Kamakura The Book
Go Seigen and Kitani Minoru played a ten game series (jubango) in the Japanese city of Kamakura between 1939 and 1941. This book contains detailed game reviews and text covering the historical and cultural aspects of this famous match.
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Reviews
Bob McGuigan: This book is a wonderful contribution to go literature in English. The Kamakura jubango occurred at a crucial time in the history of Japanese go and, indeed, the history and cultural evolution of Japan. Detailed descriptions of the fascinating historical, cultural, and political settings of the match are given. Go's difficulties as a foreigner in increasingly nationalistic and militaristic Japan are explained. We are treated to extremely detailed commentaries on the moves of each game, derived from many published studies. Of particular interest to me were the insights into the personalities and characters of the two players. The go exhibited in the games demonstrates the utmost in fighting spirit, which is one of the many things that make the games so exciting. But in all other respects the interactions of the players were friendly, showing no hostility or competetiveness. Both players are clearly focussed on finding the best moves. We even learn of the vocal reactions and comments made by the players during the games: when Kitani made a deep invasion/erasure Go said The bomber has arrived; after playing a move Go said, It seems a bit odd but ..., and Kitani said Eh!? Is such a move possible?; after the next move Go said Oh, perhaps I should have played the safe move. Just the sort of thing we amateurs say when we play. The concluding postlude describes the harsh lives both players led in the years after the match, during the second World War and immediately after. The author writes: Neither Go nor Kitani deserted the Way of Go ... Future successes were in any case to be part of a new world, shaped by western notions and influences--successes measured in a different, more relentlessly quantitative way. Kamakura represented go in an age when success was measured in a qualitative way that may have been more tenuous but was, in the end, harsher and maybe even purer.
There are three appendices. One is a chronology of events in China and Japan from Go Seigen's arrival in Japan. The second is a complete listing of the 82 surviving games between Go and Kitani with date, colors, ranks, handicap, and the event in which the game occurred. The third appendix is a glossary of technical go terminology.
There is a selected bibliography of some 50 references, most in Japanese but some in English, Chinese, and Korean.
Table of Contents
Preface
The Players
Kitani Minoru
Go Seigen
Prelude to the Match
Game 1: The one with the nosebleed
Game 2: The one with the new baby and the frightening move
Game 3: The one with Aesop's fable
Game 4: The one with the nightengales
Game 5: The one with the fragrant mats
Game 6: The one with the shaven head
Game 7: The one with the red ink
Game 8: The one with the sanrensei
Game 9: The one that was Kitani's masterpiece
Game 10 The one that ended the suffering
Postlude
Appendix 1: Chronology in Japan/China and the Go world from Go's arrival in Japan
Appendix 2: Complete list of surviving games between Kitani and Go
Appendix 3: Technical notes
Index