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27-561: The Honinbo house was a school of Go players officially founded in 1612 and discontinued in 1940. The founder was the Buddhist priest Nikkai , and 1612 is the year when Oda Nobunaga started sponsoring the school. The name Honinbo was that of the pavilion on the grounds of the Jakkoji temple in Kyoto where Nikkai lived. When the capital was moved to Tokyo , Nikkai moved along and turned "Honinbo" into

54-513: A par with each other, and competed in the official castle games called oshirogo . The Hon'inbō house (本因坊家) was easily the strongest school of Go for most of its existence. It was established in 1612 and survived until 1940. Upon the closure of the school, the title Hon'inbō came to be used for the winner of the Honinbo Tournament , which is now an annual professional Go event in Japan. It

81-497: A particularly brilliant move and exclaimed "Meijin!" in appreciation of its greatness. The term was thereafter applied to the strongest player of the day. Sansa, besides being Nobunaga's Go tutor, also taught Toyotomi Hideyoshi , who, after taking control, established Sansa as Godokoro , roughly meaning "Head of the Government Go Bureau." The Meijin title came to be greatly prized by all of the most promising Go prodigies of

108-432: A player recognised by all as strongest) were also from this house. Another prominent member was Hon'inbō Shūsaku (秀策, 1829–1862), who was heir to become head of the school, but died of cholera before officially becoming Hon'inbō. The Hayashi house (林家) was one of the four Go houses of Edo period Japan. It was in effect the junior partner in the system of Go schools, never producing a Meijin player. Always an ally of

135-584: A special name but do use the Hon'inbō title. Hon'inbō Shūsai sold his title to the Japan Go Association before retiring in 1936, effectively ending the Hon'inbō line. All three of the "Go saints" (or Kisei ) came from this school— Dosaku , Shusaku , and Jowa (although Jowa is frequently reviled because of his machinations while trying to become Meijin ). Most of the holders of the Meijin title (awarded to

162-484: A title, calling himself Honinbo Sansa. Note: The 17th and 19th Honinbo are the same person, and the 16th and 20th are the same, too. The titles 22nd-26th Honinbo are honorary titles given to players who won the Honinbo tournament sufficiently often. The Honinbo Tournament is a yearly tournament for the title of Honinbo, held since the retirement of Shūsai. The last Honinbo, Shusai, gave (or sold ) his title in 1938 to

189-571: A while, the Honinbo house (of Dosaku ) emerged as the most prestigious, and the Hayashi house ran into difficulties, eventually being taken over by the Honinbo. The Meiji Restoration threw the system into disarray, but three houses survived some hard times to 1900. Honinbo Shusai arranged that the Honinbo title should become a tournament of the Nihon Kiin after his death (1939). The Yasui house died out; it

216-557: Is a yearly game between the current professional Honinbo and the Amateur Honinbo. Four Go houses#Hon'inbō In the history of Go in Japan, the four Go houses were four major schools of Go instituted, supported, and controlled by the state, at the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate . (There were also many minor houses.) At roughly the same time shogi was organised into three houses. Here "house" implies an institution run on

243-460: Is between 5-9 dans and the six winners (18 winners). The third is between these 18 and the 3 people dropped from the league (3 winners, who enter the league). Komi is 6.5. The time limit is 8 hours each in the title matches and 3 hours in the league and prelims. Byo-yomi is 1 minute per move. The title of "Meijin" derives from a game played by the first Hon'inbō , Sansa . An onlooker (no less than Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga ) watched him play

270-508: Is not certain as of 2004 whether the Inoue house theoretically continues or not, though it dropped out of the mainstream from the 1920s. Meijin (go) Meijin (名人) means "Expert or Master". It is the name of the second most prestigious Japanese Go Tournament . It also refers to a traditional Japanese title given to the strongest player of the day during the Edo period . The Meijin tournament

297-404: Is run under the titleholder system , meaning that at any given time there is a player who can use the title Hon'inbō. It is customary for Japanese players to take a special personal name as Hon'inbō, a unique feature of this title; for example Takagawa Kaku held the title for nine years, and during this time was referred to as Hon'inbō Shukaku. Players of other nationalities by custom do not adopt

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324-512: Is sponsored by the Asahi newspaper, and has prize money of ¥ 30,000,000 for the winner (since the 45th Meijin in 2020). The tournament is open to Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in players. A nine-player league decides the challenger each year. Every year, the three worst-ranked players in the league drop out. Entrance into the league is decided by three preliminaries. The first is between 1-4 dans (6 winners: 4 Nihon ki-in and 2 Kansai ki-in). The second

351-511: Is still used for professional training. Prepared variations were used in top games (notably in the blood-vomiting game of Jowa and Akaboshi ). Go secrets were state secrets, in effect; since the country was closed to foreigners, in the main, the only international competition was against players from the Ryukyu Islands , but those games are still cited as examples of the difference between strong amateurs and extremely strong players. After

