Hashimoto Shoji

Hashimoto Shoji (橋本昌二 Hashimoto Shōji, born 1935, died 2009-12-02)^[1] was a professional Go player and a Kansai Ki-in 9-dan.

Hashimoto became pro in 1947-05 and he became a 9 dan in 1958. At that time 23 was the youngest age anyone had made 9 dan in Japan, for many years. He has no family relation with Hashimoto Utaro and sometimes called sho-hashimoto (little Hashimoto) to distinguish him from the elder Utaro.

In his career, Hashimoto won 19 titles:

• Oza (2) in 1959 and 1981;
• Kansai Ki In First Place Championship (12) in 1965-1967, in 1970-1974, 1978, 1979, 1988, 1990;
• NHK Cup (3) in 1967, 1980 and 1985;
• Judan (1) in 1974;
• Hayago Senshuken (1) in 1975.

In his career he won 1037 games, losing 631.

He was taught by his father, Hashimoto Kunisaburo. His pupils are Takahara Shuji, Moriyama Naoki, Oda Hiromitsu, Okahashi Hirotada, and Hayashi Kozo.

Both Hashimoto Utaro and Hashimoto Shoji attended the prize-giving at the 1st Essen Open in January 1990, together with the late Kato Masao and other pro's. They were in Germany to attend the opening game of 14th Kisei match in Dusseldorf - two days later - where Otake Hideo challenged Kobayashi Koichi.

Kansai Kiin profile

[1] Bill: Apparently Wikipedia and other English web pages show the wrong kanji for Hashi. I have corrected the kanji here.