Meijin

Table of contents Historic Title Meijin Godokoro Four Sages Modern Japanese Tournament Tournament Winners Old Series (Yomiuri) New Series (Asahi) Kawabata’s Novel Notes

Historic Title

Meijin is a title in Japanese Go, written 名人. Its original meaning is “master” or “expert” or “virtuoso” of any field, not just Go. Historically, during the Edo period in Japan, there was only one Meijin, equivalent to a 9-dan rank. This person had to stand out from their peers as the undisputed strongest player in the country, so there was not always a Meijin when there was no consensus.

The first Meijin was Honinbo Sansa in 1612. Honinbo Shusai was the last traditional Meijin, though in fact the system had necessarily changed after the Meiji Restoration. The rank of 9 dan was then separated from the Meijin title, and promotion to 9 dan was awarded through the Oteai, the first being Fujisawa Kuranosuke. The ten players who held the historic Meijin title were:

 #   Name                    Year of promotion – Year of death (or resignation,  for Yasui Sanchi and Honinbo Jowa)
 1st Honinbo Sansa         1612–1623 +
 2nd Nakamura Doseki       1623–1630 + Note: Later assumed as the first head of Inoue house, under the moniker Inoue Nakamura Doseki.
 3rd Yasui Sanchi          1668–1676 +
 4th Honinbo Dosaku        1677–1702 +
 5th Inoue Dosetsu Inseki  1708–1719 + (Godokoro 1710–19)
 6th Honinbo Dochi         1721–1727 +
 7th Honinbo Satsugen      1767–1788 + (Godokoro 1770–88)
 8th Honinbo Jowa          1831–1839 +
 9th Honinbo Shuei         1906–1907
10th Honinbo Shusai        1914–1940

+ = Meijin Godokoro

Meijin Godokoro

During the Tokugawa Shogunate there was a government position known as godokoro, the go instructor to the shogun. There was a similar job for shogi. The Godokoro post was created by Tokugawa Ieyasu and appointed by the Commissioner of Temples and Shrines (jishabugyo). As only the strongest player in the country could hold the post, the Meijin title was a requirement to become Godokoro, however it did not guarantee the appointment, and the position was sometimes vacant for long periods of time.

Strong and ambitious Go players sought the job, sometimes resorting to scandalous political maneuvers. The Meijin Godokoro had significant power, prestige, and perquisites. In addition to having a government stipend and some access to the Shogun, the Meijin Godokoro was the highest official in the Go world, approving rank promotions, scheduling castle games, and adjudicating disputes between the go houses. It was practically a lifetime appointment because the Godokoro was exempt from competing in the Castle Games, and indeed barred from serious contests, since he was theoretically supposed to devote his every effort to helping the Shogun be a better player. This made it hard for other players to demonstrate that they were stronger, and therefore the rightful Meijin.

Because of this and other governmental support for Go (i.e. the Four Houses) during the Tokugawa period, the quality of play grew faster in Japan than elsewhere. Honinbo Jowa was the final Meijin Godokoro, as the Godokoro post was abolished in 1868 after the Meiji Restoration.

Four Sages

There were four players of Meijin-class strength who couldn't get the official title for various reasons.

Modern Japanese Tournament

The modern Meijin title came about in 1962, as a successor to the former title of Saikyo (1956-1961). The title is the second most prestigious of the big titles in Japan, at least in terms of prize money, after the Kisei. The winner's prize is ¥33,000,000 currently.^[6]

Time controls for the best of 7 challenge are 8 hours each, for the league it's 5 hours each.^[6]

The Meijin title has been sponsored by the Asahi Shinbun newspaper since 1976. The games can be found on their website (Japanese). They took over sponsorship from the Yomiuri Shimbun, and the Meijin tournaments played before then are now commonly referred to as the Old Meijin titles since the numbering of the titles started over with the change in sponsor.

Due to the importance of the Meijin as one of the "big three" titles in Japan (along with the Honinbo and Kisei), there are several paths of automatic rank advancement through it in the Nihon Ki-in new promotion system. Qualifying for the Meijin league warrants a promotion to 7-dan, winning the league to challenge for the title promotes to 8-dan, and finally winning the title itself gives an immediate 9-dan promotion.

As with each of the three Japanese big titles, the previous year's title holder is challenged by the winner of a league. Entry to the league is gained through a series of preliminary tournaments. The title is decided in a best of seven match, where each player is given eight hours of thinking time over a two day period. Since 1976, four players have won all of their league games, the most recent being Iyama Yuta in 2009. http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/english/topics/09/topics2009_09.htm#090910

The title Honorary Meijin is given to those players who have previously won the Meijin title five years in a row. Currently, this includes Cho Chikun and Kobayashi Koichi.

The Chinese Mingren and Korean Myeongin are corresponding titles. The three titleholders meet in the China-Korea-Japan Meijin.

Tournament Winners

The Meijin tournament was established in 1962, sponsored by the Yomiuri newspaper, whose sponsorship lasted for 14 years. In 1976 the Asahi newspaper took over sponsorship and the numbering of the titles began again with one. The Yomiuri-sponsored tournaments are now referred to as the "Old Meijin" titles.

Old Series (Yomiuri)

New Series (Asahi)

The title match usually starts in August.

See also Meijin, Go to Everyone

Kawabata’s Novel

Japanese Nobel laureate writer Yasunari Kawabata wrote a novel about Shusai’s final game with Kitani Minoru, titled Meijin. Its English title is The Master of Go. The game is also described in The Meijin’s Retirement Game by John Fairbairn, which includes a discussion of Kawabata’s novel. This game marked the transition from the traditional title of the Honinbo to the tournament title.

Notes

[1] Game four of the 5th Meijin tournament was ruled void (or no result) due to some confusion with a ko. Both players were in byo-yomi and Cho Chikun asked the scorekeeper (Hikosaka Naoto) if it was his turn to take the ko. He agreed that it was, and Cho made the illegal move retaking the ko. Cho was not required to forfeit the game because the referree had erred, so the game was declared void.

[2] Game four of the 23rd Meijin tournament was void (or no result) due to a triple ko.

[3] The games of the 29th Meijin tournament are both interesting and unusua—Yoda Meijin played an interesting move in game [three|29th Meijin—Game —Move31] and game [four|29th Meijin—Game4] is even stranger.

[4] See Meijin League

[5] See Meijin 2011 Game 2

[6] http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/match/meijin/042.html

[7] Otake Hideo appeared in the final 9 times in 10 years starting from his first win in 1975 (plus further 3 times). He got the nickname of “The man of Meijin tournament” (名人戦男).