Japanese High School Baseball Championship

Japanese High School Baseball Championship

Sport	Baseball
Founded	1915
No. of teams	49
Country	Japan
Most recent champion(s)	Maebashi Ikuei
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

File:Koryo High School No,89-Hanshin Koshien Stadium 2007.jpg

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 to August, regional tournaments are held to decide who is sent to Koshien.

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 Gakuen	Kochi	3–2
61	1979	Minoshima	Ikeda	4–3
62	1980	Yokohama	Waseda Jitsugyo	6–4
63	1981	Hotoku Gakuen	Kyoto	2–0
64	1982	Ikeda	Hiroshima	12–2
65	1983	PL Gakuen	Yokohama	3–0
66	1984	Toride Dai-ni	PL Gakuen	8–4
67	1985	PL Gakuen	Ube	4–3
68	1986	Tenri	Matsuyama	3–2
69	1987	PL Gakuen	Joso Gakuin	5–2
70	1988	Hiroshima	Fukuoka Dai-ichi	1–0
71	1989	Teikyo	Sendai Ikuei	2–0
72	1990	Tenri	Okinawa Suisan	8–4
73	1991	Osaka Toin	Okinawa Suisan	13–8
74	1992	Nishi Nihon Tandai Fuzoku	Takudai Koryo	1–0
75	1993	Ikuei	Kasukabe Kyoei	3–2
76	1994	Saga	Shonan	8–4
77	1995	Teikyo	Seiryo	3–1
78	1996	Matsuyama	Kumamoto Kogyo	6–3
79	1997	Chiben Wakayama	Heian	6–3
80	1998	Yokohama	Kyoto Seisho	3–0
81	1999	Kiryu Dai-ichi	Okayama Ridai	14–4
82	2000	Chiben Wakayama	Tokaidai Urayasu	11–6
83	2001	Nichidai-san	Ohmi	5–2
84	2002	Meitoku Gijuku	Chiben Wakayama	7–2
85	2003	Joso Gakuin	Tohoku	4–2
86	2004	Komadai Tomakomai	Saibi	13–10
87	2005	Komadai Tomakomai	Kyoto Gaidai Nishi	5–3
88	2006 *	Waseda Jitsugyo	Komadai Tomakomai	1–1
	(R)	Waseda Jitsugyo	Komadai Tomakomai	4–3
89	2007	Saga Kita	Koryo	5–4
90	2008	Osaka Toin	Tokoha Kikukawa	17–0
91	2009	Chukyodai Chukyo	Nihon Bunri	10–9
92	2010	Kōnan	Tokaidai Sagami	13–1
93	2011	Nichidai-san	Kōsei Gakuin	11–0
94	2012	Osaka Tōin	Kōsei Gakuin	3–0
95	2013	Maebashi Ikuei	Nobeoka Gakuen	4–3
96	2014	Osaka Tōin	Mie	4-3
97	2015	Tokaidai Sagami	Sendai Ikuei	10-6

2014 tournament

Table lists all the High Schools participating in the 2014 tournament.

Prefecture	City/Town	High School Name	Previous Appearance	Total Appearances
Hokkaido	Kushiro	Bushukan	N/A	1
Hokkaido	Sapporo	Tokai Daiyon	1993	5
Aomori	Hachinohe	Hachinohe Gakuin Kosei	2012	7
Iwate	Morioka	Morioka Daifu	2012	8
Akita	Senboku	Kakunodate	N/A	1
Yamagata	Yamagata	Yamagata Chuo	2010	2
Miyagi	Rifu	Rifu	N/A	1
Fukushima	Date	Seikou Gakuin	2013	11
Ibaraki	Toride	Fujishiro	2011	3
Tochigi	Utsunomiya	Sakushin Gakuin	2013	10
Gunma	Takasaki	Kendai Takasaki	2011	2
Saitama	Kasukabe	Kasukabe Kyoei	2005	5
Chiba	Ichihara	Tokaidai Boyo	N/A	1
Tokyo	Chiyoda	Nishogakusha Daifu	N/A	1
Tokyo	Suginami	Nichidai Tsurugaoka	2008	3
Kanagawa	Sagamihara	Tokaidai Sagami	2010	9
Yamanashi	Kofu	Tokaidai Kofu	2012	12
Niigata	Niigata	Nihon Bunri	2013	8
Nagano	Saku	Saku Chosei	2012	6
Toyama	Toyama	Toyama Sho	2004	16
Ishikawa	Kanazawa	Seiryo	2013	17
Fukui	Tsuruga	Tsuruga Kehi	2009	6
Shizouka	Shizuoka	Shizuoka	2011	23
Aichi	Nagoya	Toho	2008	16
Gifu	Ogaki	Ogaki Nichidai	2013	3
Mie	Matsusaka	Mie	2013	12
Shiga	Hikone	Ohmi	2008	11
Kyoto	Kyoto	Ryukokudai Heian	2012	33
Nara	Gojo	Chiben	2011	17
Osaka	Daito	Osaka Toin	2013	8
Hyogo	Kobe	Kobe Kokusai Daifu	N/A	1
Wakayama	Wakayama	Shi Wakayama	2004	4
Okayama	Okayama	Kanzei	2011	9
Hiroshima	Hiroshima	Koryo	2010	21
Tottori	Yazu	Yazu	2010	8
Shimane	Matsue	Kaisei	2011	9
Yamaguchi	Iwakuni	Iwakuni	2007	5
Kagawa	Sakaide	Sakaide Sho	1994	8
Tokushima	Naruto	Naruto	2013	9
Ehime	Saijo	Komatsu	N/A	1
Kochi	Susaki	Meitoku Gijuku	2013	16
Fukuoka	Kitakyushu	Kyushu Kokusai Daifu	2011	5
Saga	Saga	Saga Kita	2012	4
Nagasaki	Nagasaki	Kaisei	2011	17
Kumamoto	Yamaga	Johoku	2008	4
Oita	Oita	Oita	N/A	1
Miyazaki	Nichinan	Nichinan Gakuen	2011	7
Kagoshima	Kanoya	Kanoya Chuo	N/A	1
Okinawa	Naha	Okinawa Shogaku	2013	7

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

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

External links

• 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