Japanese High School Baseball Championship

Japanese High School Baseball Championship
Sport Baseball
Founded 1915
No. of teams 49
Country  Japan
Most recent
champion(s)
Sakushin Gakuin
Most titles Chukyodai Chukyo (7 titles)
TV partner(s) NHK, ABC
Official website asahi.com
1st National High School Baseball Championship Ceremonial First Pitch, August 18, 1915
Koryo-High School Hanshin Koshien Stadium

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 Kōshien" (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, even as soccer continues to gain more attention.

The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and Asahi Shimbun, takes place during the summer school vacation period, culminating in a two-week final tournament stage with 49 teams in August at Hanshin Koshien Stadium (阪神甲子園球場 hanshin kōshien kyūjō) in the Koshien district of Nishinomiya City, Hyōgo, Japan.

Background

The 49 schools taking part in the final tourney represent regional champions of each of the prefectures of Japan (with two from Hokkaidō and Tokyo). From mid-June until July, regional tournaments are held to decide who is sent to Koshien.[1]

The rules are the same as in the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament. It is a single elimination tournament with nine inning games. Games are declared official after seven complete innings in the case of suspension (due to weather, et cetera), except for the championship game which must be played to completion. For the regional tournaments, games are ended if one team leads by at least ten runs after five innings or seven runs after seven innings, except in the championship games. Designated hitters are not used. Four umpires are used, except for night games in which two outfield line umpires are added.

The first round pairings and byes are decided by lottery. 34 teams meet in the first round, and 15 teams with byes join at the second round (32 teams play in the second round). Therefore, it takes either five or six wins for a team to win the championship. Until 2002, the four quarter finals were played in one day, but this was changed to two a day over two days to give the players time off. If rainouts continue for more than three days, four games are played in one day. This occurred in 2003, so the first time the quarter finals were played over two days was actually 2004. To accommodate the extra day, the long tradition of starting the tournament on August 8 was changed to start a day or two early.

Up to four games are played each day until the quarter finals. The starting times of each day's games is shown below. Following games are begun about 30 minutes after the previous game ends. Due to the fast pace of the pitching, four games in one day are usually completed before sunset.

Day of the tournament 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Round 1st 1st 1st 1st 1st/2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 2nd 3rd 3rd Quarter Quarter Semi Final
Games
Start time
3
10:20
4
8:30
4
8:30
4
8:30
3
9:30
4
8:30
4
8:30
4
8:30
3
9:30
4
8:30
4
8:30
2
11:00
2
11:00
2
11:00
1
13:00

Extra innings

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. After 1958, a rematch must be called after 18 innings. The first pitcher to pitch a complete game 18 innings was Eiji Bando in a 1958 quarterfinal game. Daisuke Matsuzaka became the last pitcher to pitch a complete game over 15 innings (17 innings in 250 pitches, 1998).

After 2000, all games that are tied after 15 innings are rescheduled for the following day. This first happened in the finals in 2006.

Traditions

The tournament theme song is "The Laurels of Victory Shine on You". Every five years, the tournament celebrates the anniversary, and a deep crimson is used for the championship flag.

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 collect soil from the stadium as a souvenir. For third year students, the dirt is kept as memorabilia, whereas lower grade players often use it as motivation to return to the tournament.

Finals

(R) Replay
* Match went to Extra innings

Recent champions

Number Year Champion Runner-up Final Score
60 1978 PL GakuenKochi3–2
61 1979 MinoshimaIkeda4–3
62 1980 YokohamaWaseda Jitsugyo6–4
63 1981 Hotoku GakuenKyoto2–0
64 1982 IkedaHiroshima12–2
65 1983 PL GakuenYokohama3–0
66 1984 Toride Dai-niPL Gakuen8–4
67 1985 PL GakuenUbe4–3
68 1986 TenriMatsuyama3–2
69 1987 PL GakuenJoso Gakuin5–2
70 1988 HiroshimaFukuoka Dai-ichi1–0
71 1989 TeikyoSendai Ikuei2–0
72 1990 TenriOkinawa Suisan8–4
73 1991 Osaka ToinOkinawa Suisan13–8
74 1992 Nishi Nihon Tandai FuzokuTakudai Koryo1–0
75 1993 IkueiKasukabe Kyoei3–2
76 1994 SagaShonan8–4
77 1995 TeikyoSeiryo3–1
78 1996 MatsuyamaKumamoto Kogyo6–3
79 1997 Chiben WakayamaHeian6–3
80 1998 YokohamaKyoto Seisho3–0
81 1999 Kiryu Dai-ichiOkayama Ridai14–4
82 2000 Chiben WakayamaTokaidai Urayasu11–6
83 2001 Nichidai-sanOhmi5–2
84 2002 Meitoku GijukuChiben Wakayama7–2
85 2003 Joso GakuinTohoku4–2
86 2004 Komadai TomakomaiSaibi13–10
87 2005 Komadai TomakomaiKyoto Gaidai Nishi5–3
88 2006 * Waseda JitsugyoKomadai Tomakomai1–1
(R) Waseda JitsugyoKomadai Tomakomai4–3
89 2007 Saga KitaKoryo5–4
90 2008 Osaka ToinTokoha Kikukawa17–0
91 2009 Chukyodai ChukyoNihon Bunri10–9
92 2010 KōnanTokaidai Sagami13–1
93 2011 Nichidai-sanKōsei Gakuin11–0
94 2012 Osaka TōinKōsei Gakuin3–0
95 2013 Maebashi IkueiNobeoka Gakuen4–3
96 2014 Osaka TōinMie4-3
97 2015 Tokaidai SagamiSendai Ikuei10-6
98 2016 Sakushin Gakuin Hokkai 7-1

