Hon'inbō Dōchi (本因坊道知, 1690–1727) was a professional
Go player
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.
Biography
Dōchi learned to play Go at the age of 7. A short two years thereafter, he had become a disciple of
Hon'inbō Dōsaku, the strongest player of his time. He became very strong under Dosaku, eventually reaching 6 dan. After Dosaku died in 1702, Dōchi was passed on to
Inoue Dōsetsu Inseki
Inoue (kanji: , historical kana orthography: ''Winouhe'') is the 16th most common Japanese surname. Historically, it was also romanized as Inouye, and many Japanese-descended people outside of Japan still retain this spelling. A less common vari ...
. By 1719, he had advanced to 8 dan, the highest rank at the time.
Dōchi became the 5th
Hon'inbō in 1702, and
Meijin
is one of the eight titles in Japanese professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryūō. The word ''meijin'' (名 ''mei'' "excellent, artful", 人 ''jin'' "person") refers to a highly skilled master of a certain field (t ...
Godoroko in 1721. He served as Honinbō for twenty-five years (1702–1727) and Meijin for 6 years (1721–1727).
He played in an international match against a visiting
Ryukyuan player, the Satonushi of Yara. He is famous for his brilliant endgame plays, including a classic example of ''
semedori'' (forcing an opponent to capture dead stone
, exhibited in a 1705 game against
Yasui Senkaku Yasui (written: 安井 or 保井) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*, Japanese judge
*, Japanese swimmer
*, Japanese politician
*, Japanese businessman
*, Japanese biologist
*, Japanese voice actor
*, American lawyer
...
. This was in a grudge match, since there had been bad blood between the Honinbos and Yasuis since
Yasui Sanchi was turned out of his official positions in favour of
Hon'inbō Dōsaku. Yasui Senkaku had originally refused to play the relatively untested Dōchi; the match had been set up by
Ohashi Sokei, the ''
shogidokoro'', who was a conventional go-between, and the celebrated game occurred in his official residence.
[''Go Monthly Review'' 1963/9, p.65] It was reproduced, according to the custom of the time, as a
castle go
''Oshirogo'' (御城碁 "castle Go") or castle games were official matches of high-level Go played in Japan during the Edo period, usually in the castles of the ''shōgun''. Players were mostly from the four go houses.
Matches were played in th ...
game.
The next year he played a ''
jubango Jūbango (十番碁) is a Japanese term for a Go match consisting of ten games which might be ended earlier if agreed by both players. A decisive victory would result in the opponent being ' beaten down' to a lower rank. A player would be beaten do ...
'' against Dōsetsu, but lost heavily 3½–6½ taking Black (he was 6 ''dan'' at the time, Dōsetsu 8 ''dan'').
Notes
1690 births
1727 deaths
Japanese Go players
18th-century Go players
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