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NamedJoseki

 

Magic Sword
    Keywords: Joseki

The Magic sword of Muramasa is the nickname of the following combination. The reason for this nickname is that many very difficult variations may follow from it.

It is common usage, if inaccurate, to call the pincer with B1 itself the 'Magic Sword'.

[Diagram]
The real 'magic sword'

This variation was played in a 1931 game between Kato Shin and Go Seigen (White: colours were reversed). It then perhaps went underground for a generation.


[Diagram]
The standard continuation

Snotnose This is the standard continuation, according to IshidasJosekiDictionary

Charles Actually if this appears on the board, Black would reproach himself. If the ladder with W5 is good, Black can't play B2 here (?). Anyway, I don't see any pro example.

[Diagram]
If the ladder works for Black

SnotNose If the ladder at a is good for Black, White should not have played this way. That is WC was a poor choice. Or, going back further, perhaps White might rethink the original approach at WS.



Anyway, if the ladder does work for White, Black might play a ladder breaker now and the honte move would be a white capture at a. Actually, the honte move might be a white capture regardless of what Black does.

In any case, the ladder must be good for one player or the other. Since either player can opt not to play this sequence and neither is happy if the ladder doesn't work for him/her, then this sequence should never occur.

Charles Yes - this would be why there are unlikely to be real-life examples in high-level games.

Or, to put it another way, if the ladder works for one side (and there is no severe ladder breaking move for the other side), that player could gain advantage by initiating this sequence.

There are, no doubt, many joseki which rely on ladders which neither side should initiate provided both read ahead to see whether or not the ladder is good. A compilation of just those joseki (or, at least, the more common ones) would be fascinating and useful. I've started a list on LadderJoseki.

Chris Hayashida: I also thought it would be useful (from the user's point of view) to have a page talking about the variations of this joseki, given the ladders on the other side of the board. I created When to use the Magic Sword.


As a comment on the unexplored joseki concept, it is probably the case that many analyses were published, but the move was played in few (maybe no) high-profile pro games. Such moves may be well known in magazines, and played by strong amateurs; but cannot be called joseki.


Actually it seems that in the lore of Japanese swords and their smiths, Muramasa is a name of ill-omen compared to Masamune, said to be his teacher.

"MURAMASA, The Cursed Sword smith

The other sword smith named Muramasa was a Japanese student studying the art of sword-making under the guidance of Masamune. He wished to recreate Masamune's work, but failed. In the Japanese bujutsu there is a saying: satsujinken katsujinken. Roughly translated, this means 'The sword that kills, the sword that gives life'. This principle dominates the entire word martial in that a martial artist’s goal is to preserve life with his skill, never to take it.

Masamune knew this, but Muramasa did not. For this reason he did not have the insight on the blade that his teacher did, and therefore could never accomplish the same skill in his own work. He assumed the blade was for death alone, and because of this, his sword smith skills have always been pulled to the satsujinken side of the equation (killing), his blades always wanting blood and never serving their true identity."

This is edited from a possibly unreliable Web source, concerned with manga/anime.

A warning in there somewhere for addicts of tricky joseki?

-> Just a historical note: Muramasa was not actually a student of Masamune. They were separated by a few hundred years.


Funkybside: [ext] http://gobase.org/studying/articles/matthews/fuseki/11/ lists a different definition of the magic sword pattern. Any comments on this? (i.e. are the both called the magic sword? Are there other variations not discussed here yet, or are these really the same and my 15k eyes have yet to realize?)

Hikaru79: Hmm, well they're written by the same person, (CharlesMatthews), so I too am wondering why he gives a different definition of Magic Sword... or am I just looking at the wrong diagram? ^_^;;

Charles People say Magic Sword for the two-space high pincer, not just the one variation: it's common usage.


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This is a copy of the living page "Magic Sword" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2004 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.