Yoda Norimoto

Yoda Norimoto (依田 紀基, born 11th February 1966) is a Japanese 9-dan professional Go player.

Yoda was born in Iwamizawa, Hokkaido, Japan. Turned professional in 1980, and promoted to 9-dan in 1993. He is known to slam go stones onto the board, even breaking them into pieces to unnerve the opponent. Previous titles include:

• 1983: 8th Shinjin O
• 1986: 11th Shinjin O
• 1987: 12th Shinjin O
• 1988: 14th Shinjin O
• 1990: 15th Shinjin O
• 1991: 38th NHK Cup
• 1992: 12th NEC Cup
• 1993: 40th NHK Cup and 5th Asian TV Cup
• 1995: 33rd Judan title
• 1996: 34th Judan and 21st Gosei titles, and 1st Samsung Cup
• 1997: 22nd Gosei title, 17th NEC Cup, and 4th Agon Cup
• 1998: 23rd Gosei title, 45th NHK Cup, and 10th Asian TV Cup
• 1999: 46th NHK Cup and 11th Asian TV Cup
• 2000: 25th Meijin and 47th NHK Cup
• 2001: 26th Meijin title
• 2002: 27th Meijin and 24th Kakusei titles, and 21st NEC Cup
• 2003: 28th Meijin and 28th Gosei titles
• 2004: 29th Gosei title
• 2005: 30th Gosei title

In 2024 he achieved his 1200th win, making him 12th player in Japan and 19th overall.

During his Kisei match against Yamashita Keigo, the referee Hane Yasumasa 9-dan said of him:

Yoda dislikes being attacked the most of all professionals. The word “flee” is not in his dictionary. Instead, there are entries only for “live” and sacrifice.”

Lee Changho 9p once said, “Yoda Norimoto is one of the best of the best."” Yoda had a good score against Lee at the beginning, but then Lee almost caught up. Their lifetime score is 10–9 to Yoda.

Yoda’s wife is Hara Sachiko 4p, and their second son Yoda Ozora also turned Nihon Kiin pro in 2022.

Author of

• Vital Points and Skillful Finesse for Sabaki
• Yoda Note