Kyoto International High School Loses 1-3 in Semifinals... Tears at the Threshold of Koshien Finals

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] Kyoto International High School, a Korean school in Japan, has postponed its dream of becoming the Japanese high school baseball champion to the next opportunity.

On the 28th, Kyoto International High School lost 1-3 to Jiben Gakuen High School, representing Nara Prefecture, in the semifinals of the 103rd Japan National High School Baseball Championship (Summer Koshien) held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture, thus failing to advance to the finals.

Representing the Kyoto Prefecture region, Kyoto International High School first conceded 3 runs to Jiben Gakuen High School in the top of the 4th inning and managed to score only 1 run in the bottom of the 5th. Although Kyoto International High School, participating in the Summer Koshien for the first time, achieved an impressive 3 consecutive wins to reach the semifinals, they could not make it to the final stage. In the spring Koshien (Selected High School Baseball Tournament) they participated in for the first time this year, they were eliminated in the round of 16.

Koshien, a high school baseball tournament that enjoys great popularity in Japan, is also the name of the home stadium of the professional baseball Hanshin Tigers, built in 1924. The stadium was named Koshien (甲子園) because it was completed in the year of Gapja (甲子年) according to the traditional East Asian calendar. The Japan National High School Baseball Championship is held twice a year here, in spring and summer, called "Spring Koshien" and "Summer Koshien," respectively.

The Spring Koshien selects 32 participating teams through a selection committee, while the Summer Koshien determines participating teams through preliminaries held in 47 prefectures, with Tokyo, the most populous, and Hokkaido, the largest in area, each allocated two teams. Because of this, Japanese baseball fans tend to show more interest in the Summer Koshien.

This summer, 3,603 schools nationwide challenged the Summer Koshien. Kyoto International High School’s achievement of reaching the semifinals in the summer tournament following the round of 16 in the spring tournament is remarkable, considering the school’s small size and the relatively short history of its baseball club.

Kyoto International High School, operated by Kyoto International Academy, is a small Korean school with a current enrollment of 131 students as of March this year. There are 93 Japanese students and 37 Korean residents in Japan enrolled, with 40 of them (all holding Japanese nationality) belonging to the baseball team. Kyoto International Academy started as Kyoto Korean Middle School in 1947, was approved as a school corporation under the name Kyoto Korean Academy in 1958, and opened its high school division in 1963. Following approval from the Korean government for middle and high school establishment, it received official school accreditation from the Japanese government in 2003. It joined the Japan High School Baseball Federation in 1999.

Although Kyoto International High School’s dream of reaching the finals was dashed at the last moment, their school anthem, which begins with the Korean lyrics "Across the East Sea, Yamato land is the sacred dreamland of our ancestors," was played seven times during the summer tournament at Koshien Stadium. The school anthems of participating schools are played before each game, and the winning team’s anthem is played again after the game ends.

After the game, Park Kyung-su, principal of Kyoto International High School, expressed his gratitude, saying, "Thank you to everyone who supported us," and added, "We will look forward to the next opportunity."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.