High school baseball in Japan

In Japan, "high school baseball" (????: kōkō yakyū) generally refers to baseball tournaments played by high schools nationwide culminating at a final tournament at Hanshin K?shien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Japan. The tournaments themselves are commonly referred to as simply "K?shien". They are organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation in association with Mainichi Shimbun for the National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament in the spring (also known as "Spring K?shien") and Asahi Shimbun for the National High School Baseball Championship in the summer (also known as "Summer K?shien").

Notable episodes

Participation of overseas teams

Before World War II, teams from Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria participated in the tournaments (in the spring only Taiwan took part). The first foreign teams to participate were Pusan Commercial High School of Korea and Dalian Commericial High School of Manchuria in the 1921 Summer K?hien. Foreign teams have made it as far as the championship game, but have never won the tournament. The last tournament including foreign teams was the 1940 Spring K?shien.

Related Topics:
World War II - Taiwan - Korea - Manchuria - Pusan - Dalian

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Foreign teams advancing to the championship game

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YearTournamentSchoolResultOpponent

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1926summer 12thDalian Commercial High

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(Manchuria)runner-up1-2Shizuoka Prefectural High (Shizuoka)

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1931summer

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17thChiayi Agricultural High (Taiwan)runner-up0-4Ch?ky? University High (Aichi)

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Six-time K?shien participants

Currently, the maximum number of times a player can appear in K?shien is five.

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However, under the old high school system, a player could appear more than five times. Here are two examples.

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YearTournamentTamotsu KusumotoAkashi Secondary (Hyogo)Masao YoshidaCh?ky? Commercial (Aichi)

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19307th Spring2nd year 

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19318th Spring3rd year 

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19329th Spring4th year3rd year

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18th Summer4th year3rd year

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193310th Spring5th year4th year

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19th Summer5th year4th year

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193411th Spring 5th year

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20th Summer 5th year

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Total appearances66

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Makeshift K?shien

The tournament was suspended due to the war from summer 1941 until spring 1946, with the exception of a "Promote the Fighting Spirit" tournament held by the Ministry of Education in 1942 at K?shien. The number of teams was only 16 compared with 23 at the previous tournament, but each region held qualifying tournaments and sent teams to a national tournament. The military theme was prevalent at the tournament, with military slogans posted on the scoreboard, and names on uniforms written in trendy Roman alphabet letters replaced by traditional Japanese kanji characters. The tournament proceeded smoothly and Tokushima Commercial High (Tokushima) won the championship. However, since this tournament differed from past Summer K?shiens hosted by Asahi Shimbun it is not counted as an official K?shien tournament.

Related Topics:
War - Ministry of Education - Tokushima

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Sacred "Dirt of K?shien"

In the 1937 Summer K?shien, Kumamoto Tech (Kumamoto) advanced to the

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championship game, but lost. After the game, Kumamoto Tech player Tetsuharu

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Kawakami grabbed a handful of dirt from the playing field of K?shien Stadium and put it in his uniform pocket as a momento. Some years later, in the 1949 Summer K?shien, after Ogura High (Shizuoka) lost to Kurashige Tech (Okayama) in the semifinals, Ogura pitcher Kunio Fukushima scooped up some K?shien dirt and took it home. This has become known as the original scooping of "the dirt of K?shien". Since then, as a momento of their fleeting time on the hallowed grounds of K?shien, players from the losing teams take home a pouch of the precious soil.

Related Topics:
Shizuoka - Okayama

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At the 1958 Summer K?shien, Shuri High (Okinawa) became the first school to

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represent Okinawa (then under U.S. government rule) in a K?shien tournament.

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They were eliminated in their first game by Tsuruga High (Fukui). After the

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game, they collected souvenirs of dirt and took them home. However, due to

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quarantine regulations of the Ry?ky? government they were not allowed to keep the dirt, and it was confiscated. Some Japan Airlines flight attendants heard about this, and had a sea stone lying outside K?shien Stadium sent to Shuri.

Related Topics:
Ry?ky? - Japan Airlines

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Even today this "Monument of Friendship" lies in the yard of the school as a

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reminder of the first trip to K?shien by a team from Okinawa.

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