Nyu Eiko

Nyu Eiko (Kanji: 牛 栄子 / Simplified Chinese: 牛 荣子 / Katakana ニュウ エイコ) is a Japanese female 4 dan professional. She was born on 12 May 1999 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan.

Name meaning

The name Eiko is the on reading, as expected from her Chinese parentage. It can also be read in the kun reading Teruko. Another female professional, Koyama Terumi, has the same character 栄 but uses the kun'yomi or native Japanese reading. A less common kun'yomi reading is Sakiko, from 栄 (sakae) = “prosperity” or “glory”) and the common feminine ending 子 (ko) = “child”. Regardless of how it’s read, it means “glorious/prosperous child”. In Chinese, her name is read Róngzi with the same meaning, although the primary meaning of 子 (zi) is “son”. Her name pronunciation is clear from the syllabic Katakana script generally used for names derived outside Japan, to reflect her Chinese heritage: ニュウ エイコ.

Family

Eiko is the daughter of professional Niu Lili (former amanuensis to Go Seigen) and her husband, four-time Chinese Xiangqi National Champion Zhao Guorong. Lili is the sister of Niu Xianxian (also professional), who is Michael Redmond’s wife. Redmond was Eiko's teacher as well as uncle.

Early life

Lili first took Eiko with her to assist Go Seigen when Eiko was 5 and Go 90. So from an early age, Eiko learned the attitude of the greatest player of the mid-20th century. Go and his wife Kazuko were very fond of the little girl.

Because of her heritage, Eiko is fluent in both Chinese and Japanese, and has been a good translator since she was a little girl. Invited by the God of Go (Part 2)—Exchange between Nyu Eiko Fanxing Cup and Go Seigen 9 Dan, nihonkiin.or.jp, 20 Sep 2022 (in Japanese, with photos of Eiko and Go together)

Description by Fairbairn, 9 May 2021:

She is Michael Redmond’s niece, incidentally, and despite her Chinese heritage she was born in Japan. She’s 22 … on 12 May … She’s been a pro since 2015. Despite not quite hitting the headlines she has had a couple of runner-up places in major women’s events.

This was before she won the Senko Cup Female Strongest two years in a row.

Professional rank progress

Qualified in 2015, 2p (30 wins) on 2017-12-22, 3p in 2020, 4p in 2022-01.

As of 2024-01-02, Nyu Eiko is the #34 ranked female player and #304 overall, and #7 ranked female player in Japan.

Achievements

• 2011: Represented Chiba Prefecture at the 32nd Children's Meijin ( Player list)
• 2012–2013: 5th place at the Children’s Meijin
• 2014: Finalist at the 35th Children’s Meijin ( Results)
• 2017: Runner up in the 20th Female Kisei, losing 1–2 to Xie Yimin
  
• 2018: Runner up in the 3rd (new) Female Strongest, losing to Mannami Nao
• 2019: Winner, US Masters
• 2020: Placed third in the 2020 Hakata Kamachi Cup
• 2021: Tenth most wins of Japanese professionals, 34 with 17 losses
• 2022: Winner of the 7th Senko Cup Female Strongest, beating Nakamura Sumire in the final. It was a great comeback victory, overcoming such a big lead lead that AI rated her losing chances at 99%
• 2023: Winner of the 8th Senko Cup Female Strongest, beating Ueno Asami in the final.
• 2024: Won the right to challenge Fujisawa Rina for 43rd Female Honinbo by beating Ueno Risa, reigning Female Kisei, in the final. But she narrowly lost by 2–3.

On 15 November 2021, she beat Kobayashi Satoru:

(She’s the) 12th woman to make it to (the) Big 7 (qualification) finals, (it’s the) 17th time it’s been done since 1979. Four times in Reiwa already.

On 15 April 2024, Nyu beat Takemiya Masaki.

Nyu has an overall professional game record of 454 games, 271 wins, and 183 losses, for a 59.7% win rate (as of 2024/08/27).

Head-to-head scores against current female rivals

(at least three games)

(Based on Nyu Eiko, Go Ratings and game list), as of 8 Apr 2025

Yang Zixuan     5p former Women's Zuiqiang RU      3–0 (100%)
Suzuki Ayumi    7p former Female Kisei             7–3 (70%)
Xie Yimin       7p winner of 27 titles             7–7 (50%)
Ueno Risa       3p Female Kisei, Senko Cup         3–4 (43%)
Ueno Asami      6p winner of 15 titles             6–10 (37.5%)
Nakamura Sumire 4p former Female Kisei             3–7 (30%)
Mukai Chiaki    6p former Female Honinbo           1–4 (20%)
O Yujin         9p former Women's Kuksu            1–5 (16%)
Fujisawa Rina   7p winner of 26 titles             3–13 (20%)
Li He           6p Asian Games gold medalist       0–4 (0%)
Yu Zhiying      8p, former #2 female in world      0–3 (0%)
Hoshiai Shiho   4p, 1× Female Honinbo challenger   4–3 (57%)
Kobayashi Izumi 7p, winner of 11 titles            1–2 (33%)

Links

• Nihon Ki-in
• Japanese Wiki
• Korean Wiki
• PWD
• Go4Go
• Go Ratings
• Her Twitter/X page
• Photos of four pairs of family go players from China, Japan, South Korea and the United States participating in the Bosi Cup Family Match, includes photo of mother/daughter pair Niu Lili and Nyu Eiko together, and playing a game with Lili's younger sister Niu Xian Xian and brother-in-law Michael Redmond (in Chinese)

Photos

bottom left, clockwise: Ueno Asami, Nakamura Sumire, Fujisawa Rina, Nyu Eiko, and Ueno Risa (Image credit: Fujisawa Rina Twitter)

Nyu Eiko in 2014, translating with a megaphone during making of Go Seigen movie (Image credit: nihonkiin.or.jp)

Nyu Eiko as a little girl with Go Seigen (aged 90+) and his wife Kazuko (née Nakahara) (Image credit: nihonkiin.or.jp)

Back to front: Nyu Eiko, Nakamura Sumire, Ueno Risa, Fujisawa Rina, and Ueno Asami (Image credit: Fujisawa Rina Twitter)

Nyu Eiko (right) and her mother Niu Lili playing pair go (Image credit: Yoshiro Shimizu Twitter)