Nihon Ki-in

Table of contents History Locations Ichigaya Main Office Yurakucho, Tokyo and other areas Overseas Website and YouTube Publications Periodicals Book Series Other Related Pages

History

The Nihon Ki-in (literally "Japan Go Institute") is the principal Japanese professional go organization. When the Japanese name is not used it is generally referred to in English go publications as the Japanese Go Association. The Nihon Kiin is based in Tokyo and was formed in July 1924. The main driver was the Kanto earthquake, which caused great financial hardship among the existing go groups of the time, namely Hoensha, Chuo Kiin and Hiseikai. Baron Okura Kishichiro was a primary patron of the new organization, investing ¥100,000 in a newly built hall in Tameike, Akasaka, completed in April 1926, and further supporting it with ¥1,000 a month through 1937. This hall (pictured below) was destroyed during World War II by the USAF strategic air campaign against the Japanese home islands.

The first president of the Nihon Ki-in was Makino Nobuaki?, a great go patron himself, with Okura Kishichiro serving as vice president. The vast majority of pros at the time joined the fledgling organization, excepting the Inoue faction in Osaka and Nozawa Chikucho. A brief splinter group called Kiseisha was created soon after the Nihon Ki-in was formed, but most of the players involved had returned to the Nihon Ki-in within a couple of years. There have been many other such groups over the years (see Outside the Ki-ins for a list). By far the most important is the Kansai Ki-in in Osaka, formed in 1950 and still active today.

Locations

The Kiin has office/salons in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.

Ichigaya Main Office

The main branch is in Ichigaya, Tokyo; if you have watched Hikaru no Go, you will have seen it often. The Yugen no ma, a special room for top class games, is in this branch. Here is a picture of the Ichigaya branch in Google Street View.

• Go salon: If you go up to the second floor there is a public go salon and a shop selling books, boards etc. You pay at the till then take the receipt over to a small table just to the right. They will then stamp it and take your name and rank giving you a card to fill in. They then match you with a appropriate player. This process may only be for visitors and you probably will need at least a little Japanese to get it all sorted. See Japan Cool Places for details.
• Shop: The shop on the second floor is also well worth a visit, there is a large selection of books in Japanese and a much smaller section in English. The life and death problem books are pretty obvious (at least the ones for DDK-SDK level) and you can flick through them until you find the one that's about your level. The staff are all very helpfully but didn't speak much English.
• Hall of Fame and Museum: It is located on the basement floor. Open 11am - 5pm, closed on Mondays. The entry is free. Tripadvisor.

Address: 7-2 Gobancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0076
Phone: +81-3-3288-8601 (Office & Museum), 3288-8840 (Salon & Shop)
Nearest subway station: Ichigaya (Y14/S04/N09)

Yurakucho, Tokyo and other areas

The other Tokyo branch is now in Yurakucho. It is more modern than the Ichigaya branch, but not as spacious. The Kiin also has office/salons in Nagoya and Osaka. For details, see Japan Cool Places.

Overseas

The Nihon Kiin currently has two locations abroad:

• Sao Paulo, Brazil: https://nihonkiin.com.br/
• Seattle, Washington, USA: https://www.seattlegocenter.org/index.php
• (The premise of European Go Cultural Centre in Amsterdam was sold in 2019.)

Website and YouTube

• Japanese language - http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp
• English language - http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/index-e.htm

Current Japanese go news is posted to the English language site at irregular intervals, and there is an archive of older news going back to 1998. It pays particular attention to news of Western professionals at the Nihon Ki-in.

• Official YouTube channel (from February 2018)

Publications

Now most of their publications are available in Kindle format on Amazon Japan (and Amazon in some other countries), including many of past titles.

Periodicals

• Igo Yearbooks
• Gekkan Go Waarudo monthly magazine
• Shukan Go weekly newspaper.

Past magazines include Kido, Igo Club, Igo Mirai etc.

Book Series

First page of Nihon Ki-in book list on their web site.

• Current (including Kindle editions)
  • Nihon Ki-in brown cover series
  • Nihon Ki-in Small Encyclopedias
  • Nihon Ki-in Pocket Series
  • Also see Dictionary page.
• Past
  • Nihon Ki-in red cover series
  • MagicOfGoSeries
  • Go, The World's Most Fascinating Game
  • Go Super Books
  • Dan level problem book series
  • The Heart Of Go Discovery series
  • Nihon Ki-in Problem Collection series
  • Selected readings for dan-level players. One translated to English as Takao's astute use of brute force.
  • Bessatsu Igo Club - series of 'additional' (別冊) magazines, numbered 1-50. Published 1976-1984.
  • NEW Bessatsu Igo Club? Another series numbered 1-41. Published 1984-1993.

Other Related Pages

• Insei
• Nihon Ki-in Championship (defunct tournament)
• Nihon Ki-in Hall of Fame
• Nihon Ki-in new promotion system
• Nihon Ki-in new tournament system
• Nihon Ki-in Professionals
• Nihon Ki-in Professional Examination
• Shidoin - official license for amateur players
• Shusai Prize for the best player of the year
• Okura Prize for promotion of Go
• Oteai (old promotion system)
• Yugen no Ma
• Kanagawa Prefecture Go Association, Yokohama version of Nihon Ki-in
• Professional Go Associations
• International Go Federation
• Page with contact information for the Nihon Kiin (Imagist: I didn't copy the contact information here because I'm afraid people will unwisely inundate them with emails. If there is a general feeling of disagreement, someone else can copy it over)