Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament

This article is about The Spring Koshien baseball tournament. For the summer tournament, see Summer Koshien. For other uses, see Senbatsu (disambiguation).

The National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (選抜高等学校野球大会 senbatsu kōtō gakkō yakyū taikai) of Japan, commonly known as "Spring Kōshien" (春の甲子園 haru no kōshien) or "Senbatsu" (センバツ), is an annual high school baseball tournament.

The National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament

Sport	Baseball
Founded	1924
No. of teams	32 (36 in special editions)
Country	Japan
Venue(s)	Hanshin Koshien Stadium
Most recent champion(s)	Yamanashi Gakuin - 95th (2023)
Most titles	Toho High School (5 Titles)
TV partner(s)	NHK, MBS, Gaora Sports
Streaming partner(s)	Yahoo Japan, SportsBull, TVer
Related competitions	The National High School Baseball Championship
Official website	https://mainichi.jp/koshien/senbatsu https://baseball.yahoo.co.jp/hsb_spring/ https://sportsbull.jp/senbatsu/

Yuki Karakawa of Narita High School pitches against Koryo High School in the 79th National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament at Koshien Stadium on March 26, 2007.

Background

The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and Mainichi Shimbun, takes place each year in March at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in the Koshien district of Nishinomiya, Hyōgo, Japan.

Teams qualify for the tournament by participating in the regional fall tournaments held throughout the country. While finishing in the top teams generally guarantees an invitation, it is up to the Japan High School Baseball Federation to determine invitees. For instance, in the 2008 Fall Tournament in the Tōhoku region, Ichinoseki Gakuin was the runner-up. However, they were passed over for 3rd place Hanamaki Higashi for the 2009 invitation tournament.

Of the 32 bids, 26 are automatically awarded as follows to the following regions:

• Hokkaido - 1
• Tōhoku - 2
• Kantō - 4
• Tokyo - 1
• Tōkai - 2
• Hoku-shin'etsu - 2
• Kansai - 6
• Chūgoku - 2.5
• Shikoku - 2.5
• Kyushu including Okinawa - 4

In addition, one additional bid is awarded to a team in the Kanto/Tokyo region, and another to a team in the Chugoku/Shikoku region.

The region of the winning team in the Meiji Jingu Fall Tournament (which consists of all fall regional champions) also receives a bid.

The final 3 bids are what are considered "21st Century Teams".

21st century teams are a way to give teams who either may not get close to qualifying or who have served as a model school in some way a chance to compete. A team from each prefecture is nominated around November–December. The teams must have advanced to the round of 16 play, but not gotten past the quarterfinals of their prefecture's tournament. Then each region nominates one of those nominees to the selection committee by December 15. Finally, the committee selects the three 21st century teams.

Finals

(R)	Replay
*	Game went to extra innings

List of champions

List of champions

Number	Year	Champion	Runner-up	Final Score
1	1924	Takamatsu High School	Waseda Jitsugyo High School	2-1
2	1925	Matsuyama High School	Takamatsu High School	3-2
3	1926	Kouryo Central High School	Matsumoto High School	7-1
4	1927	Wakayama Central High School	Kouryo Central High School	8-3
5	1928	Kansai Gakuin Central High School	Wakayama Central High School	2-1
89	2017	Osaka Toin High School	Riseisha Gakuen Toyonaka High School	8-3
90	2018	Osaka Toin High School	Chiben Gakuen Wakayama High School	5-2
91	2019	Aichi Toho University	Narashino	6-0
92	2020	All 32 teams played one game each in replacement Invitational Games. No tournament (pandemic)
93	2021	Tokai University Sagami High School	Meiho High School	3-2
94	2022	Osaka Toin High School	Ohmi High School	18-1
95	2023	Yamanashi Gakuin High School	Hōtoku Gakuen High School	7-3

See also

• High school baseball in Japan
• Japan High School Baseball Federation
• Japanese High School Baseball Championship ("Summer Koshien")
• Hanshin Koshien Stadium