Blood-vomiting game

    Keywords: Culture & History

This page is for discussion and enjoyment of one of the most famous games of Edo-period Go, the Blood Vomiting Game (also known as the Blood Coughing Game). Eventually I'd like to add more of the history and folklore about this game, but for now here is a partial game record containing the four moves that this game is famous for: the secret taisha variation developed by the Inoue house, and the three moves that were supposedly brought to Jowa by ghosts, allowing him to grind Intetsu's lead (and life!) away.

White is Honinbo Jowa 9-dan, the Meijin Godokoro*. Black is Akaboshi Intetsu 7-dan, the pupil of Gennan Inseki 8-dan.

(These game records are from memory, so if there is an error, please make note of it! --mattn)

[Diagram]

Dia. 1: The secret move of the Inoue house

W1 is an over-extension that is typical of Jowa's violent style.



The Inoue school had developed this taisha variation starting with B6 secretly. It allows Black to attack White's floating center group and absorb the two white stones on the left side at the same time.

[Diagram]

Dia. 2: Intetsu takes the lead

[Diagram]

Dia. 3: Playing Go I

[Diagram]

Dia. 4: Playing Go II

[Diagram]

Dia. 5: The First Two Ghosts

Moves 5 and 7 are the first two "ghost"-moves (Chin.: [ext] miaoshou, [ext] Jap.: myoshu) found by Jowa's ghost. According to Invincible they allow White to omit a direct answer to 4, because of aji at a.

[Diagram]

Dia. 6: The Third Ghost

W7 is the third ghost move. It is an example of a "bad shape/good move", and eventually allows Jowa to launch a difficult splitting attack that results in Black's resignation.

Bob McGuigan: Fukui Masaaki says in a commentary that according to modern positional judgement, even after White's three myoshu or ghost moves, Black's position is not at all bad.

As the stones were being cleared from the board, Akaboshi Intetsu keeled over, coughing up blood. As the four-day long game progressed and Jowa slowly clawed his way into the lead, Akaboshi's health had been steadily declining. Within a few weeks, he was dead.


You can view the [ext] Blood Vomiting Game using the GoBase Replay Service.


John Fairbairn Three points/questions:

(1) Old Japanese did not distinguish between coughing and spitting up blood, but it apparently makes a big difference as to what was wrong with Akaboshi and how much he was affected. Does anyone have enough medical knowledge to list the likely alternatives?

(2) Can all sources be quoted, please? It matters because there are versions that say he collapsed at the board, and others "shortly after".

(3) The date above is lunar - the actual date was 08-13 and it finished on 08-21. This matters because there was an intercalary 7th month that year and this makes a big difference in how long Akaboshi lived after the game (again probably reflecting on how much he was affected during the game).

Additions to make: More on the stories, myths and political intrigue around the game, discussion of particular moves.

Kevin Martin: I'd like to address the diagnosis. The distinction between spitting, coughing, or vomitting blood is not always an easy one to make. On Gobase.org, it appears that Akaboshi was in his mid-twenties when this game was played. That makes cancers less likely, although every medical student is taught that stomach cancer is most common in Japan. I do not know whether this was true in the 1800s. The differential diagnosis then looks something like this:

  • Gastrointestinal bleeding
    • Ulcer
    • Esophageal varices (a late complication of heavy drinking or chronic liver disease)
    • Other
  • Pulmonary disease
    • Tuberculosis
    • Pneumonia (no mention of fever, though)
    • Other

Certainly stress could irritate an ulcer. Alcohol makes all the above worse.

BlueWyvern: The introductory chapter in Invincible about Edo era go, states that Akaboshi died a month after the game of Tuberculosis.

John F. This is wrong. Akaboshi died on 20 October 1835. The game ended on 21 August. Furthermore, Japanese sources usually refer to his death as "about 2 months" after the game. Tuberculosis is likely but is still speculative.

Kevin Martin: If the time frame is accurate, that is very consistent with tuberculosis. The old term 'consumption' is very descriptive. Symptoms include fever, cough with bloody or blood-flecked sputum, weakness, fatigue, weight loss. One might be ill for months or years before succumbing to the illness. In many ways, tuberculosis was the 'slim disease' of the 19th century.


Perhaps it would be beneficial for a strong player to discuss the moves 9 and 10 from the diagram Playing Go I in the above, (moves 52 and 53 in the game). Why does Black make an approach to White's shimari in the opposite corner instead of defending the stone White just attacked with a shoulder hit?

Charles This looks quite normal to me. The BC stone still has plenty of aji. The stone B10 causes White's enclosure to feel some pressure. Black can come back to the lower right later; playing there now is likely to make White thick.

That explanation makes good sense certainly. But it does leave me wondering: where did black go wrong in this game? If one could send a ghost back in time to advise Intetsu, which move would one have him change?


  • TDerz Going for point 3) of John Fairbairn's comment (Although I think there are few people more/equally qualified then John himself to write about Go history; my info comes from the Go Review 1967/12, p. 49-64):

Jowa was Godokoro since about 6 years at the time. This game was part of many intrigues about the post. Intetsu sacrificed himself (metaphorical & true sense) for his master Genan Inseki, 11th head of the Inoue-house.

Despite his sickness he tried his utmost to win (for his master Genan, who in this case then had a valid objection against Jowa's claim for Godokoro and spoil his ambitions. Then Genan Inseki could apply himself for the post, because (?) the 8th head of the Yasui house, Senchi was already 59 years old in 1835)

The whole issue started years before: already on Feb. 16, 1828 a game between Genan Inseki and Jowa was scheduled by Senchi. Genan Inseki had just been promoted to 8-dan too; not on grounds of merit by winning games but due to these intrigues. This game was cancelled in a heated discussion among the heads of Go houses and other players.

Later, when Jowa did not live up to his secret agreement with Inseki - to turn over the post of Godokoro after 6 years (around 1934, I guess), Inseki thought of other means to force Jowa from the post.

This game is the result of these intrigues.

Intetsu died some days after the game, 26 years old (Invincible, pages 9-10, 420; Go Review, December 1967, p. 49-64). I recall that there was some very good information on Mindzine, which seems irretrievable now. The info on Akaboshi Intetsu seems to tell why.

[SGF of the game|d:\thomas\go\gowrite\bloodvom.sgf](How to upload from your harddisk? Does it work only with URL's?)

[Diagram]

Dia. 7: End position


This is a copy of the living page "Blood-vomiting game" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2005 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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