was a Japanese professional 7 ''dan'' 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 is ...

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 ...

Retrieved 28 February 2010

Biography

Born 1810, Akaboshi rose to prominence as a student of

Inoue Genan Inseki was a Japanese professional go player, and head of the Inoue house from 1824–1846. He proposed a changed numbering that made him the eleventh head (rather than tenth), by including Doseki at the head of the list. At various times he was kn ...

, head of the

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

Inoue 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 1834, the former had attained the rank of 7 ''

dan Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

''. Genan desired the prestigious position of the

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 ...

godokoro, but was unsuccessful as a result of political manoeuvres by Honinbo Jowa. Instead, the title and office were obtained by Jowa with the aid of Hayashi Gembi, an ally within the government. In response, Genan sought to use Akaboshi, his prodigy, in an attempt to embarrass Jowa into retirement.The "blood-vomiting game"

. Retrieved 28 February 2010. The "

Blood-vomiting game The blood-vomiting game ( ja, 吐血の一局, translit=toketsu no ikkyoku) is a famous game of Go of the Edo period of Japan, played on June 27, 1835, between Hon'inbō Jōwa (white) and Akaboshi Intetsu (black). It is noted for the three ''g ...

" was the famous match between Akaboshi, 7 ''dan'' as black, and Jowa, 9 ''dan'' as white. It took place at the Matsudaira Go Party from 13–21 August 1835.Power, John, (ed.) ''Invincible: The Games of Shusaku'', (Santa Monica: Kiseido, 1996) pp.9-11 Black succeeded in building an early lead, utilising one of House Inoue's secret

taisha joseki Taisha may refer to: * Japanese topics: ** Cultural features: *** Taisha-zukuri, type of Shinto shrine *** Taisha joseki, joseki maneuver in game of Go ** Japanese geography: *** Taisha, Shimane, town in the Hikawa District of Shimane *** Taisha L ...

. However, Jowa played a sequence of three brilliant

tesuji Players of the game of Go often use jargon to describe situations on the board and surrounding the game. Such technical terms are likely to be encountered in books and articles about Go in English as well as other languages. Many of these terms ...

that turned the tide of the match in his favour, ultimately leading to black's resignation after 246 moves. According to ''Invincible'', Akaboshi's health was already in decline when the game began, but after it had ended he coughed up blood over the board and collapsed. On 19 October 1835, Akaboshi died of tuberculosis.

Publications

Akaboshi authored the '' Genran'', a collection of

tsumego is the Japanese term for a type of go problem based on life-and-death. The term likely comes from , as means checkmating in shogi but has different meanings in go. ''Tsumego'' problems are common in newspaper columns. ''Tsumego'' problems h ...

, published in 1833. It features a total of 69 problems, with the first turn alternating between black and white.

References

1810 births 1835 deaths Japanese Go players Go (game) writers People from Kumamoto Prefecture 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Japan 19th-century Go players {{Japan-Go-bio-stub