Hon'inbō Dōsaku (本因坊道策, 1645–1702) was a professional Go

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

Biography

Dōsaku was one of the greatest Go players in history. He was born in the

Iwami Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today the western part of Shimane Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Iwami bordered Aki, Bingo, Izumo, Nagato, and Suō provinces. In the Heian period (794–1192) the capital was at moder ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and studied Go in the

Hon'inbō In the history of Go (board game), Go in Japan, the four Go houses were four major schools of Go instituted, supported, and controlled by the state, at the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate. (There were also many minor houses.) At roughly the s ...

school, becoming

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 ...

at a very young age. Dōsaku was the fourth Hon'inbō by the time he was 32, and the fourth

by the time he was 33. He started to learn Go at 7. Dōsaku was so strong by the time he was in his early 20s that even if someone played the first move, he would always win. Rumors were that he was two stones stronger than any other Go player. This was due to his deep thinking and next-level

tactics Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tact ...

. He laid the foundation for opening strategy in the Golden Period.

Becoming Meijin by fiat

Only a short time after receiving the Head of the Hon'inbō school he was given the post of Meijin in recognition of his unrivaled strength. On one account, this controversial appointment (which deprived

Yasui Sanchi Yasui Sanchi (安井算知, 1617–1703) was a Japanese professional Go player, and second head of the Yasui house. He became ''Meijin''-'' godokoro'' in 1668. It has always been said''Go Monthly Review'' 1963/5 p.54 that this promotion was achi ...

of his official positions) was handled by the ''

Jisha-bugyō was a "commissioner" or an "overseer" of the Tokugawa shogunate in Edo period Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were always ''fudai daimyōs'', the lowest-ranking of the shogunate offices to be so restricted.Beasley, William G. (1955) ...

'' by summoning a meeting of all concerned parties, including the shogidokoro Ōhashi Sōkei. Sanchi did not attend, and the change of ''Meijin-godokoro'' was agreed on unanimously. The ground for this decision was the match of 20 games played between

Hon'inbō Dōetsu Hon'inbō Dōetsu (本因坊道悦, 1636–1727) was a Japanese professional go player, who became the third head of the Honinbo house. His surname was Niwa, and he used a Buddhist name Nissho. Biography He was born in Matsuzaka, currently in ...

and Sanchi, for which Dōsaku probably acted as Dōetsu's second on adjournments.

Games

By the time he was 32, he was already head of the Hon'inbō school and placed at the top of the official hierarchy. It has been suggested that the true level of his playing strength was never really tested, given the distance between him and his nearest rivals. The evidence of his contributions is in the legacy of games, known to us by the

kifu A board game record is a game record for a board game. ''Kifu'' (棋譜) is the Japanese term for an abstract strategy game record. In China, people named this kind of record "qipu" (. In Korea, people named this kind of record "Gibo" ({{zh, t= ...

records. Two of his famous games are the Jan. 5th, 1684 defeat by one point in a two-stone game (his "life-time masterpiece") and the 1670

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 when his opponent opened at '' tengen'', the central point, which was a victory. These were both against members of the

Yasui house In the history of Go in Japan, the four Go houses were four major schools of Go instituted, supported, and controlled by the state, at the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate. (There were also many minor houses.) At roughly the same time shogi w ...

. Over 150 games of his are known.

Theoretician

Dōsaku is also well remembered for his contributions to Go theory. He took advantage of overconcentration also known as '' korigatachi'', making that henceforth one of the key theoretical errors that players avoided. ''Tewari'' analysis, a systematic if rather tricky tool of analysis of efficiency of sequences, is also attributed to him; as is the strategy of '' amashi''. In playing Peichin Hamahika from the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

, in 1682, he gave a practical demonstration of his theories, winning easily when giving a four-stone handicap. This game is a textbook piece and is still frequently cited. (The first game he won by 14; the second game on the same day was also recorded and he lost by a small margin, which may naturally mean that he had nothing to prove and was being diplomatic.) In the field of '' joseki'', he innovated with the three-point low pincer, a more strategic play than the two-point low pincer favoured in particular by the players of the

Pupils

He taught Ogawa Dōteki, Sayama Sakugen, Hoshiai Hasseki, Kumagaya Honseki, and Kuwabara Dōsetsu. All but one died young, in their early twenties, and the Honinbo house faced a period of rebuilding.''Go Monthly Review'' 1963/8, p.48 Dōsetsu became the Inoue house head. The young

Hon'inbō Dōchi Hon'inbō Dōchi (本因坊道知, 1690–1727) was a professional Go (board game), Go Go players, player. 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 st ...

carried on the tradition.

External links

The story of Dosaku (including games)

Sensei's Library article

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honinbo, Dosaku 1645 births 1702 deaths Japanese Go players 17th-century Go players