Fujisawa Rina

Fujisawa Rina (Kanji: 藤沢里菜; Katakana: フジサワ　リナ) is a Japanese professional 7-dan female go player, former prodigy, and currently (Nov 2024) the #2 female player in Japan. She has won the second most Japanese Women’s titles—26, exceeded only by Xie Yimin’s 27. She was also the youngest woman to win five Japanese women’s titles.

According to the 2024-01-02 rating update, Fujisawa is the #2 ranked female player in Japan (behind only Ueno Asami), #40 overall in Japan, #9 ranked female and #252 overall in the world. In the rating lists of 2022-01-01 and 2021-01-01, she was #4 female in the world and #1 female in Japan. She was #1 female in Japan from 2014-01-01 to 2022-01-01. She sometimes goes by the nickname Rinapon.

Table of contents Early life Title matches 2010s 2020s Victories over all-time greats Head-to-head scores against current female rivals Promotion record Career record Family Go playing and study schedule, family dynamics Links Books Videos Pictures

Early life

Rina was born on 18 September 1998 in Saitama Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo area. She learned Go aged 6, and passed a pro exam in 2010 while in the fifth grade of elementary school. On 1 April 2010, she received her professional diploma at the age of 11 years and 6 months, making her then the youngest person in Japan to become a professional ^[1].

The previous record was held by Cho Chikun who became a professional when he was 11 years 9 months old. Cho played a game with her to mark the occasion, and in a video commentary of her game with Rin Kanketsu in the NHK Cup, 2015, Cho said that she had a great future and could play any style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-Y1p2ZQDq0 Rina's record of youngest professional stood for 9 years until Nakamura Sumire broke it aged 10 years and 1 month in April 2019.

Fujisawa began learning Go at the age of 6 and studied under the tutelage of Hong Malk-eun Saem. She was promoted to 2 dan in 2013-02-14 (30 wins as 1 dan).

Rina started 2014 with 9 consecutive wins (as of 2014-02-15), extending her winning streak to 9 games.

Title matches

2010s

In 2014, she was part of Japan team at the 4th Huang Longshi Shuang Deng Cup. She won against Song Ronghui in the fourth game, but lost to Kim Hye-min in the fifth game. In the same year, she became the youngest Women's Honinbo in Go history by defeating Mukai Chiaki (title holder) 3–0 in the 33rd title match, at the age of 16 years and 1 month old. She lost the title to Xie Yimin 3–2 the next year, then regained it 3–1 the following year. Fujisawa has now won the Women's Honinbo title six times.

She was the winner of the 1st Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup (2014), beating Okuda Aya by resignation.

In 2016, Fujisawa won the 2nd Ibero-Japan Cup?, an U-18 tournament open to both sexes, the second female winner after Xie Yimin.

In 2017, she probably became the strongest female player in Japan. In March, Fujisawa won the Female Meijin, beating title-holder Xie Yimin 2–0, ending her streak of 9 wins in a row. In June, she beat the same opponent 2–1 to win the Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup (Female Tachiaoi Cup), and next month she beat Xie again to win the Senko Cup.

In 2018, Fujisawa defended her Female Meijin by beating Yashiro Kumiko 2–0, and her Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup title by defeating Xie Yimin 2–1.

2020s

Fujisawa won the Women's Honinbo five times in a row: 2020–2024, making her an Honarary Female Honinbo. In 2025, if she wins again in 2025, she will equal Xie Yimin’s record of six.

She continued winning the Women's Meijin five times in a row, 2017–2022, making her an Honorary Female Meijin. But she lost the title in 2023 to Ueno Asami, a pupil of Rina’s father Fujisawa Kazunari. She also made it five-in-a-row in the Aidu Chuo Hospital Cup, 2016–2021, losing the title in 2022, again to Ueno Asami. But Fujisawa beat Ueno to win the 2021 Female Strongest. Ueno Asami is now a serious rival to Fujisawa as Japan’s top active female player, and has even overtaken her on the rating list.

