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October2002

 

Kadoban
    Keywords: Go term, Tournament

角番
カド番
かど番

Definition

  1. In a title match series, the game that could lose the series. Or, in an old-fashioned 10-game series (jubango) the game which if lost will require taking a greater handicap.
  2. The situation of being at such risk.
  3. By extension, the player at such risk.

English expressions

  • do-or-die
  • must-win
  • back against the wall (or back to the wall)

Is it only kadoban for the potential loser?

It is common for kadoban is applied only to the person who is at risk to lose (the so-called unilateral meaning of kadoban). However, it can also be used to generically describe the game where the title is at stake (the bilateral usage). A dictionary definition supports this usage:

in a series of go or shogi games, the one that will decide the match. In a best-of-seven, the game after three losses.

Sample: 'X became Meijin after a tense kadoban'.

Related expressions

  • Surviving kadoban: kadoban dasshutsu, kadoban wo shinogu, survive a kadoban
  • Falling into kadoban: kadoban ni oikomareru, kadoban ni tatasareru, kadoban ni naru, face kadoban (when the next game will be kadoban)

Sumo usage

The other known use of kadoban is in [ext] sumo. If someone at the ozeki rank loses two tournaments in a row, he is demoted. So if he loses one tournament, the next tournament is kadoban for him -- the one that if he loses he will be demoted. This usage is reported to have been borrowed from go and shogi. English usages include a kadoban tournament for the ozeki, Musoyama finds himself kadoban, Kaio is kadoban, the kadoban ozeki, under kadoban, in a kadoban situation, etc.

Etymology

Does the kado of kadoban refer to a corner? Can kadoban be translated directly as in a corner? Is the kado of kadoban related to the same character in the term kak(u)kai referring to sumo? We just don't know.

It seems at least as likely that kado refers to an outside-type corner, like that of a street, as the corner of a room. The fact that kado is written in hiragana and katakana sometimes leaves open the possibility that it is not even related to the corner meaning, and that the 角 character is an ateji (character chosen after the fact for its phonetic equivalence).

This word apparently does not exist in Chinese.


kokiri English language papers in Japan often referred to kadoban sumo wrestlers as being 'in the corner'. However I agree that in my experience kado is used in an 'outside' sense whereas the corners of rooms and the go board are termed sumi, 隅.

Neil: I suppose the corner translation is tempting because being cornered is a pretty good metaphor for the situation.


amadis: Here's my understanding of how kadoban normally works in amateur games. Whenever one player wins three games in a row against another, the handicap between them is adjusted by one stone. That's three-game kadoban. So, after a player wins two games in a row, the next game is the kadoban game.

Alternatively, they could play one-game kadoban, changing the handicap after each game.

Kadoban is a good way to get the competitive juices flowing in casual games between friends.


Sinprejic I have no knowledge of oriental languages, but reading this discussion brings to mind a slightly different metaphor that might also apply. If kado is an outside corner (like a street corner or the corner/edge of something you might fall off of) perhaps it refers to turning the corner as a large change... (such as the shift of handicap, or the decision of the match) ?

In goemetric terms a corner is a point of change... a discontinuity in the slope of a curve.

Just a thought.



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