Murakami Bunsho

Murakami Bunshō (村上文祥, 1932 - 1999) was a very strong Japanese amateur player, amateur 7 dan, 8 dan posthumously. Born on the island of Innoshima, Shusaku's birthplace, he won the Amateur Honinbo five times. His 1961 game as the Amateur Honinbo against the professional Honinbo Takagawa Kaku was the first Go game broadcast on TV. In the WAGC, he came 4th in 1979 and 3rd in 1981.

Though his attacking style made his results more erratic than Kikuchi Yasuro's, he beat many pros including Nie Weiping and Kobayashi Koichi (5 dan at the time).

In contrast to Kikuchi, Murakami remained a pure amateur; he served as a Vice President of Ebara Corporation in his later business career.

Links

• Shusaku Museum website has a page on Murakami.
• Even a Chinese online encyclopaedia has an article on Murakami. The photo shows Murakami and Kikuchi in the Shusaku Museum (housed in a shrine before 2008).