Sansa
Honinbo Sansa (本因坊算砂 Hon'inbō Sansa, Nikkai, 1559-1623) was a famous Go player.
Sansa was the first head of the Honinbo house and the first Meijin, taking the name Sansa. Sansa was the rival of Kashio Rigen. He was also a strong shogi player (he was both the first Meijin Go-Dokoro and Meijin Shogi-Dokoro). He was a Buddhist priest of the Nichiren sect and his dharma name was Nikkai. He lived in a temple pavilion called Honinbo from where he taught Go.
"In 1588, Nobunaga's successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, organized a large-scale competition to systematize the rankings of Go players. Nikkai, a high-ranking Buddhist monk, who was Nobunaga's Go teacher, won this competition and Hideyoshi decreed that from then on all other players should take black or a larger handicap from him. Nikkai was also awarded a stipend which began the government patronage that enabled Go to flourish in Japan. (Bozulich, 1999)" [1]
Pupils[2]
Notes
[1] From JaredBeck/DevelopmentOfGoEarlyHistory.
Bozulich, R. (1999). "Go Seigen, the 20th century's greatest player". Yomiuri Shimbun. Retrieved May 30, 2005
[2] Kido Yearbook 1995.
- In a Hikaru no Go chapter, Kimihiro Tsutsui acts as Nikkai in a play.