Hon'inbō Shūei (本因坊秀栄, November 1, 1852 – February 10, 1907) was a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

professional Go

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Biography

Hon'inbō Shūei, a younger son of the very strong

Hon'inbō Shūwa Hon'inbō Shūwa (本因坊秀和, 1820–1873) was a Japanese professional Go (game), Go player, and also the fourteenth head of the Hon'inbō house from 1847 to 1873. Career Shūwa's most significant games were probably the three challenge gam ...

, served as the 17th and again 19th head of the

Hon'inbō 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 ...

. He was also the 13th and final head of the

Hayashi 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 ...

before merging it with the Hon'inbō house in 1884. Hon'inbō Shūei was a remarkable player, and his strength apparently exceeded his contemporaries by a considerable margin. Surviving game records show that he played a large number of handicap games. He was very active and innovative in the 1890s, a time of reviving fortunes for go, and participated in a number of ''

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 ...

''. He attained the title of

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 ...

in 1906, becoming the ninth person to have done so. Shūei's style was characterized by his calm and confident approach to the game and his supreme positional judgement. He was also fond of making light shapes and '' sabaki'' tactics. He earned the nickname "the master of

miai , or as it is properly known in Japan with the honorific prefix , is a Japanese traditional custom which relates closely to Western matchmaking, in which a woman and a man are introduced to each other to consider the possibility of marriage. T ...

" for creating situations where he would have two equally good options at his disposal. He was one of the pioneer players opening frequently at ''hoshi'' points during ''

fuseki ''Fuseki'' (Japanese: ; ) is the whole board opening in the game of Go. Characteristics Less systematic Since each move is typically isolated and unforced (i.e. not a sente move), patterns for play on the whole board have seen much less syst ...

'', for which he was later greatly admired by the great

Go Seigen Wu Quan (), courtesy name Wu Qingyuan ()His courtesy name was created based on his real name (''Quan'' means "spring, fountain" and ''Qing Yuan'' means "clear and pure source of water"). (June 12, 1914 – November 30, 2014), better known by ...

. He has also received praise from another top player,

Fujisawa Hideyuki , also known as Shuko Fujisawa, was a Japanese professional Go player. A younger uncle of another professional, Hosai Fujisawa and grandfather of professional Go player Rina Fujisawa. Biography Hideyuki Fujisawa was born in Yokohama, Japan. ...

. Fujisawa commented in ''

Go World ''Go World'' was an English-language magazine about the game of go, published in Japan by Ishi Press Samuel Howard Sloan (born September 7, 1944) is an American perennial candidate and former broker-dealer. In 1978, he won a case ''pro se'' ...

'' that he thought Shūei was the strongest of the Meijins and

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 ...

s and in particular that Hon'inbō Shūei was stronger than

Hon'inbō Shūsaku Shusaku (本因坊秀策, Yasuda Eisai, Kuwahara Shusaku, ''Invincible Shusaku'', born Kuwabara Torajiro (桑原虎次郎); June 6, 1829 – September 3, 1862) was a Japanese professional Go player during the 19th century. He is known for his ...

and

Hon'inbō Dōsaku Hon'inbō Dōsaku (本因坊道策, 1645–1702) was a professional Go player. Biography Dōsaku was one of the greatest Go players in history. He was born in the Iwami Province of Japan and studied Go in the Hon'inbō school, becoming Meij ...

, regarded by many as the two strongest of the Edo era. He went on to say that Shūei's flow of moves was like water. Fujisawa said, "I always have the feeling that I'd be no match for him ... I'm far below his level". Yet another top player

Kobayashi Koichi is a Japanese Go player. He is one of the 'Six Supers' who championed Japanese Go in the last three decades of Japanese Go. Biography Koichi Kobayashi was born in Asahikawa, Japan. In 1965, he came to Tokyo to be a disciple of Minoru Kitani. ...

also stated that Shūei was stronger than he was. Still another leading player,

Takagawa Kaku , also known as , was one of the most successful professional Go players of the twentieth century. Biography Kaku Takagawa won the Honinbō title nine times in a row, from 1952 to 1960, and was subsequently awarded the permanent title of Ho ...

was strongly influenced by Shūei, and edited a collection of his games, and wrote: :When I was young I often enjoyed playing over the games of Shūei. That was because I liked the image of him winning without doing anything at all unreasonable. But today I wonder: did I really understand Shūei to that extent? In doing the commentaries for this book, I perused his collected games again after a long interval, and again was made to sigh in admiration at his strength. In particular his games as White after he reached 7-dan hide a fathomless strength amidst a serene and well-balanced flow, which we can perhaps describe as flexible on the outside, unbendable on the inside. In brief, the characteristic of Shūei's skill at go is not just about local things such as his skill at evaluating positions or his skill in seeing moves, but his mastery of go itself. John Fairbairn, ''The Life of Honinbo Shuei'', 2012. Ironically, as a boy he was given to the Hayashi house because he supposedly showed little promise. And the first time he was appointed Honinbo, he resigned in favor of

Murase Shūho Murase (written: ) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese actress and voice actress *Robert Murase Robert Murase (September 9, 1938 – July 19, 2005) was an A ...

, his long time friend, with whom he had travelled Japan and who was the strongest player at the time (8-dan). This event also marked the reconciliation between the Hon'inbō house and the

Hoensha The Hoensha was a Japanese Go organization founded in 1879 by Honinbo Shuho. The Hoensha was the successor to study groups set up by Nakagawa Kamesaburo and other players. It was the major Go organization of the later Meiji period. Like the many ...

. It was celebrated with a jubango between Shūho and Shūei with the score being 5-5 (Shūei playing on all black). Shūho did not live very long, so Shūei accepted the title again, and later became much stronger than his contemporaries, so was awarded the Meijin title, which even his father had not achieved. Shuei had a number of disciples. They include

Hon'inbō Shūgen Hon'inbō Shugen (本因坊秀元, 1854 – 5 September 1917) was a Japanese professional go player. He was twice head of the Hon'inbō house, being both the sixteenth and the twentieth head. Biography While not an outstanding exponent of th ...

, Takabe Dohei,

Karigane Junichi was a Japanese professional Go player, posthumously made an honorary 9 ''dan'' by the Nihon Ki-in. Biography Karigane was responsible for founding several organizations that would continue to be influential throughout the early 1900s. In 192 ...

Nozawa Chikucho Nozawa (written: or ) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese manga artist *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese screenwriter and mystery novelist *, Japanese voice actress and actress affiliated with, and chairma ...

, Tamura Yasuhisa (later known as Honinbo Shusai, Meijin), Tanaka Masaki, Inoue Yasunobu, Hayashi Tokuzo, Seki Genkichi, Tsuzuki Yoneko, and Inoue Kohei.

Notes

External links

Game collection

Hon'inbō Shuei

Sensei's Library Sensei's Library (commonly referred to as SL among Go-players) is an Internet website and wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki conta ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honinbo, Shuei 1852 births 1907 deaths Japanese Go players 19th-century Go players