Fujisawa became the second female winner of the Hiroshima Arumi Cup, after Xie Yimin 14 years previously. The next two years were won by her rival Ueno Asami.

Fujisawa’s accuracy in yose was strong enough to receive the nickname “Rina Zero”, a play on Leela Zero (Japanese: リーラ・ゼロ “Rīra Zero”). Fujisawa’s strength in the final stage is “Rina Zero”. Women’s Go regains Honinbo, nicknamed for accuracy of Yose, Asahi Shimbun Digital, 30 Nov 2020

In 2022, Fujisawa won her 5th Female Meijin title in a row by defending against the girl prodigy Nakamura Sumire, winning 2–0. But in 2023, she lost the title to Ueno Asami 0–2.

In 2023/4, Fujisawa won all her games in the 35th Female Meijin challengers to win the right to challenge the defending champion, Ueno Asami. Fujisawa regained the Female Meijin title, her sixth, by beating Ueno 2–0. In July 2024, Fujisawa won the 9th Female Strongest, beating Ueno Asami in the finals (W+2.5).

As can be seen from photos below, Fujisawa has a big-sisterly friendship with many younger leading female players. She is especially friendly with Jo Bun'en and with Nakamura Sumire, whom she mentored since she was very young.

Victories over all-time greats

(Based on Fujisawa Rina, Go Ratings and game list), as of 27 Nov 2024)

In official games since 2010, Fujisawa has taken games off some of the greatest of a previous generation, e.g.:

• Cho Chikun: 2–1
• Takemiya Masaki: 1–0
• O Meien: 4–3
• Kono Rin: 2–1
• Yamashita Keigo: 1–1
• Cho U: 3–3
• Komatsu Hideki: 1–0
• Shibano Toramaru: 1–2
• Takao Shinji: 2–2
• Ichiriki Ryo: 2–13

Fujisawa has beaten some of the greatest female players of older generations. E.g. on 10 Feb 2011, she beat Ogawa Tomoko (aged 12 and 59), and on 13 Jan 2013, she beat Sugiuchi Kazuko (aged 14 and 85!).

