Master filmmaker Kon Ichikawa reveals the beauty of the ballplayers' strenuous efforts. The 50th National High School Baseball Championship Tournament: Youth" is a documentary film about the Koshien Stadium.

Koshien is a summer tradition in Japan. The excitement of the games, which surpasses the heat of the day, has been a source of excitement for many people every year. This year, however, the tournament had to be canceled due to the coronavirus, leaving a gaping hole in the hearts of many people.

Now that we have come to appreciate the importance of Koshien for the first time since its disappearance, a film is being softened and revived for screening 52 years later.

~Story ~.
Koshien Stadium in winter, with the sound of the wind rumbling under the big iron umbrellas. The scenery without a single human figure, the ball players exploding with energy under the intense summer sun, seems like a vision. The first National Junior High School Championship Baseball Tournament welcomed 10 schools to Toyonaka Ballpark, and the first pitch was thrown by Mr. Murayama, president of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, to kick off the fierce competition. In 1924, Koshien Stadium was completed. In 1948, the name was changed to the National High School Baseball Championship. The many fierce battles and the history of the youth of the ballplayers have been passed down from generation to generation throughout Japan, and the 50th anniversary of the tournament has finally arrived.

Master director Kon Ichikawa made a huge hit as a national film.Tokyo OlympicsAfter the production of "The Japan High School Baseball Tournament" (1968), we conceived the idea of making a documentary film on the summer high school baseball tournament, a major national event. With the full cooperation of the Asahi Shimbun and the High School Baseball Federation, the 50th commemorative tournament held in 1968 was made into a film on an overwhelming scale.

The images and techniques of this film are different from those usually associated with documentaries. The subject matter of the Koshien baseball tournament is put on the stage in Kon Ichikawa's film, and is captured with even greater power along with the outpouring of sweat. The bold compositions and rhythmical cut-and-paste sequences are a masterpiece.

Masato Ide, Yorishio Shirasaka, Kiyoshi Ito, and Shuntaro Tanikawa participated in the script production. Filming began in the winter of the previous year, and followed ball players from all over the country as they practiced hard. When it came time to film the games at Koshien, more than 20 cameras and 120 staff members were placed at various locations around the stadium to capture their every move from a variety of perspectives, including telephoto, high-speed, zoom, and wide-angle lenses.

The video footage was edited to include not only the sounds of the venue, but also the detailed sounds of the audience, referees, and players, giving it a sense of realism and lyricism even though it is supposed to be non-fiction.

We hope you will come to the theater to see this film that captures the good fight for what Japanese high school baseball has built up to date.