Hon'inbō Dōsaku (本因坊道策, 1645–1702) was a professional
Go player
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.
Biography
Dōsaku was one of the greatest Go players in history. He was born in the
Iwami Province of
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
and studied Go in the
Hon'inbō school, becoming
Meijin
is one of the eight titles in Japanese professional shogi player, professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryūō. The word ( "excellent, artful", "person") refers to a highly skilled master of a certain field (the ...
at a very young age.
Dōsaku was the fourth Hon'inbō by the time he was 32, and the fourth
Meijin
is one of the eight titles in Japanese professional shogi player, professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryūō. The word ( "excellent, artful", "person") refers to a highly skilled master of a certain field (the ...
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
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In chess, a tac ...
. 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 of his official positions) was handled by the ''
Jisha-bugyō
was a position within the system for the administration of religion that existed from the Muromachi period to the Edo period in Japan. Appointments to this prominent office were always ''fudai daimyōs'', the lowest-ranking of the shogunate office ...
'' 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 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 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 game when his opponent opened at ''
tengen'', the central point, which was a victory. These were both against members of the
Yasui house. 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 Geography of Taiwan, Taiwan: the Ryukyu Islands are divided into the Satsunan Islands (Ōsumi Islands, Ōsumi, Tokara Islands, Tokara and A ...
, 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
Yasui house.
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 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