Sightings Of The Kami-No-Itte

The power of the Kami-No-Itte has long been held in considerable respect. One only needs to watch an episode of Hikaru No Go, where even a just a generally quite good move produces shafts of light, strong headwinds, and/or electrical storms, to gain some idea of the devastating force a true Kami-No-Itte would unleash.

It is known that Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu established the four Go houses and the position of Godokoro specifically for research into this powerful move. Japanese military tactics of the time were vulnerable to controlled use of Kami-No-Itte, and Ieyasu's rival Ishida Mitsunari? often employed batteries of Go-players playing matches in reserve, acting as artillery from behind his lines. Several historical documents of the time describe the intense bombardment of lightning bolts that shattered ranks of Samurai. In peacetime, particularly sneaky hamete moves were often employed for assassinations when ninjas were unavailable, due to double-booking or Jewish holidays.

The actual Kami-no-Itte has, to date, never been played, though several players have gotten close.

Perhaps most famously is Shuusaku's 'Ear-Reddening Move'. This move was very close to the Kami-No-Itte, but however cannot be said to be the actual thing as no reported headwind was observed, nor did lightning dance across the board. Inseki's ear got a bit hot, but that was about it.

Recently, Patrick Batty? 8k from South London came very close to playing the Kami-No-Itte by mistake, however as he moved to play the stone, a massive discharge of electricity shot up from the board in a powerful arc. Due to Batty wearing a metal watch, the resulting electromagnetic attraction jerked his hand to one side, resulting in the stone being played one space to the right. The board was split down the middle and Batty was hospitalised for a fortnight.

Scientists in several countries are continuing to run experiments to find the Kami-No-Itte - so far, results are sporadic, and dangerous. The entire research wing of the Nihon Ki-In was destroyed by spontaneous combustion in 1978, 2004 & 2009 as researchers went about their work.