Although it is unknown exactly when and how it started, there is a famous tradition at the Koshien tourneys that almost all the participating teams do after they are eliminated from the tournament: Players put the "special" soil of the stadium in their own cleat bags to bring back home. According to the stadium's official website, it is speculated that Tetsuharu Kawakami, who later earned the nickname "Hitting God" as a Yomiuri Giants star, was the first to ever do it when Kumamoto Kogyo lost in the final of the 1937 summer Koshien. Interestingly enough, the soil at iconic Koshien Stadium is currently collected from Okayama, Mie, Kagoshima, Oita and Tottori prefectures and is mixed together. (K.N.)