378-452: The Nihon Ki-in , to be awarded in a yearly tournament. Preliminary tournaments were held in 1939 and 1940, and the final title match, between Sekiyama Riichi and Kato Shin , in 1941. This match ended in a tie, 3-3. Since Sekiyama had been first after the preliminary tournaments, he was declared winner. Thus, Sekiyama Riichi became the first to bear this new title Honinbo. Some winners of

405-548: The Honinbo and Hayashi aligned with the Nichiren sect , and the Inoue and Yasui with the Jodo Shu . All players were therefore male. Some outward forms only persisted of that connection, with the oshirogo games being played in Buddhist dress and with shaven heads; the stylish Ota Yuzo was given a waiver of the obligation since he was proud of his hair. After Honinbo Doetsu made a representation that long sleeves were troublesome for

432-478: The Honinbo house, and irregular succession could occur with the potential for scandal. The official posts of Meijin and godokoro were awarded, somewhat sporadically, and brought great prestige to the house. In practice, backstairs intrigue was often brought to bear on the appointments. More creditably, since the Meijin title could only be awarded to the undisputed master player of the time, there were occasions when it

459-465: The Honinbo school, for traditional reasons, it didn't survive to the end of the period as truly independent. Its headship went to Honinbo Shuei , and when he became also Honinbo head, it was de facto merged into the Honinbos. From the second head onwards, the head of the house when playing was known as Hayashi Monnyū. The Inoue house (井上家) was one of the four Go houses, the state-supported schools for

486-591: The Honinbo tournament choose an art name (professional name). For the first two the name was chosen by the Nihon Ki-in. For example, Sekiyama was called Honinbo Risen (本因坊 利仙). For more details, see ja:本因坊#本因坊戦勝者と雅号 There are now several further tournaments with names involving 'Honinbo', such as the Women's Honinbo tournament, the Amateur Honinbo tournament, and the Student Honinbo tournament. Since 1963, there

513-525: The age, freed from the cares of everyday life by the government stipends coming from the Go Bureau. Most often held by members of the Hon'inbō school , it was also held by brilliant Yasuis and Inoues . No player from Hayashi house attained Meijin status. The title "Meijin" is also attached to the rank of 9 dan during this period hence there is only one 9-dan/Meijin at a time even if there are many players that are at

540-485: The artistic way. From 1737 to the present, the current head of the Yasui house has been known as Senkaku. The retirement or posthumous names are listed here. The first of the four houses was the house Honinbo, founded by Honinbo Sansa. Honinbo Sansa was a Buddhist monk and had been appointed Godokoro (minister of Go) by Tokugawa Ieyasu after the unification of Japan in 1603. They were also nominally Buddhist institutions, with

567-429: The game of Go in Japan during the Edo period . The numbering of the heads of the house is that introduced by Inoue Genan Inseki, at the start of the nineteenth century, and including Nakamura Doseki for reasons of prestige. During their playing careers all the heads, apart from Doseki, were called Inoue Inseki . For reasons of convenience the retirement or posthumous names are used, in the style Inoue Genkaku Inseki with

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594-475: The personal part of the name interposed. Variant names abound. The Yasui house (安井家) was one of the four Schools (or Houses) of Go which were officially recognized during the Edo period of Japanese history. Each of the four schools were founded by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1612. The house had one Meijin , in Yasui Sanchi . It has been commented that the general style of play tended to the pragmatic, rather than

621-443: The players, a dispensation for shorter sleeves was allowed to them. At least, in theory, matters on succession in the houses were subject to the authority of the jisha bugyo , an official regulating religious establishment. Nominations as heir, typically within the iemoto system of the best disciple, who might not be a natural son but in effect adopted, were supposed to be made official. Deaths at an early age particularly affected

648-404: The recognised lines of the iemoto system common in all Japanese traditional arts. In particular, the house head had, in three of the four cases, a name handed down: Inoue Inseki , Yasui Senkaku , Hayashi Monnyu . References to these names, therefore, mean to the contemporary head of the house. The four houses were the Honinbo, Hayashi, Inoue, and Yasui. They were originally designed to be on

675-571: The strength of a 9 dan. 8-dans in the Edo period are called Jun-Meijin which means half-Meijin which is a rank accorded to sixteen players in the Edo period. After the Meiji Revolution , the four houses fell into disrepair due to the lack of government stipends. In 1958, the Yomiuri newspaper decided to sponsor a "Strongest Player" tournament to decide the strongest player of the current time. In 1961

702-624: The tournament's name was changed to Meijin. Since they already sponsored the Shogi Meijin tournament, in 1975 the Asahi newspaper offered to buy the rights to the Meijin tournament from the Yomiuri. After months of debating, the title was sold and the Yomiuri began sponsoring a new title, Kisei (Go Saint). The tournament before 1976 thus became called the Old Meijin . In the manga Hikaru no Go , there

729-457: Was withheld from two candidates whose merit was very close (an example was Genjo and Chitoku , around 1810–1820). The mode of teaching, by apprenticeship, brought a consistent and high level of play (though some say the standard sagged in the eighteenth century). Esoteric teaching was normal, with collections of very difficult tsumego being compiled, one of which, the Igo Hatsuyōron ,

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