Japanese Go proverbs

    Keywords: Proverb

General Principles

Psychology

  • 勝ち碁を勝ちきる難しさ It's tough to win a winning game
  • 負け碁の打ちよさ You have a free hand when losing
  • 争碁に名局なし Official challenge matches produce no beautiful games (...you can't show your best under psychological pressure)
  • 白の地は大きく見ゆるものなり White's territories look larger (...against a stronger player, don't fear too much)
  • 岡目八目 Spectator sees farther
  • 石飛んで碁に勝たず Who displaces stones can't win the game (...always keep calm)
  • 酒は別腸碁は別智 Drinking is different from eating, Go is different from intelligence
  • 師匠の初負け The teacher loses the first game (...it's difficult to play without knowing the opponent's strength. And a pro teacher doesn't like losing a new customer...)
  • 見損じはコウで誘え Lure him into oversight with a ko threat (...he might think it is a simple ko threat and make a natural looking reply which is in fact a mistake)
  • 碁は運の芸と知るべし Go is, after all, an art of luck (Gennan Inseki)

Opening

Middlegame: Life-and-death

Middlegame: Capturing Race & Ko fight

Middlegame: Typical Shapes and Tactics

Middlegame: Territory and Framework

Middlegame: Attack and Defence

  • 碁はキリにあり Go is about cutting (...that is, where and when to start local fights) (Hosokawa Senjin)
  • 攻むるは守るなり Attacking is defending (...play moves useful for both purposes)
  • 攻めは大きく Attack From A Distance (...far moves are more likely to have additional effects and make the target difficult to sacrifice)
  • 攻めはまっすぐサバキは斜め Attack with straight moves, defend with diagonal moves (...because diagonals offer eyeshapes and ko possiblities) (Sonoda Yuichi)
  • 重くして攻めよ First make him heavy, then start attacking
  • モタレて攻めよ Attack with leaning
  • カラんで攻めよ Use splitting attacks
  • 三方ガラミにシノギなし Three weak groups can't defend against a splitting attack
  • 強い石にツケよ Attach to the stronger stone in a pincer
  • 弱い石(攻めたい石)にツケるな Don't attach when attacking or Don't touch weak stones
  • サバキはツケから Use contact moves for defence
  • 大石死せず Big dragons never die
  • 浮き石を作るな Don't make floating stones
  • 一方石に死になし One weak group can defend (...if there are more than one, splitting attack may kill one of them)
  • 取ろう取ろうは取られの元 Your wish to kill causes you killed
  • ヘボの長追い Duffers drive longer (...a long fight makes opponent's far stones effective)

Middlegame: Overall Strategy

Endgame

  • 両先手逃がすべからず Play double sente early
  • 上からキカシて下から寄せよ First restrict from above, then reduce from below
  • ハネツギ六目 hane and connect is worth six points (on the second line)
  • 大ザル八目 Big monkey jump is worth eight points

Other proverbs (that may apply to Go)

See also

Go Strategy by Sonoda Yuichi contains some of his innovative proverbs.


This is a copy of the living page "Japanese Go proverbs" at Sensei's Library.
(OC) 2023 the Authors, published under the OpenContent License V1.0.
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