, also known as Honinbo Kunwa, was a Japanese professional Go player and writer who achieved the rank of 9-dan.

Biography

Iwamoto was born in Masuda of the

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Shimane Prefecture is the second-least populous prefecture of Japan at 665,205 (February 1, 2021) and has a geographic area of 6,708.26 km2. Shimane Prefecture borders Yamag ...

, Japan. During his childhood he spent several years in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

(1905–1913), where he learned Go from his father. He returned to Japan to study Go, moved to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, and became a disciple of

Hirose Heijiro Hirose may refer to: *Hirose Electric Group, a Japanese company specializing in the manufacture of connectors *Hirose (surname), a Japanese surname *Hirose-gawa, a river in Sendai, Japan * Koichi Hirose (''JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a ...

6-dan of

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 ...

in 1913. He achieved 1-dan in 1917, and swiftly rose through the ranks. In 1924, when

Nihon Ki-in The Nihon Ki-in (), also known as the Japan Go Association, is the main organizational body for Go in Japan, overseeing Japan's professional system and issuing diplomas for amateur dan rankings. It is based in Tokyo. The other major Go associa ...

was established, Iwamoto joined it and achieved 6-dan. He retired as a professional Go player and emigrated to Brazil as a coffee farmer in 1929. However, he came back to Japan and resumed his career of Go after the failure of this venture in 1931. He won the

Oteai The was a tournament used in Japan, by the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in, to determine the ranking of its go professionals on the dan scale. It was instituted in the 1920s soon after the Ki-in was set up in 1924. Initially it was run in Sprin ...

, the most important tournament in Japan at that time, in 1935. He challenged the third

Honinbo 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 ...

match against

Hashimoto Utaro was a 9-dan professional Go player. Biography Hashimoto became a pro in 1922 when he was 15. He won the Honinbō 3 times before finally reaching 9p in 1954. He founded the Kansai Ki-in The Kansai Ki-in (), i.e., Kansai Go Association, is ...

in 1945. The second game of this match, played in the outskirts of Hiroshima, is famous as the atomic bomb go game. The players owed their lives to the fact that the local police had ordered the game moved from the center of Hiroshima. The match was continued after the war but ended in a 3-3 draw. A three-game playoff was held in 1946, with Iwamoto winning two straight games to take the

title. He assumed the name

Kunwa.

After the war

Iwamoto's home was a temporary site for the

which was burnt out by the

B-29 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

bombing in 1945, and he was instrumental in finding new headquarters for the

. Iwamoto defended the Honinbo title against

Kitani Minoru was one of the most celebrated professional Go players and teachers of the game of Go in the twentieth century in Japan. Biography He earned the nickname "the Prodigy" after winning a knockout tournament. He defeated eight opponents from the ...

in 1947, and in 1948 achieved 8-dan, becoming president of the

. He later lost the Honinbo title to

in 1950. He won the NHK Cup in 1955. Iwamoto traveled extensively throughout the West with the aim of spreading Go to Western people. He spent 18 months in 1961-1962 in New York, teaching and promoting Go. He achieved 9-dan in 1967, and had many disciples, including James Kerwin, the first Westerner to achieve professional status at the

Retirement and later life

Iwamoto retired in April, 1983. In his later years he was the main benefactor to several European and American Go centers in London
São PauloNew YorkSeattle
an
Amsterdam
largely through setting up the Iwamoto Foundation in 1986, with an initial contribution of 530 million yen. He is the author of three books in English,
Go for Beginners

"Keshi and Uchikomi"
and

. In 2014, the

and the

American Go Association The American Go Association (AGA) was founded in 1935, to promote the board game of Go in the United States. Founded by chess master Edward Lasker and some friends at Chumley's restaurant in New York City, the AGA is one of the oldest Western Go ...

jointly founded the Iwamoto North America Foundation for Go, in order to "foster, promulgate, and develop the game and culture of Go in North America according to the vision and wishes of the late Japanese Go master, Iwamoto Kaoru."

References

External links

Sensei's Library profile

The Iwamoto North America Foundation for Go
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iwamoto, Kaoru 1902 births 1999 deaths Japanese Go players Go (game) writers Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon