Ota Yuzo

Ota Yuzo (太田 雄蔵 Ōta Yūzō, 1807–1856. Earlier names Kawahara Unosuke 川原卯之助 and Ryōsuke 良輔) was a 7-dan Japanese professional go player. He is known for being one of the Tempo Four and playing a 30-game match (sanjubango, in fact ended after 23 games) against Honinbo Shusaku. Shusaku later wrote: "Among the Tempo Four 7 dans, Yuzo's skills were slightly better than the rest."

He published a book titled Seisei Shudan (西征手談) in 1841, collecting 52 of his games, which is available at the Japanese National Diet Library here.

Taken from "Invincible": Yuzo was Shusaku's top rival and Shusaku played more games with Yuzo than with anyone else. Yuzo played more than 140 games with Honinbo Shuwa, one of the most between any two players, shuttling between the two closest handicaps of tagaisen and sen-ai-sen.

Yuzo's favorite move was the mokuhazushi and he was a very aggressive player. He was also said to be one of the most handsome professional Go players of the time. He did not participate in the Castle games because he would have had to shave his head.

Rank Promotion

1848: 7d