If it weren’t the spiritual home of Japanese baseball, there would be little to distinguish the area around Koshien Station from any other suburban locale in the nation.
A large shopping mall, an imposing elevated highway connecting Osaka and Kobe, wide boulevards, and a few ordinary restaurants and bars dot this area of Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture — and for roughly two-thirds of the year, that’s about the extent of the activity permeating the neighborhood.
But when the Hanshin Tigers are playing, or the National High School Baseball Championship is on, the area transforms into a sea of baseball fans from Kansai and beyond, all making a pilgrimage to their holy land: Koshien Stadium.
If those religious tones sound like hyperbole, consider the fact that high school baseball players traditionally pack up a bag of the stadium’s famed infield dirt once they’ve been eliminated from the competition, such is the honor of having played in the historic park, which turns 100 on Thursday.
In his 1989 Japanese baseball opus “You Gotta Have Wa,” author Robert Whiting noted that Japanese writers and baseball gurus regularly said the stadium was a “temple of purity” and that the ground is “sacred.”
“It’s like a cathedral,” Whiting told The Japan Times on Tuesday.
A new home
While the Tigers have made Koshien their primary home since they began play in 1936, they remain a relatively new tenant. Before the era of professional baseball began in Japan, the stadium was originally built to accommodate the increasingly popular national high school tournament, which quickly outgrew its original park in nearby Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture.
Construction crews broke ground on the stadium in 1922 for what was to be the biggest stadium in Asia at the time of its completion.
But even before it was completed, the size of the playing field came under scrutiny, according to Whiting.
“The initial complaint was that it was too big,” Whiting said. “They were saying it was impossible that a human being could hit a home run over the fence at Koshien.”
To alleviate those concerns, test games were held before the stadium was completed to ensure that home runs would, in fact, be possible.
When it opened on Aug. 1, 1924, the first fans inside the stadium, which could seat over 50,000 people at the time, were awestruck, Whiting wrote, with the single grandstand stretching 50 rows back and the huge iron roof towering over the infield seats, giving it the nickname “Iron Umbrella.”
Capacity has since been reduced to around 42,000 for Tigers games to alleviate some — but not all — of the cramped bleacher seating.
Pride of Kansai
On Tuesday night, Koshien and its surroundings were abuzz for the start of a crucial — and yet celebratory — series between the Tigers and the rival Yomiuri Giants. A sea of Tigers fans braving the sweltering afternoon heat wore the team’s pinstripes, drank beer and ate from bento boxes in the hours before the first pitch. Others took selfies of the stadium’s ivy-covered facade and its antiquated, analog display showing the matchup for the night’s game.
In one corner, a similar display counted down the days until Koshien’s 100th anniversary.
“It’s got history,” Whiting said. “It’s like Wrigley Field (in Chicago) or Fenway Park (in Boston). It’s one of the three stadiums still in existence where Babe Ruth played.”
That history is a source of pride for the Tigers, who had long been known for futility before winning the Japan Series last year and breaking a famous curse tied to Kentucky Fried Chicken in the process.
“There’s 100 years of tradition and history here,” said Tigers fan Kazuki Higuma, prior to attending Tuesday’s game. “I feel the weight of it, the weight of history.”
Trevor Raichura, who launched the Hanshin Tigers English News website in 2014, noted that some feel Koshien Stadium has held the Tigers back over the years. Having an all-dirt infield and a stadium open to the elements introduces certain variables into the game and the club has to vacate the stadium for a month each year to make way for the high school tournament.
“There’s definitely people that say ‘Well maybe the Tigers would be more successful if they played in a different park,’” he said.
“But I don’t think the fans — and I don’t think even the players — would trade the experience they get at Koshien for more championships.
“It’s hard to believe because it feels like the championship is the pinnacle of pro sports ... but (it’s) the privilege and the prestige of being able to say ‘this is my home park.’"
Higuma played baseball in high school, and like thousands of high school boys every year across the nation, he dreamed of making it to Koshien. Though, also like many, his dream fell short.
“It's a place that everyone who plays wants to go to, but only a handful of people get there,” he said. “It is a place to aspire to be.”
Indeed, Koshien is a stadium that conjures up memories not just for people who once aspired to play under its bright lights, but also for those who fondly recall their first visit to the park.
“When I first came here, I was too young to understand where I was taken to, but especially during night games, (everything) sparkled and the grass was so beautiful,” said Osaka native Noriko Sano ahead of Tuesday's game.
“I always remember how I felt when I saw it and I wondered what kind of place this was.”
Raichura was an adult by the time he went to his first game at Koshien — a Tigers matchup with the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, whose starting pitcher was none other than a 19-year-old Shohei Ohtani.
Still, the way he describes that first experience doesn’t sound all that different from Sano recalling her childlike wonder.
“Just kind of stepping out from the concourse into the stands, it was kind of a surreal experience,” he recalled. “Seeing the brown dirt of the infield and that blend with the lush green of the outfield was kind of a special moment.”
Timeless fan favorite
Despite the addition of some modern amenities like a large video scoreboard and modest corporate boxes, Koshien is not going to win any awards for comfort.
Bleacher seating capacity along the foul lines was recently reduced to allow for more space between fans, but the cramped seating experience remains in the outfield stands, where the Tigers’ boisterous ouendan (cheering section) brings the stadium — and the rest of the neighborhood — to life.
Concourses are similarly cramped between innings, when fans line up for sticks of yakitori (grilled chicken) or plates of okonomiyaki (savory pancakes).
Fans like Higuma and Raichura agree, however, that they wouldn’t trade that for the 21st century palaces of Japanese baseball, like Es Con Field near Sapporo and Mazda Stadium in Hiroshima.
Those new stadiums are nice, Raichura said, but they aren’t Koshien.
“You’d be hard pressed to find someone who appreciates the Tigers who wouldn’t call Koshien their favorite ballpark,” he said.
“I've been to other stadiums and they are totally different,” Higuma said. “(Koshien) is spacious and beautiful, and it feels like a baseball stadium.
“It’s totally different from the others and everyone has pride in it.”
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