2014 tournament

Table lists all the High Schools participating in the 2014 tournament.[2]

Prefecture City/Town High School Name Previous Appearance Total Appearances
Hokkaido Kushiro BushukanN/A1
Hokkaido Sapporo Tokai Daiyon19935
Aomori Hachinohe Hachinohe Gakuin Kosei20127
Iwate Morioka Morioka Daifu20128
Akita Senboku KakunodateN/A1
Yamagata Yamagata Yamagata Chuo20102
Miyagi Rifu RifuN/A1
Fukushima Itachi Seikou Gakuin201311
Ibaraki Toride Fujishiro20113
Tochigi Utsunomiya Sakushin Gakuin201310
Gunma Takasaki Kendai Takasaki20112
Saitama Kasukabe Kasukabe Kyoei20055
Chiba Ichihara Tokaidai BoyoN/A1
Tokyo Chiyoda Nishogakusha DaifuN/A1
Tokyo Suginami Nichidai Tsurugaoka20083
Kanagawa Sagamihara Tokaidai Sagami20109
Yamanashi Kofu Tokaidai Kofu201212
Niigata Niigata Nihon Bunri20138
Nagano Saku Saku Chosei20126
Toyama Toyama Toyama Sho200416
Ishikawa Kanazawa Seiryo201317
Fukui Tsuruga Tsuruga Kehi20096
Shizuoka Shizuoka Shizuoka201123
Aichi Nagoya Toho200816
Gifu Ogaki Ogaki Nichidai20133
Mie Matsusaka Mie201312
Shiga Hikone Ohmi200811
Kyoto Kyoto Ryukokudai Heian201233
Nara Gojo Chiben201117
Osaka Daito Osaka Toin20138
Hyogo Kobe Kobe Kokusai DaifuN/A1
Wakayama Wakayama Shi Wakayama20044
Okayama Okayama Kanzei20119
Hiroshima Hiroshima Koryo201021
Tottori Yazu Yazu20108
Shimane Matsue Kaisei20119
Yamaguchi Iwakuni Iwakuni20075
Kagawa Sakaide Sakaide Sho19948
Tokushima Naruto Naruto20139
Ehime Saijo KomatsuN/A1
Kochi Susaki Meitoku Gijuku201316
Fukuoka Kitakyushu Kyushu Kokusai Daifu20115
Saga Saga Saga Kita20124
Nagasaki Nagasaki Kaisei201117
Kumamoto Yamaga Johoku20084
Oita Oita OitaN/A1
Miyazaki Nichinan Nichinan Gakuen20117
Kagoshima Kanoya Kanoya ChuoN/A1
Okinawa Naha Okinawa Shogaku20137

In Film

The 2014 hit Taiwanese film Kano is based on the true story of a high school baseball team from the Kagi Agriculture High School (now known as National Chiayi University) team in Kagi (now known as Chiayi), Taiwan who qualified for the tournament for the first time in 1931 after never having won a game in its first three seasons. The team was made up of ethnic Japanese, Taiwanese Hoklo and Hakka Han Chinese and Taiwanese aborigines. The team won three games to make it to the championship game before losing 4–0 to Chukyo from Nagoya. This was the first of four appearances at the tournament for the Kano team, who later qualified in 1933, 1935 and 1936.

See also

Notes

  1. Takahara, Kanako, "Japan baseball stars first shine bright at Koshien", Japan Times, July 24, 2007, p. 2.
  2. Asahi Shinbun Koshien page (japanese) http://koshien.asahi.co.jp/local/
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