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Meijin
Keywords: Culture & History, Go term, People, Tournament
Meijin is a title in Japanese Go. In Japanese the term is represented by the two characters 名人. Separately, 名 (MEI) means "name" or "reputation" and 人 (JIN) means "person". The two characters together mean "master" or "expert" or "virtuoso". The modern Meijin title came about in 1962, from the former title of Saikyo (1959-1961). -- Tim Brent
A list of modern Meijin title holders (to 2000) can be found at
The title is the second most prestigious (at least in sense of prize money) in Japan: the winner's purse is 36 million Yen. The competition for the title is sponsored by Asahi Shinbun newspaper since 1976. Before that it was sponsored by The current holder is Yoda Norimoto Meijin. Since September 10 the challenge by Yamashita Keigo Kisei is under way. Yoda won the first game. A report of the action around this game is on the homepage of Rafael Caetano. Here's a little background about "meijin." In feudal Japan, there was an official government job for the Meijin Godokoro -- the famous expert Go tutor to the Shogun. (There was a similar job for the nation's best shogi player.) This post was supposed to be held by the undisputed strongest player in the country, who was appointed by the Commissioner of Temples and Shrines. In years when it was unclear who was the best player, the position was sometimes vacant. Strong and ambitious Go players sought the job, sometimes resorting to scandalous political maneuvers. The Meijin Godokoro had significant power, prestige, and perquisites, for he had a government stipend and some access to the Shogun. 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 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 of play grew faster in Japan than elsewhere.
John Fairbairn has written about this on the Mind Sports Olympiad site ( - TakeNGive (10 kyu) There is a list of Edo period Historic Meijin. Meijin is not unique to Go. It is a Japanese word meaning skilled person, expert, or master. A master of any art is referred to as a meijin, for example, cha no meijin means 'tea master.' -- moonprince This is a copy of the living page "Meijin" at Sensei's Library. ![]() |