Late April-early June depending on the district - Spring Tournament
Not so important, just to get in the form after off-season and try out new players.
First itâs held on prefectural level then it moves to regional level. There are 9 regions: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto (including Tokyo), Hokushinetsu, Tokai, Kinki, Chuugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu. They determine seeded schools in summer based on results from these tournaments.
Late June-July - Summer Qualifiers/Tournament
Elimination tournament, schools need to become the champions in their prefectures to get to Summer Koshien.
August ïœ08 for 2 weeks - Summer Koshien. Thatâs the DREAM and the GOAL!
Usually 49 schools - a school from each prefecture (47) and one additional school from Tokyo and Hokkaido (since they have too many schools). Hokkaido is divided into North and South Hokkaido, Tokyo is divided into East and West Tokyo.
Early September - Â IBAF 18U Baseball World Cup
Talanted players, even those who didnât get to Koshien, are selected for the national team. They compete with teams from other countries. Â
October - Fall Tournament
The first important tournament for new teams after 3rd-year students retire. Same as spring tournament, first itâs held on prefectural level then it moves to regional level. There are 10 regions: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Tokyo, Hokushinetsu, Tokai, Kinki, Chuugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu. 10 winners in those districts get to play in Meiji Jingu Tournament and at Spring Koshien. Even schools that didnât win can have a chance to play at Spring Koshien, they are selected by Japan High School Basebal Federation based on results from Fall Dictrict Tournaments
Late September-October - National Athletic Tournament
Best 11 schools from koshien + 1 school from the region where the tournament is held. There are a lot of schools that participate in National Athletic Tournament with only 3rd-year students so that 1st and 2nd-year students wonât be distracted from the main Fall Tournament
November - Meiji Jingu Fall Tournament Â
Again 10 schools - fall regional champions get to play here. The region of the winning school also receives one more bid in Spring Koshien (The school that was runner-up in the same regional fall tournament as the winner gets to play at Spring Koshien too. I.e. if a school from Kinki region won Meiji Jingu, the runner-up from Kinki region gets to go to Spring Koshien). Itâs called Jingu Tournament Slot
Off season (schools arenât allowed to play against each other)
March ïœ21 for 2 weeks - Spring (Senbatsu, Invitational, Haru) Koshien
There are usually 32 schools: 28 regular slots + 1 Jingu Tournament Slot + 3 21th Century Slots.
28 regular spots consists from school:
floating bid Kanto/Tokyo region - 1
floating bid Chugoku/Shikoku - 1
Itâs held from late March till early April for about 2 weeks. First-year students canât participate there since technically they arenât high school students yet.
The schools for Spring Koshien are selected by the Japan High School Baseball Federation. While placing in the top spots in the Fall regional tournaments usually guarantees an invitation but the JHBF determinates invitees (They may chose a 3rd place over a runner-up for example). They donât like schools with questionable tactics and inconsistent play. I.e. 32 schools were chosen from 126 candidate high schools: 117 high schools and nine 21st Century high schools. Representatives are chosen in late January.Â
The 21th Century schools are selected this way: each prefecture nominates a school. From them they select one school for each region (Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Hokushinetsu, Tokai, Kinki, Chuugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu). And then they choose one school from western region, one from the eastern region, and one wild card.Â
The 21th Century schools are usually public and they are often first-timers at Koshien. They advanced to 1/16 but didnât get past the quarterfinals in their fall tournaments but showed great play (with few (1-3) errors through the whole tournament) or/and showed great spirit or/and have great players or/and are model schools. There must be no cases of misbehaviour or breaking rules and laws (or else they withdraw from selection). They are not chosen based only on baseball merits, usually they are not strong enough to be in Summer Koshien the regular way and regretfully mostly they lose in the 1st game in Spring Koshien.