Hoshiai Shiho
Hoshiai Shiho's photo at Nihon Ki-in
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.
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Promotion history
- 1p1 April 2013
- 2p26 September 2017
- 3p5 March 2021
- 4p25 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 Female 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 Womens Honinbo challenger, again facing Rina, this time for the title. Her challenge, though, was unsuccessful.
- In 2025, she was runner-up in the
![[ext]](images/extlink.gif)
5th Fumakilla Go Women's Brains after beating Ueno Asami in the semifinals. But she lost to Fujisawa Rina in the final.
- 2025: In the 1st Japan Female League (20242025), she was 2nd player of the winning team (Team IGO & SHOGI Channel). She made a respectable score of 54, the second best of all 2nd players (behind only Nyu Eiko 4p). Her team captain Fujisawa Rina made the best score of any captain and indeed any player (81).
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. She posted this on her Twitter page at 15:15 on 15 July, because of a pun: 15 is written in numerals as one-five, Japanese ichi-go (1 一 ichi, 5 五 go), but this is also a classical or literary pronunciation of 一期 (normally ikki). So it had the deeper meaning of a once-in-a-lifetime event.
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: 26
- Fujisawa Rina, 7p, #8 female in world, #2 female in Japan: 09
- Ueno Asami, 6p, according to rating list, #5 female and #200 overall in the world, and #1 female and #27 overall in Japan: 04
- 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: 03
- Ueno Risa, 3p, Asamis younger sister, #22 female and #4 female teenager in world, #4 female in Japan, 2ื Female Kisei: 16
- Aoki Kikuyo, 8p, 5ื Women's Meijin, 4ื Women's Kakusei, once Female Kisei: 20
- Yoshida Mika, 8p, 4ื Women's Honinbo, 4ื Kansai Ladies' Tournament, once Women's Kakusei: 10
- Chinen Kaori, 6p, 5ื Female Kisei, 4ื Women's Honinbo: 11
- Kobayashi Izumi, 7p, 3ื Female Honinbo, 3ื Female Meijin, 2ื Female Kisei, once Teikei Cup Female Legends: 01
- Umezawa Yukari (Yoshihara Yukari), 6p, 3ื Female Kisei: 01
- Suzuki Ayumi, 7p, #7 female in Japan, #33 female in world, twice Female Strongest, once Female Kisei: 30
- Koyama Terumi, 6p, 4ื Women's Meijin: 10
- Nyu Eiko, 4p, 2ื Female Strongest: 35
- Konishi Kazuko, 8p, once Kansai Ladies' Tournament, once Teikei Cup Female Legends: 10
- Mukai Chiaki, 6p, once Women's Honinbo: 14
- Mannami Kana, 4p, 2ื Female Kisei: 00
- Mannami Nao, 4p, Kanas younger sister, once Female Strongest: 10
- Song Ronghui, 5p, #49 female in world: 01
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.
![[Welcome to Sensei's Library!]](images/stone-hello.png "Sensei's Library")