and to collect soil from the Koshien Stadium as a souvenir. For third year students, the dirt is kept as memorabilia, whereas lower grade players often use it as motivation to return to the tournament. Finals List of champions In popular culture Some of the most famous appearances of the Japanese High School Baseball Championship in popular culture are in the manga and anime series Touch, H2 and Cross Game by Mitsuru Adachi, Ace of Diamond by Yūji Terajima, and Major by Takuya Mitsuda. Those series follow the struggles of different high school teams' bids to make it to the Kōshien tournament. The 2014 hit Taiwanese film Kano is based on the true story of a high school baseball team from the Kagi Nōrin (Agriculture) High School (now known as National Chiayi University) team in Kagi (now known as Chiayi), Taiwan who qualified for the tournament for the first time in 1931 after never having won a game in its first three seasons. The team was made up of ethnic Japanese, Han Chinese and Taiwanese aborigines. The team won three games to make it to the championship game before losing 4–0 to Chukyō Shōgyō from Nagoya. This was the first of four appearances at the tournament for the Kano team, who later qualified in 1933, 1935 and 1936. The Summer Koshien Tournament has had a longstanding tradition of launching the careers of many famous players, many of whom get drafted to the NPB and eventually make their way to the MLB. Names include 2001 AL Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player Ichiro Suzuki, 2006 World Baseball Classic MVP and 2007 World Series Champion Daisuke Matsuzaka, as well Yu Darvish, a five-time MLB All-Star, and Shohei Ohtani, who won the 2018 AL Rookie of the Year, and 2021 AL Most Valuable Player. See also High school baseball in Japan Japan High School Baseball Federation Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament ("Spring Koshien") Asahi Shimbun Hanshin Koshien Stadium Notes External links At Asahi Shimbun's website, complete scorebooks for the entire tournament are available. Kokoyakyu – High School Baseball A brief description of the Kōshien summer tournament High school baseball in Japan Baseball competitions in Japan Tourist attractions in Hyōgo Prefecture Sport in Hyōgo Prefecture Recurring sporting events established in 1915 1915 establishments in Japan Summer sports competitions