Shusai

Honinbo Shusai (本因坊秀哉 Hon’inbō; Shūsai, Tamura Hoju, Tamura Yasuhisa (田村 保寿), 1874 – 18 January 1940) was a Japanese professional go player.

Table of contents An infamous play Pupils Books See Also

Table of diagrams The infamous [myoshu]

Honinbo Shusai was the 21st and last hereditary head of the Honinbo house, and 10th and last historic Meijin. He played a role in founding the Nihon Kiin, turned the hereditary Honinbo title over to the Nihon Kiin to be used as a tournament title, and was a student of Honinbo Shuei.

Prior to becoming the 21st head of the Honinbo house (1908), Honinbo Shusai was known as Tamura Yasuhisa. This was the name that appeared on his kifu when he was still a pupil of Honinbo Shuei.

Shusai’s 1938 retirement game against Kitani Minoru was the subject of Kawabata Yasunari’s famous novel The Master of Go.

An infamous play

Shusai played a famous game with Go Seigen in which there was a lot of controversy surrounding multiple adjournments during the game. Maeda Nobuaki is supposed to have been the one to find in the following diagram. There was, of course, a lot of controversy surrounding this accusation.

The infamous myoshu  

In Pieter Mioch’s interview with Go Seigen, he says:

The game to one side, Go had the following to say on Shusai in the interview: "Was Honinbo Shusai a villain? He was a scoundrel! How the Ki-in manages to deify this person of all people is unbelievable!"

He goes quiet for a moment, then suddenly he declares in a surprisingly loud voice and with much agitation: "A villain. He was a villain! He is now praised to the skies by the Ki-in and depicted as one of the heroes of this century, yet – mark you well – he sold his title to the newspapers for mere lucre and bought with it a fair-sized piece of land in Tokyo without giving one cent to the Ki-in or the go world." And so he goes on...

Pupils

• Murashima Yoshinori
• Hayashi Yutaro
• Fukuda Masayoshi
• Maeda Nobuaki
• Miyasaka Shinji
• Kanbara Shigeji
• Kogishi Soji
• Miyashita Shuyo
• Shikama Chiyoji
• Murata Seiko
• Takeda Hiroyoshi
• Masubuchi Tatsuko
• Karibe Eisaburo

Books

• By Shusai:
  • Shikatsu Myoki (1910) — Shusai’s Life and death problem book aimed at high dans
  • Shiroto Kikan Jissen Shokai (素人棋鑑) (1910) — Shusai complemented Honinbo Shuei’s original comments on amateur games
• Game collections:
  • Honinbo Shusai - Complete Game Collection
  • The Japanese National Diet Library has two collections of his games available:
    • vol.1 of his Complete Games. 126 games covering 1887-1897, with commentaries from Igo Shinpo magazine.
    • vol.2 of his Selected Games. 68 games covering 1899-1938, with his own comments.
• Individual games:
  • About Shusai’s 60th birthday game (the “Game of the Century”) against Go Seigen in 1933–4
    • Old Fuseki vs New Fuseki: Honinbo Shusai plays Go Seigen (John Fairbairn, 2011) — A game commentary and history book
  • About Shusai’s 1938 retirement game against Kitani Minoru:
    • The Master of Go (Kawabata Yasunari, 1951) — A novel based on the game
    • The Meijins Retirement Game (John Fairbairn, 2010) — A game commentary and history book

See Also

• Games by Honinbo Shusai — SGF files
• Famous Killing Game of 1926 — Good example of Shusai’s reading skills against long-time rival Karigane Junichi
• Game of the Century — Shusai’s 60th birthday game with Go Seigen in 1933–4 (see also the section above An infamous play)