Koshien High School Baseball
August 8th, 2008 by TEAugust in Osaka, for many, means just one thing – “Koshien High School Baseball” – a huge baseball tournament that somehow makes the head of mid-summer all the more bearable.
Comparable in some forms to the English FA Cup in that every high school in the nation, if they happen to have a baseball team, has a chance to progress to the final, the annual National High School Baseball Tournament to give it its proper title is held at the home of the Hanshin Tigers (pro) baseball team – Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture – a smidgen to the west of Osaka.
Dating to 1915, in a country known to rebuild rather than maintain, Koshien has long served as one of the two leading pillars* in Japanese ballpark history, and as 2008 is the 90th (several tourneys were skipped in wartime) time the tournament has been held, proceedings will be viewed as just that little more special this time round.
As such, the chance to play the game they love in a packed stadium as renowned as Koshien is not only a thrill for the boys, their schools and supporters, it is equally thrilling for the millions of baseball fans around the country who tune in to the daily TV broadcasts to see all the action.
For Japanese the length and breadth of the country there is something special about seeing teens from the best 49 baseball playing schools in the country giving their all on the dusty earthen surface of Koshien as the sun beats down – a feeling only reinforced as those knocked out of the competition rush over to one corner, tears brimming but prepared paper cups or plastic Ziploc bags in hand to take home a few handfuls of the hallowed Koshien soil.
Odd for many foreign residents attending or watching on TV though, is the annual swearing of an oath prior to the event with marching and gestures more reminiscent of the 1936 Olympics than a modern-day sports event.
Back in the present though, and politics of sports aside, the 2008 tournament itself runs from the 2nd and is expected to wrap by the 19th if the weather plays along, but just like the Wimbledon tennis tournament in England, delays due to games cancelled or postponed by rain are not unknown which means it is really only the most flexible that should head down to support a particular high school although all will be welcome.
Regardless of background, team supported et al, one and all can enjoy seeing the vitality of youth reaching skywards in their own quests for personal and team baseball glory whilst for a few hours at least ignoring the soaring temperatures of summer.
Fee: minimal charges of several hundred yen are made at the entrance gates with the cheapest options being in the outfield ‘gaien’ area.
Access: via Koshien Station (2 minute walk) on the Hanshin Electric Railway Main Line.
*the other being Jingu Stadium in Tokyo – home to a similar tourney in the Spring in which the players of Tokyo’s most famous universities compete.
