Fujisawa Hideyuki

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Fujisawa Hideyuki

Fujisawa Hideyuki (藤沢 秀行, 1925 June 19 - 2009 May 8), commonly called Fujisawa Shuko (藤沢 秀行 Fujisawa Shūkō), was a retired Japanese 9-dan Go professional.

Table of contents

Biography

Fujisawa Hideyuki was born in Yokohama, Japan. He was one of the best players during his era. One of the "Three crows" along with Toshiro Yamabe and Suzuki Keizo (and later Kajiwara Takeo). Even though he was known more for his controversial acts, such as having a bad drinking habit, the most important thing that shone through about Fujisawa was his Go skill. Besides Go, he is known to gamble and is a successful real estate dealer. He's also known for his calligraphy and has had several exhibits of his works. He has also stated in his autobiography, although he doesn't mind being called Shuko, he'd prefer to be called Hideyuki.

Fujisawa, a student of Masayoshi Fukuda?, began studying at the Nihon Kiin in 1934 and turned pro in 1940. Although he struggled at first, taking 23 years to reach 9 dan, he would start a title run in the early 60's, 70's, and 80's. He would win his first major title in 1962, the Meijin. He then won two Asahi Pro Best Ten titles in 1965 and 1968. He won his second major title, the Oza, of which he would hold for three consecutive years from 1967 to 1969. The same year that he lost the Oza, he would win the NHK Cup. The Meijin title was Fujisawa's again when he won it in 1970. He then went on a dry streak of titles. By 1976, he won his first title since the Meijin in 1970. The Tengen was that title.

Fujisawa would go on to surprise critics as he won the Kisei title 6 straight years from 1976 to 1982. By 1980, nobody thought anyone else but Fujisawa would win the Kisei, but that was silenced when he finally lost it to Cho Chikun in 1982. He won the first 3 games, controlling each and every move Cho made. It looked like Fujisawa would hold the Kisei for the 7th year in a row, but Cho fought back and won 4 games, Fujisawa making a blunder in a winning position in the seventh game. After his run of consecutive Kisei titles, the Japanese Nihon Ki-in awarded him Honorary Kisei. He is known to play a very flexible fuseki but infamous in making errors, or poka later in the game.

Fujisawa was getting old now, and wouldn't win another title until ten years later. Again he won the Oza and held it for two years at the age of 67. He had set a record for the oldest player to defend a title, a record which stills holds to this day. In October of 1998, he decided to retire from the Go world at the age of 74. The following year Fujisawa was expelled from the Nihon Ki-in for selling unsanctioned rank diplomas to amateurs in protest against what he considered improper Ki-in policies. In June, 2003, the dispute was resolved and Fujisawa was reinstated in the Ki-in. His last place of residence was Kawasaki City. Fujisawa died 8 May 2009.

Fujisawa had a reputation for winning the first edition of many titles: the first Prime Minister's Cup (1957), the first Nihon Ki-in Number One Position? (1959), the first Meijin (1962), the first Haya-Go Championship (1969), the first Tengen (1976), and the first Kisei (1977)...

According to Mrs. Guo Juan, Shuko Sensei went to China every year to teach, bringing his students, beginning in the early 1980s. At first he used his own money, later acquiring sponsors.

Fujisawa had a reputation for liking to drink and gamble. See Alcohol and Go.

Fujisawa died of pneumonia on 2009 May 8 at 7:16am at a Tokyo hospital.
Source: [ext] http://www.asahi.com/igo/news/TKY200905080048.html
Article in English from The Mainichi Daily News [ext] http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20090508p2a00m0na007000c.html


Fujisawa Hideyuki's pupils


Some of his Books

His Name

Fujisawa's name was originally Tamotsu, but he changed it to Hideyuki, which may also be pronounced Shuko.The character shu (秀, shū) is the same as the one in many Honinbo names, such as Shuwa, Shusaku, Shusai, Shuei.

Chinese: 藤泽秀行
pronounced Téngzé Xiùháng (or Téngzé Xiùxíng ?)
Japanese: 藤沢 秀行 Fujisawa Hideyuki and Fujisawa Shūkō
Korean:

It is fair to say that he is best known as Shuko in Japan. He also regularly uses Shuko in his book titles, for example:

  • Shuko no Sekai (this 6 volume set is even copyright Fujisawa Shuko)
  • Shuko Ryuu Kono Itte (this one is copyright Fujisawa Hideyuki)

On the other hand when the Yomiuri Shimbun published the games from the first five Kisei matches (that earned him the title of Honorary Kisei - Meiyo Kisei), they titled the book Fujisawa Hideyuki Meiyo Kisei e no Michi More about pronouncing his name on /Discussion.

The definitive information about his name comes from the master himself via an interview published on the New in Go website [ext] here, article number 72.

References


This is a copy of the living page "Fujisawa Hideyuki" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2009 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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