Kitani Miharu

Kitani Miharu (木谷美春, 1910-1991) was the wife of Kitani Minoru. Before marriage, she was a daughter of the owner of the inn where Kitani stayed to ponder over the concepts of Shin Fuseki. She wrote a book describing the life of the Kitani dojo.

Miharu was the mother of Kobayashi Reiko, grandmother of Kobayashi Izumi, and great-grandmother of Cho Kosumi and Cho Koharu. Reiko was the only child of the Kitanis who became a go professional. In total, they had three sons and five daughters (the second daughter died in infancy).

In an interview with Pieter Mioch, Kitani dojo pupil Tsuchida Masamitsu reminisced about his time there. Tsuchida said the following about Mrs Kitani, who looked after her absent-minded husband, her own 7 children, and the dojo pupils:

When Kitani had to go somewhere, Mrs Kitani (Kitani Miharu) always sent one or more of us with him to carry his purse and to ensure that nothing untoward happened. For example, Master Kitani sometimes had not even noticed that the sash that everyone wore around the middle of his body had come loose as he was walking along. Post haste the pupils had to then ensure that master did not wander along the street half naked before someone spotted him!

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Mrs Kitani, who was the real head of the Kitani dojo, since besides the go games the whole load rested on her shoulders, was relentless towards badly performing pupils. They had to go back home and were not allowed back in.

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As regards the present day, I think there is little chance that there will ever be a dojo set up that can match Kitani's dojo. In the Japan of today, it is difficult to find a wife like the one Kitani married. Mrs Kitani Miharu actually did not play go, but she treated each pupil in the Kitani dojo as her own flesh and blood. She made herself responsible for all the pupils—lock, stock, and barrel. In fact, Mrs Kitani made the greatest contribution to creating an ideal atmosphere in which young talent had the chance to develop in full.