South Korea’s Kyoto International High School, Koshien three consecutive championships “Across the East China Sea…” “Singing the school song｜Dong-A Ilbo

When we won the quarter-final we were back in the semi-finals for the first time in three years.
NHK Live Singing of Korean School Song

Kyoto International High School, a Korean school in Japan, advanced to the quarterfinals with three consecutive wins in the 106th Japan National High School Baseball Championship (Koshien). Kyoto International High School defeated Fukuoka Prefecture’s representative Nishi-Nihon Junior High School 4-0 in the third round of the Koshien finals held at Hanshin Koshien Stadium in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture on the 17th and advanced to the quarterfinals. If they win in the quarterfinals held on the 19th, they will repeat the “final four myth” for the first time in three years.

After the victory was confirmed, Kyoto International High School players lined up at home plate and sang the Korean school song, “Across the East Sea, the land of Yamato, the sacred place of our ancestors’ ancient dreams.” Public broadcaster NHK broadcast the players’ singing of the school song live across Japan, with subtitles of the Korean lyrics and Japanese translation. This was the third scene NHK broadcast during this tournament. Kyoto International High School won the game today with a buzzer-beating victory, as starter Rui Nakazaki stopped the opponent’s batting lineup with powerful pitching, striking out 14 batters in the 9th inning.

Kyoto International High School will challenge the semifinals again, which is the best result achieved in the first Koshien competition in 2021. Coincidentally, the opponent in the quarterfinals represents Jimoto Gakuen High School in Nara Prefecture, the opponent the team lost to in the semifinals three years ago. Kyoto International High School head coach Komaki Norihiko said: “This is the opponent we lost to three years ago. We will aim for the areas where we can win and prepare for victory.”

“I was touched that the children performed so well,” Baek Seung-hwan, principal of Kyoto International High School, told Dong-A Ilbo in a telephone interview. He added, “The students expressed their willingness to work hard to build a bridge of friendship between South Korea and Japan. “This progressive and future-oriented mentality will lead our players to victory,” he said.

The predecessor of Kyoto International High School was Kyoto Korean Middle School, which was established in 1947 to provide education for Koreans living in Japan. It was subsequently reorganized into Kyoto Korean Middle School and approved by the South Korean government. The school was once in operational difficulties due to the decrease in the number of students due to the decrease in the number of Koreans living in Japan. In 2003, it was approved by the Japanese government as a regular school and became the current Kyoto International Middle and High School.

Now, about 90% of the students are Japanese. Students interested in Korean culture, including K-pop, are knocking on the school’s doors. Recently, Koshien’s baseball team has become a regular visitor, and it has attracted attention as a famous baseball school.

Tokyo = Special Correspondent Lee Sang-hoon sanghun@donga.com