Head-to-head scores against current female rivals

• Xie Yimin, 7p, her predecessor as #1 female in Japan: 28–17
• Ueno Asami, 5p, according to rating list, #5 female and #200 overall in the world, and #1 female and #27 overall in Japan: 23–19
• Nakamura Sumire, 3p, girl prodigy, #14 ranked female and #3 female teenager in the world, #3 ranked female in Japan, #5 female in Korea, once Female Kisei: 4–3
• Ueno Risa, 3p, Asami’s younger sister, #22 female and #4 female teenager in world, #4 female in Japan, Female Kisei: 8–3
• Aoki Kikuyo, 8p, 5× Women's Meijin, 4× Women's Kakusei, once Female Kisei: 5–2
• Yoshida Mika, 8p, 4× Women's Honinbo, 4× Kansai Ladies' Tournament, once Women's Kakusei: 1–0
• Chinen Kaori, 6p, 5× Female Kisei, 4× Women's Honinbo: 4–0
• Kobayashi Izumi, 7p, 3× Female Honinbo, 3× Female Meijin, 2× Female Kisei, once Teikei Cup Female Legends: 1–0
• Kato Keiko, 6p, once Women's Meijin, once Female Strongest: 3–1
• Yashiro Kumiko, 6p, 2× Women's Honinbo, 3–0
• Umezawa Yukari (Yoshihara Yukari), 6p, 3× Female Kisei: 1–0
• Suzuki Ayumi, 7p, #7 female in Japan, #33 female in world, twice Female Strongest, once Female Kisei: 10–1
• Koyama Terumi, 6p, 4× Women's Meijin: 3–0
• Nyu Eiko, 4p, 2× Female Strongest: 13–3
• Konishi Kazuko, 8p, once Kansai Ladies' Tournament, once Teikei Cup Female Legends: 1–0
• Mukai Chiaki, 6p, once Women's Honinbo: 9–2
• Mannami Kana, 4p, 2× Female Kisei: 1–0
• Mannami Nao, 4p, Kana’s younger sister, once Female Strongest: 3–1
• Hoshiai Shiho, 4p, once Female Honinbo challenger: 8–0
• Joanne Missingham, 7p, aka Hei Jiajia, #1 female in Taiwan, #39 female in world: 4–3
• Yang Zixuan, #2 female in Taiwan: 4–2
• Rui Naiwei, 9p, long-time world female #1: 1–0
• Choi Jeong, 9p, current Korean and World #1 female: 5–12
• Yu Zhiying, 6p, World #2 female for years: 3–11
• Zhou Hongyu, 7p, current World #4 female: 2–5
• Lu Minquan, 6p, #6 female in world, #3 female in China: 2–1
• Song Ronghui, 5p, #49 female in world: 3–0
• Li He, 5p, #10 female in world, #4 female in China: 2–5
• Wu Yiming, 6p, #11 female and #2 female teenager in world, #5 female in China: 0–0
• Cho Hyeyeon, 9p, once World #1 and often World #2 behind Rui Naiwei: 1–2
• Kim Chaeyeong, 9p, #8 female in world, #4 female in South Korea, once Women's Kuksu, 3–1
• Kim Dayoung, 5p, Kim Chaeyeong’s younger sister, #27 ranked female in the world and #9 female in Korea: 0–1
• O Yujin, 9p, #7 female in world, #3 female in South Korea, once Women's Kuksu and Women's Kisung: 1–5
• Cho Seunga, 7p, #12 ranked female player and #304 overall, and #6 ranked female player in Korea: 2–0
• Wang Chenxing, 5p, #16 female in world, #8 female in China: 4–4
• Kim Hye-min, 9p, #25 female in the world, #8 female player in Korea: 0–3
• Kim Eunji, 9p, the highest rated female teenager in the world, and #3 ranked of all female players (as of 2023-12-22): 0–1
• O Jeonga, 5p: 1–4
• Kim Eunsun, 4p: 1–1
• Pak Chi-eun, 9p, #68 in world (formerly #3 for 4 years), #23 in Korea (formerly #1): 1–1
• Heo Suhhyun, 4p, Hyorim Cup winner: 0–1

Promotion record

• 2 dan in 2015
• 3 dan in 2017
• 4 dan in 2020
• 5 dan in 2021
• 6 dan in 2022
• 7 dan in 2023

Career record

Fujisawa has won almost 500 professional games. Her overall record is 769 games, 491 wins, and 278 losses, for a 63.8% win rate (as of 2024/11/28). This is the second highest win rate for a Japanese female professional, exceeded only by Ueno Asami’s 65.9% win rate.

Note: Nihon Ki-in professional selection slot for female players used to have a restriction: the player must be 15 years or older. This restriction was abolished in 2003, and Fujisawa became the first professional for whom the new rules applied.

Scores from Japan players win-loss, Go for Everyone

Family

• Daughter of Fujisawa Kazunari.
• Granddaugther of Fujisawa Hideyuki.
• On Twitter, 1 Dec 2024, she announced her marriage to Yokotsuka Riki. He is a fellow 7p and fellow winner of the Hiroshima Arumi Cup. On the day of the announcement, he beat her in the semifinals of that cup (W+R), then won the final and the cup (d. Hirose Yuichi, B+R). Their first public announcement was at the awards ceremony. They had been dating for seven years, although there was no hint on their Twitter pages. Her father laughed and said:

My own daughter lost to my son-in-law, and my disciple Hirose also lost to my son-in-law.

Go playing and study schedule, family dynamics

In an interview in ''Kumon Now,'' Vol. 079, 2024.10.01, Fujisawa explained some of her Go history:

I first came into contact with Go at the age of six and am now a professional Go player. I play official matches on Mondays and Thursdays, and on other days I attend study groups, study at home, or study at the Nihon Ki-in.

