Nihon Ki-in

    Keywords: Culture & History, People, Clubs & Places

Chinese: 日本棋院 (rìběn qíyuàn)
Japanese: 日本棋院 (Nihon Ki-in)
Korean: -

Table of contents

History

The Nihon Ki-in (literally "Japan Go Association") is the principal Japanese go association. It is based in Tokyo and was formed in July 1924. The main driver was the [ext] Kanto earthquake, which caused great financial hardship among the existing Go groups of the time. Baron Okura Kishichiro was a primary patron of the new organization, investing ¥100,000 in a newly built hall in Tameike, Akasaka, completed in April 1926, and further supporting it with ¥1,000 a month through 1937. This hall, pictured at this site ( [ext] http://www.gobooks.info/pics/p47.jpg ) , was destroyed during World War II by the USAF strategic air campaign against the Japanese home islands.

The first president of the Nihon Ki-in was Makino Nobuaki, a great Go patron himself, with Okura Kishichiro serving as vice president. The vast majority of pros at the time joined the fledgling organization, excepting the Inoue faction in Osaka and Nozawa Chikucho. A brief splinter group called Kiseisha was created soon after the Nihon Ki-in was formed, but most of the players involved had returned to the Nihon Ki-in within a couple of years. There have been many other such groups over the years (see Outside the Ki-ins for a list). By far the most important is the Kansai Ki-in in Osaka, formed in 1950 and still active today.

Among the innovations of the Nihon Ki-in were the organization of the Oteai promotion system, the introduction of time limits, and the introduction of amateur rank diplomas.


Locations

Ichigaya, Tokyo

There are two branches of the Nihon Ki-in in Tokyo. The main branch is in Ichigaya; if you have watched Hikaru no Go, you will have seen it often. [ext] Here is a picture of the Ichigaya branch in Google Street View. (Street View doesn't cover the exact street the Ki-in is on, but if you look down the Street View picture at the indicated angle, you will be able to see it.)

maruseru I've taken some [ext] pictures in and around the Ichigaya branch during my trip to Tokyo in May 2008.

The Yugen no ma is in this branch.

Address: 7-2 Gobancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0076
Phone: +81-3-3288-8727
Nearest subway: Ichigaya

Yaesu, Tokyo

The other Tokyo branch is in Yaesu, just opposite Tokyo station. It is more modern than the Ichigaya branch, but not as spacious. To play there you had to pay a fee of about 1200 Yen. There are some [ext] pictures of the Yaesu branch as well.


Web Site

Current Japanese Go news is posted to the English language site every week or two, and there is an archive of older news going back to 1998. It pays particular attention to news of Western professionals at the Nihon Ki-in. This section has recently been titled the "Redmond Report" for detailing the activities of Michael Redmond 9-dan.


Related Pages

Book Series

[ext] First page of Nihon Ki-in book list on their web site.

  • Igo Bessatsu (series of at least 42 'additional' magazines 別冊; tderz it is not clear to me whether this counts as Nihon Kiin Book Series?)

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