It seems that since yesterday, March 23, Koshien Station has been using the Senbatsu entrance march song “Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana” as its train approach melody.
Senbatsu entrance march song at Koshien Station from the first train on the 23rd (Mainichi Shimbun) – Yahoo! News
According to the linked article, it will be used until the last train on April 3, the final day of the tournament.
Speaking of “Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana,” it’s famous as a hit song by SMAP, the group that disbanded in 2016. The lyrics and music were written by Noriyuki Makihara. It was released in 2002, and CD sales reached 3 million copies, which is the kind of number that would even surprise AKB.
Yesterday’s actual entrance march songs were apparently “Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana” and Noriyuki Makihara’s “Donna Toki mo.” The reason these two songs were chosen seems to be that since this is the last tournament of the Heisei era, they selected songs that symbolize the Heisei period.
Why Is Senbatsu Written in Katakana?
I got a little curious about why Senbatsu is written in katakana, so I looked it up.
To get straight to the point, there doesn’t seem to be a clear answer.
However, there were two theories.
- The theory that it was a strategy by the Mainichi Shimbun, the organizer of the Spring Invitational High School Baseball Tournament
- The theory that “Senbatsu” is written in katakana because “選抜” alone would not distinguish it from other events
The site below examined these ideas. If you’d like to know more, take a look.
https://yuden.net/manner/6168/
Anyway, Senbatsu is really starting to heat up!
Still, there probably aren’t many places besides Nishinomiya where large numbers of people from all 47 prefectures gather in one place. It feels like all kinds of energy are coming together. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?
