Yasui Sanchi (安井算知, 1617–1703) was a Japanese professional Go player, and second head 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 ...

. He became ''

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 {{Nihongo, Godokoro, 碁所, ''godokoro'' is a title that was given in Japan from the beginning of the Edo period until the Meiji Restoration. In that period it was the highest official standing that could be attained by a go player. Literally it i ...

'' in 1668. It has always been said''Go Monthly Review'' 1963/5 p.54 that this promotion was achieved by a backstairs route, with influence exerted by the head of the

Matsudaira clan The was a Japanese samurai clan that descended from the Minamoto clan. It originated in and took its name from Matsudaira village, in Mikawa Province (modern-day Aichi Prefecture). During the Sengoku period, the chieftain of the main line of th ...

. A related anecdote has Hon'inbō San'etsu facing down Lord Matsudaira during an earlier official '' oshirogo'' against Sanchi. 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 ...

did not take this lying down. From 1668 to 1675

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 ...

played a twenty-game match against Sanchi (they had played in 1649, but after that there was a dearth of competitive games). Dōetsu had the better of it with Black, earning the right to a game with White (as at ''

sen-ai-sen Professional Go handicaps were a system developed in Japan, in the Edo period, for handicapping professional players of the game of Go against each other. With the abolition of the Oteai system, which from the 1920s had used some handicap games t ...

'').

References

External links

Page at Sensei's Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yasui, Sanchi 1617 births 1703 deaths Japanese Go players