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Segoe Tesuji Dictionary
    Keywords: Tesuji, Books & Publications

This is a work in three volumes by Segoe Kensaku and Go Seigen.[1]

It is divided into sections according to the kind of move key to the tesuji (e.g., tsuke or geta). In each section there are problems, graded into three streams. The C stream problems comprise "bread and butter" tesuji that everybody needs to know. The B stream contains more difficult reading problems of the kind that nevertheless do occur frequently in games. The A stream problems are much harder, requiring deep reading to penetrate. The answers are contained at the back of the volume.

I bought my copy in Japan last week and I am still getting used to the lay-out and levels in difficulty in each stream. When I have worked out how best to use the book and when I have got rid of my jet-lag, I intend to subject the material to repetitive force feeding.

Although I also have the Fujisawa Tesuji Dictionary, I felt I had to buy this work because first, Thomas Hsiang? recommended it to me a long time ago as the "quickest way to shodan" (and I assume he means shodan in the strong sense, rather than, with due respect, shodan in the British or Japanese amateur sense) and because, second, one participant in a recent rec.games.go discussion on this work stated that going through the B and C stream problems a few times will result in one's being able to "shock and awe opponents who are currently beating you easily". Third, I wanted a source of tesuji problems more challenging than those found in the James Davies book, and without the answers printed on the same page (which makes the Fujisawa dictionary quite hard to use as a problem set).

Naturally, I invite tips and comments below.

Tristan

Tom: I believe the "shock and awe" phrase was used of the Segoe Dictionary. [ext] http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&safe=off&selm=3ec539b1.15351122%40news.telus.net

PatrickB: Having just received mine from amazon.co.jp, I'll agree that if you can consistently do the A-level problems, you'll shock and awe a lot of people. Great books.


mgoetze: Uhm, I can understand the comment about Japanese amateur shodan, but what's wrong with British ones? And which are stronger... are Korean shodan the one true shodan standard?

Tristan: I was thinking somewhere along the lines of the old (pre-3-stone shift in Summer 2002) IGS 1d*. I am about British shodan in strength (should promote to 1k* on IGS today), but I cannot believe that Thomas Hsiang meant that level when he said to me "the quickest way to shodan". He told me that the lowest rank he recognised was really 10k - everything before that was a beginner. I don't know if he meant the Korean system or perhaps the system of ranking in China or whatever, but I would reiterate that I believe he meant some higher standard than euro or Japanese shodan. Anyway, I didn't mean anything disrespectful, but only to point out that this book is recommended by an extremely strong player for reaching what he considers to be a decent standard quickly.


PatrickB: If you're interested, here are the ISBN numbers for the new volumes. Searching for them at a variety of book stores (I used amazon.co.jp) should enable you get find and order the appropriate books. Kiseido also sells them, though at a price higher than you can probably get if you fight through ordering from a Japanese supplier and are willing to wait for overseas shipping.

Volume 1: 4416703007 (228 pages)

Volume 2: 4416703015 (219 pages)

Volume 3: 4416703023 (223 pages)

  • geta pages 9 - 23, 53 problems
  • shicho pages 25 - 29, 16 problems
  • watari pages 31 - 44, 49 problems
  • suteishi pages 45 - 56, 42 problems
  • me wo kaku (目を欠く) pages 57 - 68, 42 problems
Fhayashi:(Is the Japanese pronunciation right?)
Velobici: well, I basically dont know any Japanese. And they have this funny way of attaching multiple pronounciations to a single kanji.
Fhayashi: I can understand meaning, but I'm not clear of the pronounciation. It seems to me that it can be read "me o nuku" or something like that. It's like "pull out the eyes"...
John F. Me wo kaku, and no, it's not the meaning you think. It's "to lack eyes, have a false eye". The subject is the eye-lacker not the stealer.
Velobici: John F., does one pronounce the w in を here? I had heard that when を is used as a direct object marker the w is silent. Or is it a convention to write the w even if its not pronounced?
John F. This is just a habit of mine because I handle classical Japanese where wo is an important letter (e.g. man is wotoko, not otoko). But I think a good case can be made for using it regularly (as some teachers do). Though the w is not pronounced, I think it stops you putting a glottal stop there. And if you hear a Japanese say combinations like mono wo, or o wo oou, you may say there's a w there anyway. The Japanese w is a lot looser than ours even in wa. Unless you're used to it, you may hear kawa as kaa.
  • symmetry (左右同型) pages 69 - 72, 12 problems
  • atekomi pages 73 - 80, 26 problems
  • oiotoshi pages 81 - 85, 16 problems
  • damezumari pages 87 - 95, 15 problems
  • oshitsubushi pages 97 - 99, 8 problems
  • tobi pages 101 - 104, 10 problems
  • misc. tesuji(その他) pages 105 - 111, 23 problems

JohnAspinall: Seconding what Patrick says, at current exchange rates, you can get them from amazon.co.jp, plus their express shipping, and still save over the domestic (US) supplier. Mine arrived in 3 days, costing me about $23 per volume.

Velobici: These three volumes can be purchased from [ext] Kinokuniya Bookstores. Kinokuniya sells these books for $29 each as of August 31, 2003. The staff at the New Jersey is very patient with folks that do not speak or read any Japanese. Patience is required of the purchaser as well. The English spoken by the at least some of the staff is not fluent.
The copies that I purchased are print with a price of 2,000 yen each. Delivery to a bookseller in the US clearly adds a significant cost. As of August 31, 2003, one US dollar is valued at 116 Japanese yen. About $17 each volume.


SegoeTesujProblem1


[1] As Andrew Grant has pointed out, older editions come in two, larger volumes of 325 pages and 342 pages.



This is a copy of the living page "Segoe Tesuji Dictionary" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2003 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.