I like to study alone, so I often solve tsume-go problems and study kifu, which is a record of the steps of a game. Recently, I’ve also started incorporating AI into my studies. However, there are many temptations at home, such as wanting to watch YouTube, so I keep my smartphone in a locked box so that I can concentrate on the go board. … Apart from playing Go, I also supervise manga and movies that feature Go. One unusual role was playing a town girl as an extra in the movie Goban-giri starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi. I didn’t have any lines and was only supposed to sit there, but the director suddenly said, “Say your lines.” … There were a lot of extras and actors, including Kusanagi, around me, so I was extremely nervous.

Fujisawa also emphasized that she tries to get plenty of sleep and to avoid stress before a game. She also elaborated on her family dynamics:

I naturally started playing Go when I was 6 years old, while accompanying my brother, who is 3 years older than me, on his games. My mother also likes Go, and when she saw me playing, she thought I would be good at playing professionally, so I started attending Hong Dojo, a dojo where many children aiming to become professionals attend, from the age of 7.

Before I knew it, I was being guided by my mother. She supported me in many ways, such as by moving closer to the dojo so that I could easily attend. Even now, she still cooks meals for me and sends them to me, even though I live alone (said the month before she married), so I have nothing but gratitude for my mother.

She regrets that she never played any games with her famous paternal grandfather, who died less than a year before she became a professional:

I have never played a single game with my grandfather (the late Fujisawa Hideyuki, Honorary Kisei), who was also my teacher. When I was young, he would tell me, “Let’s play sometime,” but before I got strong, he became ill. To me, he was more than just “my grandfather”, he was a great Go player who left his name in history. I was told that he told the people around him about me, “Please take care of her,” and I am very happy about that.

The Hong Dojo that I attended had many records of my grandfather’s games, and the dojo’s teachers also encouraged me to take a look at them. I can see just how amazing my grandfather was from the records.

Links

• Mainichi article (Japanese) on Fujisawa Rina's promotion to 1-dan professional
• Nihon Ki-in player profile
• Article on debut match. (dead link) Archived version of article
• Fujisawa Rina, Japanese Wikipedia
• Fujisawa Rina, Go Ratings and Games
• Fujisawa Rina, Go4Go
• Fujisawa Rina, Twitter/X

Books

• 藤沢里菜実戦集 ―女流四冠への軌跡― (Fujisawa Rina match collection—path to 4 women's crowns). Includes self-commentary, commentary by Takao Shinji, pictures, and articles.

Videos

A pre-game YouTube link and post-game YouTube link interviews (both her and Oh Yujin before and after 2023 Korean Women Baduk Team’s evaluational matches against invited players from Japan and China in August 2023.

Pictures

fujisawa rina female meijin 2021 (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

Newlyweds Fujisawa Rina and Yokotsuka Riki, 1 Dec 2024 (Image credit: nihonkiin.net

Newlyweds Fujisawa Rina and Yokotsuka Riki playing in semifinal of 19th Hiroshima Arumi Cup, 1 Dec 2024 (Image credit: nihonkiin.net

Fujisawa Rina v. Li He Asian Games 2023 (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

Fujisawa Rina posing with the new star Nakamura Sumire during the latter's early years.

From bottom left, clockwise: Ueno Asami, Nakamura Sumire, Fujisawa Rina, Nyu Eiko, and Ueno Risa (Image credit: Fujisawa Rina Twitter)

From back to front of the line: Nyu Eiko, Nakamura Sumire, Ueno Risa, Fujisawa Rina, and Ueno Asami (2023) (Image credit: Fujisawa Rina Twitter)

Front, left to right: Jo Bun'en, Fujisawa Rina, Ueno Asami, and Ueno Risa (2023) (Image credit: Fujisawa Rina Twitter)

Ueno Asami selfie with (L→R) Mukai Chiaki, Ueno Risa, Nakamura Sumire, and Fujisawa Rina, Tachioi Cup, 2023 (Image credit: nikkansports.com

Fujisawa Rina (right) travelling with her good friend Jo Bun'en, (31 Dec 2023) (Image credit: Fujisawa Rina Twitter)