All Japan High School Soccer Tournament

The All Japan High School Soccer Tournament (全国高等学校サッカー選手権大会, Zenkoku kōtō gakkō sakkā senshuken taikai, 全国高校サッカー選手権大会, Zenkoku kō kō sakkā senshuken taikai) of Japan, commonly known as "Winter Kokuritsu" (冬の国立 Fuyu no Kokuritsu), is an annual nationwide high school association football tournament. It is the oldest and largest scale amateur footballing event in Japan, widely popular throughout the nation. For third graders of the participating teams, the tournament is the last time the students can play in an official competition with their school peers, as they graduate from High School. It ends up enhancing the motivation of the players in each match of the tournament, as it can be their last wearing his High School team shirt in the competition.

Henceforth, the tournament, organized by the Japan Football Association, All Japan High School Athletic Federation and the Nippon Television, as a highly competitive tournament, it's organized in an all-knockout stage format. The prefectural preliminary rounds uses the same method, with the best-ranked teams according to the U-18 league division it plays earning byes from the early stages. The main tournament is held during the winter school vacation period, culminating in a two-week final tournament stage with 48 teams from late December to early January at the National Capital Region side.

From 1917 to 1924, the tournament was called "Japan Football Championship", where school teachers, graduates and alumni could play together. From 1925 to 1947, the tournament transitioned into the "All Japan Junior High School Soccer Tournament", which as the name implies, could only be played by junior high schools. From 1948 onwards, the tournament suffered its last final change, remaining to this day a high school-only tournament. From then, it was opened for schools across the entire country, as only Kanto, Kansai and Chugoku schools participated in the earlier editions.