All Japan Children's Tournament

(少年少女囲碁大会) Japanese children's amateur tournament started in 1980. The winner is often unofficially called "Elementary/Middle High School Meijin" (小学生/中学生名人). The finals are broadcast on NHK TV and the program contains "Children's Meijin" (Kodomo Meijin) in its name, but the title is not an official one.

The tournament's official name is Shonen Shojo Igo Taikai ("Boys & Girls Igo Tournament"). It has two sections, one for the older children (middle-high school, 7-9th grade) and one for the younger (elementary school, 1-6th grade).

Note that inseis (and pros of course), often the best talented children of the generation, are not allowed to participate. A typical early career course is as follows: 1) accomplish good results in these amateur tournaments against older children, 2) recruited as an insei, and 3) qualify as a professional in his/her teens. Therefore, the Elementary section is regarded as more important. In fact, the first eight (1980-1987) and many more winners in the section later became professionals. Yamashita Keigo (1986) and Iyama Yuta (1997) won the section as a 2nd grader.

Winners later turned pro

• Elementary Section:Yokota Shigeaki (1980), Aragaki Shun (1981), Takano Hideki (1982), Miyazaki Ryutaro (1983), Kurahashi Masayuki (1984), Sakai Hideyuki (1985), Yamashita Keigo (1986), Kurotaki Masanori (1987), Mizokami Tomochika (1989), Hasegawa Hiro (1990), Matsumoto Takehisa (1991,92), Ishii Akane (1994), Mannami Kana (1995), Iyama Yuta (1997,98), Mukai Chiaki (1999), Uchida Shuhei (2001), Kanazawa Makoto (2004), Onishi Ryuhei (2011), Kato Chie (2013), Miura Taro (2016)
• Middle High Section (excluding Elementary Section winners):Aoki Shinichi (1980), Mimura Tomoyasu (1982), Kato Yuki (1997), Oomote Takuto (2010)

For further details, see Japanese Wikipedia.

See Also

Children's Kisei