Games - Honinbo Shusai

Home > Listing Index > Games > Honinbo Shusai

	Games - Honinbo Shusai

Honinbo Shusai (本因坊秀哉, Hon'inbō Shūsai, 1874 - January 18, 1940) is the professional name of Tamura Hoju, also known as Tamura Yasuhisa (田村保寿 Tamura Yasuhisa), was a Japanese professional Go player.

Biography

He was born in Tokyo, and became the 21st and last hereditary head of the Honinbo house, as successor to Honinbo Shuei. He attained the Meijin title in 1914, becoming the tenth player since the original Honinbo, Sansa, to do so. In 1924, he participated in the establishment of the Nihon Ki-in. He transferred the Honinbo title to the Nihon Ki-in in 1936, and retired thereafter.

In 1938, at the age of 64, he came back to play a memorial "retirement game" against Kitani Minoru, losing it by 5 points. The game was later immortalized by Nobel Prize winner Kawabata Yasunari in the novel Meijin (published in English as The Master of Go). Despite being a loss, this narrow loss (less than a typical komi) to a leading young player, when he was near the end of his life, shows how strong he must have been in his prime.

Although Kawabata portraits Shusai as a noble figure, Go Seigen, one of the greatest Go players ever, referred to Shusai as a "scoundrel" and a "villain". One reason for this seems to be the fact that Shusai sold his Honinbo title for "mere lucre".

Honinbo, Shusai Honinbo, Shusai Honinbo, Shusai Honinbo, Shusai

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Honinbo Shusai ]

Searches on eBay

honinbo shusai