Women's Honinbo

(女流本因坊戦) This is the female-only equivalent of the Japanese Honinbo title. It is the most prestigious women’s title in the 2020 Nihon Ki-in ordering.

Table of contents History Winners and Runners-up Links

History

It was originally called the All-Japan Women's Championship for 27 terms. But since the All-Japan Women’s Championship was unofficially called the Women's Honinbo, then after some time its name and format was simply changed to the modern, official Women’s Honinbo. Unlike the Honinbo title, this tournament is conducted using the single knockout format to determine a challenger. The title is then decided by a best of five match (best of three prior to 1995) with the previous year's title holder. The winner’s prize is ¥5,800,000.

The 16th Women’s Honinbo tournament in 1997 involved huge press coverage at the time due to the fact that challenger Chinen Kaori was quite far along in her first pregnancy when the title match games were being played. Game four (which she won, along with the title) was actually played on chairs in the Yugen no Ma room of the Nihon Ki-in. As by that point in time, the baby was expected any day.

Fujisawa Rina has appeared in the final every year since 2014: she’s the first player to do so eight years in a row since Kusunoki Teruko (1983–90). In 2024, it was her 11th appearance in a row. Immediately before Rina’s streak, Xie Yimin appeared seven consecutive times (2007–13), the first six of those as champion, the longest title reign (the next longest is Fujisawa Rina’ 5-in-a-row stretch from 2020–2024, and still continuing; followed by Yoshida Mika’s 4-in-a-row 1993–96 stretch).

Xie also made to the final four times after that, reaching a record 11 times in total. In 2024, Fujisawa Rina, equalled that. Since she is reigning title-holder, in 2025, she will make a new record of 12 times, barring some unforeseen circumstance.

Winners and Runners-up

Links

• Female Honinbo, Go to Everyone
• Nihon Ki'in Women's Honinbo archive
• Women's Honinbo title games archive
• Women's Honinbo, GoBase