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 High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

tournament.

Background

The tournament, organized by the Japan High School Baseball Federation and

Mainichi Shimbun The is one of the major newspapers in Japan, published by In addition to the ''Mainichi Shimbun'', which is printed twice a day in several local editions, Mainichi also operates an English language news website called ''The Mainichi'' (previ ...

, takes place each year in March at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in the Koshien district of

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, 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 is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The lar ...

- 1 * Tōhoku - 2 * Kantō - 4 *

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- 1 *

Tōkai Tōkai ( 東海, literally ''East Sea'') in Japanese may refer to: * Tōkai region, a subregion of Chūbu * Tōkai, Ibaraki, a village, also known as "Tokaimura" (Tokai-village) * Tōkai, Aichi, a city * Tōkai University, a private university in T ...

- 2 * Hoku- shin'etsu - 2 * Kansai - 6 * Chūgoku - 2.5 *

Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan. It is long and between wide. It has a population of 3.8 million (, 3.1%). It is south of Honshu and northeast of Kyushu. Shikoku's ancient names include ''Iyo-no-futana-shima'' (), '' ...

- 2.5 * Kyushu including

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- 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.

Background

Finals

List of champions

See also