Honda Sachiko

Honda Sachiko (本田 幸子, 30 May 1930–1 May 2020) was a Nihon Ki-in female professional Go player. She qualified in 1947, reached 6p in 1981 and retired in 2000 with promotion to 7p. Her last professional victory was in 1996 aged 66 against Kato Tomoko, then 4p. She died of old age, less than a month away from her 90th birthday, and was posthumously promotion to 8P.

Pupil of Kitani Minoru.

Table of contents Three Honda sisters Achievements Head-to-head scores against other leading female players Pupils Links Pictures

Three Honda sisters

Honda Sachiko was the middle of the three professional go-playing Honda sisters, all of whom have won the strongest women’s tournaments. Sugiuchi Kazuko is three years older and still winning official professional games aged 96 (as of 2023), and Kusunoki Teruko is 9 years younger and retired as 7p in 2019. They have won 24 titles between them.

The oldest, Kazuko, was a student of Kita Fumiko, while Sachiko and Teruko studied under Kitani Minoru.

Achievements

She won the All Japan Women's Championship in 1969, 1972, 1973, 1975, and 1981, and its successor Women's Honinbo in 1982 (the first to win the new title) and 1984. In 1979, she reached the main Tengen tournament, the first female to reach the main group of the 7 top Japanese open titles. She has won a total of 7 titles, 10th= place (with her younger sister Kusunoki Teruko) in the number of Japanese women’s titles.

Head-to-head scores against other leading female players

(Based on Honda Sachiko, Go rating profile and game list, 24 June 2024

• Sugiuchi Kazuko, 8p, her older sister, 4× All-Japan Women's Championship, 4× Women's Meijin, 2× Women's Kakusei: 0–4
• Kusunoki Teruko, 8p, her younger sister, 5× Female Honinbo, 3× Women's Kakusei: 5–5
• Suzuki Tsuna, 5p, once Women's Kakusei: 0–1
• Kobayashi Reiko, 7p, 6× All-Japan Women's Championship, 2× (Old) Women's Meijin: 6–2
• Ogawa Tomoko, 7p, once Female Honinbo, 2× All-Japan Women's Championship: 2–6
• Kobayashi Chizu, 6p, 3× Women's Kakusei and All-Japan Women's Championship: 1–2
• Shinkai Hiroko, 5p, 2× Female Strongest: 1–0
• Aoki Kikuyo, 8p, once Female Kisei, 5× Women's Meijin, 4× Women's Kakusei: 1–1
• Kato Tomoko, 6p, her pupil and once winner of Women's Honinbo, Women's Meijin, Women's Kakusei, and Female Strongest: 1–1
• Koyama Terumi, 6p, née Nishida, 4× Women's Meijin: 1–3
• Yoshida Mika, 8p, 5× Women's Meijin, 4× Women's Kakusei, once Female Kisei and Female Strongest: 2–6
• Nakazawa Ayako, 5p, 2× Women's Honinbo, 2× Women's Kakusei: 0–2
• Konishi Kazuko, 8p, Once Kansai Ladies' Tournament and Teikei Cup Female Legends: 1–0
• Chinen Kaori, 6p, 5× Female Kisei 3× Female Honinbo: 0–1

Pupils

Honda’s pupils were: Yoshida Yoichi and the three sisters, Mukai Kaori, Mukai Kozue, and Mukai Chiaki.

She taught go in the United States in 1961 (accompanied by her sister Kusunoki Teruko and Kitani Reiko).

Links

• Honda Sachiko, Japanese Wikipedia
• Honda Sachiko, Nihon Ki'in profile
• Honda Sachiko, Go ratings and games
• Honda Sachiko, Go4Go

Pictures

Sugiuchi Kazuko vs older sister Sugiuchi Kazuko, 5th Women's Kakusei 1983 (Image credit: nihonkiin.net