, born as Murase Shūho (村瀬秀甫), was a professional Japanese Go player who was an important figure in the popularization of the game. He was the first Japanese Go player to have a reputation in the Western world. At a time when he was thought to be the best player in Japan, he taught the game to chemist

Oskar Korschelt Oskar Korschelt (September 18, 1853 in Berthelsdorf – July 4, 1940 in Leipzig; some sources erroneously give him the name Oscar or Otto) was a German chemist and engineer who introduced the Asian strategy board game of Go (board game), Go to Eu ...

, a visitor from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Korschelt later was the first person to popularize Go to a notable degree in a non-

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n country. Shūho is also credited with the innovation of time limits being imposed on a game of Go.

Biography

Shūho became a student in the Hon'inbō house at the age of seven, reaching 1-dan rank in 1848 at the age of 10. In 1861 when he was 23 he reached 6-dan. He was the strongest Hon'inbō disciple after Shūsaku, and Shūwa wanted to make him his heir when Shūsaku died, but Jōwa's widow blocked this plan. In 1879 he founded 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 ...

institution with Nakagawa Kamesaburo. Hoensha would help to create a new revival of go via the publishing of the first magazine focused on Go called '' Igo Shinpo'' or ''Go News''. Shūho became the 18th Hon'inbō in 1886, inheriting the title from Hayashi Shuei. Shūho published the famous book ''Hoen Shinpo'' in 1882, which outlined the

Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

fuseki. After a rapprochement between the Hoensha and the Honinbo house in 1886, Shūei promoted Shūho to 8-dan and stepped aside to allow him to become head of the Hon'inbō house. Shūho died only three months after becoming Hon'inbō. In the last few years of his life he was the strongest player in Japan.

References

External Links

Murase Shuho
on GoBase.org 1838 births 1886 deaths Japanese Go players 19th-century Go players {{Japan-Go-bio-stub