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Don't Peep at Bamboo Joints
Keywords: Proverb
Don't threaten vainly to cut the bamboo joint.
At the same time in a capturing race it is usually better to try to make a forcing move from the outside. Dieter: This is not my understanding of the proverb. What you describe is an attempt to cut it. Peeping at the bamboo joint is a kind of threat to cut something which can not be cut. The proverb in fact warns against moves that are not peeps at bamboos as such, but will inevitably become if you read a little further. There is a nice illustration of this proverb at dashn.com
Peeping at a bamboo joint is a wasted move.
Almost like playing against a wall.
White 4 here is called a trick play in a Korean book. That seems unfair. But the point is that Black might play at a in answer. Then after 6 to 9, Black would be peeping at both sides of a bamboo joint, which is taboo. One peep may be acceptable, but with stones at 9 and a it can't be that both are efficient.
Actually the correct joseki here avoids (postpones) the other peep, too. Black should play this way, so that the kikashi 7 is available. This does something to cover Black's weak point at b. When I have played this joseki, my opponents haven't done that, so perhaps it really is a trick play. This is a copy of the living page "Don't Peep at Bamboo Joints" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |