Koyama Terumi

Koyama Terumi (小山栄美, born 1970) is a Nihon Ki-in female professional 7 dan Go player, pupil of Kato Masao.

Name

Her married surname Koyama 小山 means hill (literally “Small mountain”). In Chinese, it would be pronounced Xiǎoshān with the same meaning.

Her given name Terumi 栄美 comes from 栄, meaning “to shine”," “to flourish”, or “to prosper”, 美 meaning beautiful, a common last character of Japanese feminine names. She uses the kun reading of 栄美 as “Terumi” rather than the on'yomi reading Eimi. Another female professional, Nyu Eiko, has the same character 栄 but uses the on reading, because of her Chinese parentage.

Promotion history

Professional shodan in 1987, 2 dan in 1989, 3 dan in 1992, 4 dan in 1996, 5 dan in 1999, 6 dan in 2009, and 7th dan in 2023.

Titles

Koyama was the Women's Meijin title holder in 1996–1998 and 2005. In total, she has won four titles.

Family

Terumi learned Go when she was five from her mother, a strong amateur and co-owner of a Go club.

Née Nishida Terumi (西田栄美). Married to Koyama Ryugo in 1993. As a result, her legal name became Koyama Terumi, but she continued to use her born surname, Nishida, as a Go professional. Then, she changed her name to Koyama Mitsuru (滿鶴) in 1999. In 2002, she changed her name again, to Koyama Terumi, finally matching her legal name. Koyama Kuya is their son.

Links

• Japanese Wikipedia
• Nihon Ki'in profile