Kita Fumiko
Kita Fumiko (喜多文子, nee Shiba Fumi 司馬 文, 1875–1950) was a Japanese female professional honorary 8-dan. She was adopted by the strongest female player of the prior generation, Hayashi Sano, and rose to become the strongest female player of her generation. She was one of the primary forces in the unification of Japanese go and is regarded as the the mother of women’s go and mother of modern go. Nearly all Japanese female professional go players prior to World War II were students of Kita Fumiko.
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Early life
Fumiko Kita was the second daughter of Shiba Ryokai (1840–1839), a medical doctor and translator, and his wife Harue. Dr Shiba died when Fumiko was only three, and left her mother and two other siblings in a difficult position. Her mother and older sister returned to the island of Sado where Dr Shiba came from. Her much older brother Kotaru (1862–1936) was sent to live with a medical colleague, and became a medical linguist like his father.
Fumiko was given for adoption to Hayashi Sano, then 54, so her name changed to Hayashi Fumiko. Sano was a member of the Hayashi go house and was one of the few Meiji-era female professional Go players. She was the first Meiji-era woman to reach the rank of 4-dan.
Sano already had an adult daughter who was a 1 dan pro. Fumiko originally wasn't interested in learning go, but while staying home with measles, she saw her adoptive mother teaching a class of beginners. Fumiko was captivated by atari, ko, snapback, and ladder.
Once Fumiko was serious about learning Go, Sano made her cut her hair short and wear boys’ clothes because she would be playing mainly with boys. After she reached 1 dan, she would be allowed to grow long hair and wear feminine clothes. Sano thought that without that incentive, Fumiko would reach no further than her biological daughter, but saw that Fumiko had talent to go further.
A good story about a battle of wills between Sano and her daughter Fumi can be found in the essay The Art of Resigning contained in Nakayama Noriyuki’s book The Treasure Chest Enigma.
Go playing career and marriage
Fumiko was awarded 1-dan in 1889 at the Hoensha. Then her adoptive mother retired. But the leading player of the day, Honinbo Shuei, volunteered to play training games with her, late at night at his house. His wife was happy to have some female company as a change from the normal male visitors. She got to playing on two stones, which few other players could manage.
She married the Noh actor Kita Roppeita (1874–1971) in 1895. They met through go patron and aristocrat Kuroda Nagatomo (1838–1902). They had no biological children. Fumiko learned about diplomacy from her husband’s struggles with Noh factions. Kita Roppeita took that name when he became 14th head of the Kita school of Noh acting; his birth name was Utsuno Chiyozo. In 1955, he was made a Living National Treasure. After marriage, Fumiko retired from go to devote herself to home life and the Kita school.
Fumiko returned to go in 1907, at the urging of her husband. She became 4-dan in 1907, 5-dan in 1921, 6-dan in 1938, and 7-dan posthumously in 1950.
In 1911, she had a sensational 5-game winning streak in a win-and-continue format against strong male players. In those days, that was roughly equivalent to winning a title today.
Go organization and mentoring
In 1924, Kita played an important role in the unification of Japanese go through the founding of the Nihon Ki-in. Having taken lessons from Honinbo Shuei, Honinbo Shusai, and Nakagawa Kamesaburo, she maintained good relations with all three: she could bring the rival factions together.
Kita also played a motherly and matchmaking role to many of the younger professionals. For example, she looked after the teenage Go Seigen when he first arrived in Japan, including taking him to the doctor soon after and finding suitable Japanese clothes. She often visited him when he was hospitalized in 1940. And in 1942, she and her husband acted as matchmaker when Go married Nakahara Kazuko, although another factor was the shared Shinto faith of Kita, Go, and his new wife.
In 1973, Kita was awarded honorary 8-dan. In 2013 she was inducted into the Nihon Ki-in Hall of Fame, the only woman so far.
Pupils
All of her pupils were girls. They lived in Kita’s home, along with her husband’s Noh pupils. Apparently the actor trainees didn't dare play Go for recreation in the presence of much stronger females.
Most of Kita’s pupils started knowing nothing about go, and were sent to live with her to learn a trade (go teacher). The exception was her youngest and strongest pupil Sugiuchi Kazuko. Kita witnessed Sugiuchi, then Honda, beat Kitani Minoru in an exhibition games on five stones aged only 10, and recruited her. Her father was a big go fan and was very willing to allow Kita to teach his oldest daughter. She had a younger sister Honda Sachiko who also became a pro, and two years after Kazuko started lessons with Kita, her even younger sister was born, future pro Kusunoki Teruko.
Suzuki Hideko, née Taoka Fumiko, had the same given name and even same kanji as her teacher. Living in the same house, she changed her given name to Hideko to avoid confusion. She even followed Kita’s example and wore male clothes until she became 1p, but unlike Kita she did so voluntarily (she had samurai ancestry).
- Hagiwara Sachiko
- Hayashi Satoko
- Ito Tomoe
- Oyama Toshiko
- Kambayashi Haruko
- Kosugi Katsuko
- Sugiuchi Kazuko
- Suzuki Hideko
- Suzuki Tsuna
- Tanimura Michiko
Later years
Kita was already over 60 when WW2 came. She suffered privation during the war years, and her health failed. While trying to recuperate after the war, she became frailer. She died at her home surrounded by many of her pupils, aged 75.
Style
She liked to build up thickness early, planning to use it to overtake on territory later. But she famously taught her students:
Cut where you can; capture where you can.
If she fell behind, she would fight fiercely and would often turn the tables. Most of her games ended in resignation.
Books
- Kita's book Tsumego: new research (詰碁の新研究, 1935) can be read online at
the Japan National Diet Library digital collection. It was the first go book authored by a female professional. It contains problems from Gokyo Shumyo and Gokyo Seimyo, life and death problems from practical play, and some of her own compositions.
- Five-star Kita Fumiko by John Fairbairn (2023) has a short biography plus detailed analysis of her 5-game winning streak against male professionals in 1911.
Notes
- A record, with comments, of a handicap game between Kita Fumiko and Shuei can be found in Masterpieces of Handicap Go, Volume 1.