is a
baseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
park located near Kobe in Nishinomiya,
Hyōgo Prefectureis a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...
,
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. The
stadiumA modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
was built to host the
national high school baseball tournamentsIn Japan, high school baseball generally refers to the two annual baseball tournaments played by high schools nationwide culminating at a final showdown at Hanshin Kōshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Japan...
, and opened on April 1, 1924. It was the largest stadium in
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
at the time it was completed, with a capacity of 55,000.
The name Kōshien (甲子園) comes from the
Sexagenary cycleThe Chinese sexagenary cycle , also known as the Stems-and-Branches , is a cycle of sixty terms used for recording days or years. It appears, as a means of recording days, in the first Chinese written texts, the Shang dynasty oracle bones from the late second millennium BC. Its use to record years...
system. The year of the stadium's founding, 1924, was the first year kōshi (甲子) in the cycle. The design of the stadium was heavily influenced by the
Polo GroundsThe Polo Grounds was the name given to four different stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used by many professional teams in both baseball and American football from 1880 until 1963...
in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. In
1936-American football:* Minnesota Golden Gophers are the National college football champions* Green Bay Packers defeated Boston Redskins 21–6 for the NFL championship...
it became the home
stadiumA modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
for the
Osaka TigersThe are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Koshien, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and are in the Central League. Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., the subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., owns the Hanshin Tigers directly...
(current Hanshin Tigers), now with the
Central LeagueThe or is one the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consists of six teams from around the country,The Central League...
. On February 14, 1964, the name of the baseball park changed from Koshien Stadium to
Hanshin Koshien Stadium.
In addition to the annual
National High School Baseball ChampionshipThe National High School Baseball Championship of Japan, commonly known as "Summer Kōshien" , is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament...
, played in August, the stadium hosts the annual
National High School Baseball Invitational TournamentThe National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament of Japan, commonly known as "Spring Kōshien" or "Senbatsu" , is an annual high school baseball tournament....
in March, a smaller, invitational tournament. Both tournaments are generally known simply as
KōshienIn Japan, high school baseball generally refers to the two annual baseball tournaments played by high schools nationwide culminating at a final showdown at Hanshin Kōshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Japan...
. The high school tournaments are given a higher priority, with any tournament games that need to be rescheduled forcing the Tigers to postpone conflicting home games.
Legendary home run hitter
Babe RuthGeorge Herman Ruth, Jr. , best known as "Babe" Ruth and nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Sultan of Swat", was an American Major League baseball player from 1914–1935...
played an exhibition game at Koshien on his Japan tour in 1934. There is a plaque at the stadium commemorating the event.
Repairs in the 21st century
The
Great Hanshin earthquakeThe Great Hanshin earthquake, or Kobe earthquake, was an earthquake that occurred on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It measured 6.8 on the moment magnitude scale , and Mj7.3 on JMA magnitude scale. The tremors lasted for approximately 20...
of 1995 affected Kōshien. Cracks appeared and part of the stands collapsed. In July 2004, a concrete plan surfaced for improvement of the complete baseball ground facilities.
Construction began during the off-season of 2008 while the stadium continued to be used for baseball. Later stages followed during the off-season, and the large-scale construction was completed in 2010.
The main points of the plan are as follows:
- As much as possible, the present conditions of the baseball grounds are to be preserved, including the Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that has served as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs since 1916. It was built in 1914 as Weeghman Park for the Chicago Federal League baseball team, the Chicago Whales...
-inspired ivyParthenocissus tricuspidata is a flowering plant in the grape family native to eastern Asia in Japan, Korea, and northern and eastern China...
, which has become a symbol of the stadium
- The infield continues to be earth
- The outfield continues to be natural grass and be open to the air (no roof over the grounds).
- The Ginsan roof over the grandstand was removed and replaced with a modern Ginsan roof without pillars.
- The seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
was reduced to 47,808 people to help make the stadium barrier-free.
Price ranges
The stadium has four seating price ranges.
The top seats are the green seats (sold in season tickets) directly behind home plate and under the "Ginsan" roof. These seats are entirely covered and corporate. The seats in the infield are colored green on the first base side and the third base side under the "Ginsan" roof and called "Ivy Seat". Both sides are
¥The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...
4,000. The outfield benches along the lines are called the "
AlpsThe Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....
" and they are ¥2,500. The outfield seats are ¥1,900.
