Hoshiai Shiho

Hoshiai Shiho (星合志保, is a female Japanese 4 dan professional. Born on 16 April 1997 in Tokyo) has been a professional player at Nihon Ki-in since 2013.

Table of contents Promotion history Records Family Head-to-head scores against current female rivals Links Book Pictures

Promotion history

• 1p—1 April 2013
• 2p—26 September 2017
• 3p—5 March 2021
• 4p—25 June 2024

Records

• Assistant at the NHK Cup in 2015.
• In 2018, she was the semi-finalist at the Female Tachiaoi Cup but was defeated by Xie Yimin.
• Personality at NHK Cup since April 2019
• In 2019, she was the semi-finalist at the Tachiaoi Cup but was defeated by Ueno Asami.
• In 2020, she was the finalist and fought against Fujisawa Rina to be the challenger to the Women's Honinbo.
• In 2021, she did manage to become the Women’s Honinbo challenger, again facing Rina, this time for the title. Her challenge, though, was unsuccessful.

Family

Her brother Hoshiai Shingo is a Waseda University Go Club alumnus known for winning the All Japan Student Go Best 10? in 2017 (operated by the All Japan Student Go Federation) and the 2014 High School Championship.

She married Son Makoto 7p on 7 July 2022.

Head-to-head scores against current female rivals

(Based on Hoshiai Shiho, Go Ratings and game list), as of 2 Jun 2025)

• Xie Yimin, 7p, many years #1 female in Japan: 2–6
• Fujisawa Rina, 7p, #8 female in world, #2 female in Japan: 0–9
• Ueno Asami, 6p, according to rating list, #5 female and #200 overall in the world, and #1 female and #27 overall in Japan: 0–4
• Nakamura Sumire, 4p, girl prodigy, #14 ranked female and #3 female teenager in the world, #3 ranked female in Japan, #5 female in Korea, once Female Kisei: 0–3
• Ueno Risa, 3p, Asami’s younger sister, #22 female and #4 female teenager in world, #4 female in Japan, 2× Female Kisei: 1–6
• Aoki Kikuyo, 8p, 5× Women's Meijin, 4× Women's Kakusei, once Female Kisei: 2–0
• 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: 1–1
• Kobayashi Izumi, 7p, 3× Female Honinbo, 3× Female Meijin, 2× Female Kisei, once Teikei Cup Female Legends: 0–1
• Umezawa Yukari (Yoshihara Yukari), 6p, 3× Female Kisei: 0–1
• Suzuki Ayumi, 7p, #7 female in Japan, #33 female in world, twice Female Strongest, once Female Kisei: 3–0
• Koyama Terumi, 6p, 4× Women's Meijin: 1–0
• Nyu Eiko, 4p, 2× Female Strongest: 3–5
• Konishi Kazuko, 8p, once Kansai Ladies' Tournament, once Teikei Cup Female Legends: 1–0
• Mukai Chiaki, 6p, once Women's Honinbo: 1–4
• Mannami Kana, 4p, 2× Female Kisei: 0–0
• Mannami Nao, 4p, Kana’s younger sister, once Female Strongest: 1–0
• Song Ronghui, 5p, #49 female in world: 0–1

Links

• Japanese Wikipedia
• Nihon Ki'in profile
• Instagram
• YouTube channel
• Official blog
• Go Ratings and Games
• Go4Go

Book

In 2019, Hoshiai and her good friend Kibe Natsuki, then both 2 dans, published Female Go Players Photo Book. This comprised photos and interviews with 10 female Go professionals (including themselves). They hoped to raise popularity for Go. They crowdfunded for the publication costs, aiming for 1.5 million yen, but raised about 4.39 million yen.

Pictures

hoshiai shiho 2023 (Image credit: Foxwq.com)

Hoshiai Shiho with her husband Son Makoto, 3 Dec 2023 (Image credit: ameblo.jp)