorative purposes. Also, on those editions, the number of participants on the final part of the tournament also grows.

For third year students, a loss at the tournament signifies an end to their high school baseball career, as there are no other major tournaments for the rest of their academic career. It is common for players to cry in sorrow after tight games and/or their losses.

Another common tradition after games is the act of collect the soil from the Koshien Stadium infield as a souvenir. The dirt collected by the chosen players is shared among the baseball club members of the schools. The dirt is kept as memoriblia for the third year players and shared between first and second years as a way to motivate them to reach the Koshien spot once again, but sometimes, first and second years refuse to receive the soil as a way to motivate them to return to Koshien.

Some teams also decide take part of the soil and throw the soil into the infield of their training practice as a way to bring good luck for them into the next year's tournament.

An interesting exception to this tradition happened in 1958. At the time, Okinawa was under U.S. rule. In that year, Okinawa's Shuri baseball team participated for the first time in both spring and summer. After losing to Tsuruga (from Fukui) in the first round of the summer tournament, they decided to pick up the infield soil after the game. However, they were not allowed to bring the dirt back to Okinawa, having to discard it at the port as the soil was considered "foreign soil".^[3] Volunteer flight attendants from Japan Airlines learned of the story and decided picked up stones from the coast of Nishinomiya and donated them to Shuri. The stones are still displayed in the school yard as a monument called Monument of Friendship (友愛の碑, Yūai no ishibumi), celebrating the team's first appearance at the Koshien.^[4]

Finals

List of champions

In popular culture

Some of the most famous appearances of the Japanese High School Baseball Championship in popular culture are in the

The 2014 hit

In 2023, TBS made a live action drama based in the book Gekokujō Kyūshi, The book tells about the jorney of Hakusan High school, a small Mie school that managed to pull a historic upset win in the 2018 Prefectural tournament, taking the school for the first time ever into Summer Koshien. ^[9][10][11]

The Summer Koshien Tournament has a longstanding tradition of launching the careers of many famous players, many of whom get drafted to the NPB and eventually make their way to the MLB. Names include 2001 AL Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player Ichiro Suzuki,^[12] 2006 World Baseball Classic MVP and 2007 World Series Champion Daisuke Matsuzaka,^[13] as well Yu Darvish,^[14] a five-time MLB All-Star, and Shohei Ohtani,^[15] who won the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year, 2021 and 2023 AL Most Valuable Player.

See also

• High school baseball in Japan
• Japan High School Baseball Federation
• Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament ("Spring Koshien")
• Asahi Shimbun
• Hanshin Koshien Stadium

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to National High School Baseball Championship.

• At Asahi Shimbun's website, complete scorebooks for the entire tournament are available.
• Kokoyakyu – High School Baseball A brief description of the Kōshien summer tournament
• High School Baseball: Longest win streaks entering 2024 season

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