As with all Japanese stadiums, the home supporters sit in right field and the away supporters in left field. However, even if the opponents are the Yomiuri Giants, the away supporters rarely constitute more than one section high up in left field. On most nights the stadium is jam-packed with cramped seating.
Appearances in fiction
Koshien plays a big part in many baseball manga series, including
Touchis a Japanese high school baseball manga by Mitsuru Adachi. It was originally serialized in the weekly manga magazine Shōnen Sunday from 1981–1986...
,
Cross Gameis a romantic comedy baseball manga series by Mitsuru Adachi that was serialized by Shogakukan in Weekly Shōnen Sunday between 11 May 2005 and 17 February 2010 . It is collected in 17 tankōbon volumes, with the final volume published in April 2010, shortly after the end of the anime series...
and
H2is a Japanese manga written by Mitsuru Adachi portraying high school baseball. It has been made into an 41-episode anime series and an 11-episode television drama series, H2: Kimi to Ita Hibi, directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi.-Plot:...
by
Mitsuru Adachiis a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kieta Bakuon, based on a manga originally created by Satoru Ozawa...
and in other Authors works like Higuchi Asa's
Ōkiku Furikabutte, often shortened to just , is a baseball manga series by Asa Higuchi, serialized in the monthly seinen Afternoon magazine since 2003. It has been adapted into a TV anime series, animated by A-1 Pictures, which premiered in Japan on TBS...
and
Rookiesis a Japanese shōnen manga written and illustrated by Masanori Morita. The series was featured on Weekly Shōnen Jump during its original run from 1998 to 2003. The series was licensed for release in France by Edition Tonkam and in Italy by Star Comics, where it was featured in the magazine Express...
by Masanori Morita. It was also talked about in
Major (manga)Major is a sports manga series by Takuya Mitsuda. It has been serialized in Shōnen Sunday and has been collected in 78 tankōbon volumes...
where Koshien is the aim of all high school baseball teams to play there. The park also plays a part, in name, in the
animeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Princess NinePrincess Nine, or , is a 26-episode Japanese anime broadcast in Japan in 1998. The television series was produced by Phoenix Entertainment in Japan, released by ADV Films in North America, aired from April 8 to October 14, 1998 on NHK, ran for 26 episodes, and six volumes of the series were...
. The events of the 2-hour Detective Conan special episode
Miracle at Koshien Ball Park! The Defiants Face the Dark Demon take place in the stadium. In the light novel and anime adaptation of
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (specifically the episode
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Part 5), Haruhi's explanation of why she searches for the supernatural involves a baseball game she viewed with her family in Koshien. The stadium also appears as a stage in the fighting game
The King of Fighters '97The King of Fighters '97 is a fighting game produced by SNK for the Neo Geo arcade and home console. It is the fourth game in The King of Fighters series. It was ported to the Neo-Geo CD, as well as the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn in Japan only...
, crowded and adapted for the
KOF tournament, with the fighters standing on a catwalk-like structure. In
Nodame Cantabileis a manga by Tomoko Ninomiya. It was serialized in Japan by Kodansha in the magazine Kiss from July 2001 to October 2009 and collected in 23 tankōbon volumes. A two-volume sequel, called Nodame Cantabile: Opera Chapter, which began serialization in the 10 December 2009 issue of Kiss, was released...
, the heroine Megumi Noda kept a bag of soil from Koshien Stadium. In Angel Beats, Hinata says he was part of a baseball team that was aiming to play in Koshien.
Access
Koshien Stadium is a two minute walk from
Koshien Stationis a train station on the Hanshin Electric Railway Main Line in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the nearest station to Hanshin Koshien Stadium.-Layout:*There are two island platforms with 4 tracks between two side platforms elevated...
on the
Hanshin Electric Railwayis a Japanese private railway company of Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group that links Osaka and Kobe. It also owns the Hanshin Tigers baseball team.The second character for Osaka and the first character for Kobe combine to form the company name, 阪神, which can be read Han-shin.IC cards are accepted when...
Main Line. There is no parking lot at the stadium. Regular television commercials during game broadcasts encourage the public to use public transportation.
See also
- High school baseball in Japan
In Japan, high school baseball generally refers to the two annual baseball tournaments played by high schools nationwide culminating at a final showdown at Hanshin Kōshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Japan...
- Koshien Bowl
The Koshien Bowl is the annual Japanese American college football national championship game, usually played in December at Koshien Stadium.From the 2009 season until 2010 season, the game is held as the final game of Japan University American Football Championship...
External links