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Hanshin Koshien Stadium (阪神甲子園球場, Hanshin Kōshien Kyūjō), commonly referred to as simply Koshien Stadium, is a baseball park located near Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The stadium was built to host the national high school baseball tournaments, and opened on August 1, 1924. It was the largest stadium in Asia at the time it was completed, with a capacity of 55,000. The name Kōshien (甲子園) comes from Wood Rat of the Sexagenary cycle system. The year of the stadium's founding, 1924, was the first year kōshi (甲子) in the cycle. The design of the stadium was heavily influenced by the Polo Grounds in New York City. In 1936 it became the home stadium for the Osaka Tigers (current Hanshin Tigers), now with the Central League. On February 14, 1964, Hanshin, the Tigers' owners, was appended to the name of Koshien Stadium. In addition to the annual National High School Baseball Championship, played in August, the stadium hosts the annual National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament in March, a smaller, invitational tournament. Both tournaments are generally known simply as Kōshien. The high school tournaments are given a higher priority, with any tournament games that need to be rescheduled forcing the Tigers to postpone conflicting home games. It also hosts Japan's American college football national championship game, the Koshien Bowl. Legendary baseball player Babe Ruth played an exhibition game at Koshien on his Japan tour in 1934. There is a plaque at the stadium commemorating the event.
