Satonushi

    Keywords: Culture & History, People

屋良之里之子 (Yara no Satonushi in the Ryukyuan dialect, or Satonoshi according to mainland Japanese reading.)

Ryukyuan player who visited Japan in 1710, aged about 15. He played a game with 20-year-old Dochi at 3 stone handicap and lost badly.

Also see Ryukyuan players


I think this player’s name should be more accurately spelled as “Yara no Satonoshi". ]''.

BobMcGuigan


“No” is a Japanese possessive marker, turning the noun before into the genitive case, or the equivalent of adding –’s. E.g. Hikaru no Go = Hikaru’s Go. Sugiuchi Masao’s nickname Go no Kami-sama = “Go’s God” or “God of Go”. So some writers have rightly rendered him as the “Satanoshi of Yaro”. Satanoshi/Satanoshi is a local nobility rank, with authority over his locality but subject to the central government. Yaro seems to be a locality but quite obscure.

His predecessor as the Ryukyu Islands’ leading player, Pechin Hamahiga, also seems to be named in a similar way. Pēchin is a higher local rank than Satonoshi, with military responsibilities as well, while Hamahiga is one of the small Ryukyu Islands.

When Satonishi’s delegation visited the Honinbo house, he had a reputation of having overtaken Pechin in strength despite his youth. The Ryukyuans had high hopes that Satanoshi would restore their prestige, but it was not to be.

Jono 64a


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