Nihon Ki-in Hall of Fame

    Keywords: Culture & History, People

As one of the events celebrating its 80th anniversary, the Nihon Ki-in has established a Go Hall of Fame, analogous to those of various sports in the United States. It is located in the basement of the Nihon Ki-in headquarters in Tokyo.

Year Inductees Additional Notes
2004
  • Honinbo Sansa (1559-1623) - Founder of the Honinbo house and the first Meijin.
  • Honinbo Dosaku (1645-1702) - The 4th Honinbo head, responsible for great advances in Go theory.
  • Honinbo Shusaku (1829-62) - The greatest player of the Edo period, in the mid-19th century, who compiled a unique record of nineteen successive wins with no losses in his Castle Games.
  • Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) - The warlord who unified Japan and set the foundation for the Edo-period prosperity of Go by extending government patronage to top go players.
Nominations for the first year were restricted to the Edo period. Players who were nominated but did not make the cut included Honinbo Jowa, Honinbo Shuwa, Yasui Sanchi, Yasui Santetsu, and Nakamura Doseki.
2005 In the second year players from the Edo, Meiji, and Taisho periods were allowed to be nominated. New nominees were Honinbo Shuho, Honinbo Shuei, Honinbo Shusai, Baron Okura Kishichiro, Segoe Kensaku, Iwamoto Kaoru, Go Seigen, and Kitani Minoru. Though Go Seigen indicated beforehand that he did not feel it would be appropriate to be inducted while still active.
2006
  • Honinbo Shuwa (1820-73) - The leading player at the end of the Edo period and in the early modern period.
  • Baron Okura Kishichiro (1882-1963) - Played an important role in the founding of the Nihon Ki-in and served as its Vice President (later Honorary President) for a long period.
The third induction of famous figures from go history to the Hall of Fame was held on 28 July, 2006.
2007
  • Honinbo Shuho (1838-86) - The strongest player in the early Meiji period. He headed the Hoensha which played an important role in reviving go in the 1880's. He was perhaps the first prominent Japanese player to teach Westerners (Oscar Korschelt).
2008
2009
2010
2011
  • Iwamoto Kaoru (1902-99) - Winner of the Honinbo title. Worked to promote go in the world outside Japan.
2012
2013
  • Kita Fumiko (1875-1950) - The "mother" of modern women's professional go. Had an important role in the founding of the Nihon Kiin.
2014
  • Hashimoto Utaro (1907-94) - Winner of the the 2nd, 5th, and 6th Honinbo titles and for leading the Kansai Ki-in to independence in 1950. Founder and first director of the Kansai Ki-in. He also won a number of other titles, played in the first Kisei title match in 1977, was a prolific tsumego composer, and enjoyed a 70+ year go career.
Chosen from among eight candidates at a meeting of the Go Hall of Fame committee on July 18, 2014.
2015
  • Go Seigen (1914-2014) - Along with Kitani Minoru he helped usher in the age of modern go with their Shin Fuseki movement. He moved to Japan in the 1920s, but remained mostly independent, occasionally acting as a guest member of both the Nihon Kiin and Kansai Kiin. He participated in a large number of sponsored challenge matches with other top players of the day and dominated most of them. Upon retiring from competitive play, in 1983, he devoted himself to promoting "Go in the 21st Century" -- continuing to lead study groups for professionals and share his thoughts about the game, which remain highly regarded.
2016
  • Inoue Genan Inseki (1798-1859)
  • Kanren (874 - ?) - Buddhist high priest in the 9-10th centuries, famed for his Go skills.
2017
  • MASAOKA shiki (1867-1902) - Famous writer/poet of Haiku and Tanka. Enjoyed Go as a hobby and wrote many poems on the game.
Mijikayo wa goban no ashi ni shiramikeri
短夜は碁盤の足に白みけり
(A short summer night have dawned on the legs of goban)
2018
2019
2020
  • Fujisawa Hideyuki (1925-2009) - Won the first tournament Meijin title, won the first Kisei title and held it for six consecutive terms. Made a major effort to support Go (weiqi) in China, traveling there many times to teach.
2021
  • Takagawa Kaku (1915-1986) - Held the Honinbo title for nine consecutive terms, 1952-1960.
2022

Nihon Ki-in Hall of Fame last edited by hnishy on November 12, 2022 - 00:19
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