Nihon Ki-in Hall of Fame
As one of the events celebrating its 80th anniversary, the Nihon Ki-in has established a Go Hall of Fame, analogous to those of various sports in the United States. It is located in the basement of the Nihon Ki-in headquarters in Tokyo.
First Year Inductions
- Honinbo Sansa - Founder of the Honinbo house and the first Meijin
- Honinbo Dosaku - The 4th Honinbo head, responsible for great advances in Go theory
- Honinbo Shusaku - The greatest player of the golden age of Go in the mid-19th century, who compiled a unique record of nineteen successive wins with no losses in his Castle Games
- Tokugawa Ieyasu - The warlord who unified Japan and set the foundation for the Edo-period prosperity of Go by extending government patronage to top Go players
Nominations for the first year were restricted to the Edo period. Players who were nominated but did not make the cut included Honinbo Jowa, Honinbo Shuwa, Yasui Sanchi, Yasui Santetsu, and Nakamura Doseki.
Second Year Inductions
- Honinbo Jowa - 12th head of the Honinbo house and the final Meijin Godokoro. Helped to usher in the golden era of Go by training both Shuwa and Shusaku. Participant in the famous blood-vomiting game.
In the second year players from the Edo, Meiji, and Taisho periods were allowed to be nominated. New nominees were Honinbo Shuho, Honinbo Shuei, Honinbo Shusai, Baron Okura Kishichiro, Segoe Kensaku, Iwamoto Kaoru, Go Seigen, and Kitani Minoru. Though Go Seigen indicated beforehand that he did not feel it would be appropriate to be inducted while still active.
Third Year Inductions
The third induction of famous figures from go history to the Hall of Fame was held on 28 July, 2006. Two people were inducted:
- Honinbo Shuwa (1820-73), the leading player at the end of the Edo period and in the early modern period.
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Baron Okura Kishichiro (1882-1963), who played an important role in the founding of the Nihon Ki-in and served as its Vice President (later Honorary President) for a long period.
Comments
Bob McGuigan: These four obviously are important in the history of Japanese Go and Go in general. Any speculation on who might next be chosen for this hall of fame? And what about great figures outside of Japan?
Charles: Ought to be Go Seigen. It would be surprising if it was, though. Perhaps a balanced ticket of Shusai and Segoe?
Chris Hayashida: Granted, these four were very important in the founding of go in Japan, but how about inducting people that are still living? It would be a shame if Go Seigen was inducted into the Hall of Fame post mortem.
I think Kitani Minoru and Go Seigen should be inducted into the Hall of Fame because of their influence during the Shin Fuseki era.
I doubt that figures outside of Japan will be honored (and Go has a strike against him, being a foreigner.) Unfortunately, there is still a bias against foreigners in Japan. I suspect that the next year or two will still be inducting people from the Golden Age. Honinbo Shuwa comes to mind, and maybe Honinbo Jowa as well.
Harpreet: Overlooking Go Seigen would just be an embarassment for the whole Hall of Fame idea. They won't make that mistake. It would be too glaring especially when including Kitani as he will surely have to be in there at some point. Besides Go Seigen is an honorary member of the Nihon Kiin, no? Shuho and Shusai will have to be in there since they both contributed greatly to the move away from the traditional Go Houses which eventually led to the Nihon Kiin. I wonder what more interesting or unexpected names we might see.
SikeElegy: I'd say Doseki, Jowa, Genan, Shusai, Wu, and Kitani are givens. My largely random thought would be that they'll wait through another group of ancients, then Wu and Kitani will be inducted simultaneously.
Charles: Wonder if it will be like the Rock 'n' Roll Hall equivalent (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductees_of_the_Rock_and_Roll_Hall_of_Fame); and in latter years we'll be sitting around wondering whose idea it was to admit Billy Joel with Paul McCartney, or Queen with Steely Dan (mutandis mutatis)?
Bill: Del Shannon??? Can Pat Boone be far behind? ;-)