© Copyright 1982 by John Power and Kiseido Publishing Company

INVINCIBLE

THE GAMES OF SHUSAKU

Compiled, Edited & Translated
by JOHN POWER

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This book has been widely acclaimed as a masterpiece on one of the greatest go players who ever lived.

The Saint of Go

Shusaku was the leading player of the golden age of go in the mid-19th century. He has become known to later generations as the Saint of Go (‘kisei’ or ‘gosei’) and is recognized by modern players as one of the greatest geniuses in the history of the game. His victories over his contemporaries in a number of matches contributed to his reputation, but its main foundation is his perfect record, not even approached by any other player, of nineteen successive wins in the annual castle games played in the presence of the shogun.

Shusaku’s Reputation

Shusaku is considered the best model for aspiring professional players to study, especially his games with black. He was unexcelled in his complete mastery of the strategic principles and the practical techniques of go. His games are a treasure house of all the varied elements of the game, from the fuseki to the endgame, but in particular they provide amateur players with ideal material for studying the art of fighting in the middle game.

Here are some 20th century views of Shusaku:

“Shusaku simplified the complexity of go, concealing his great strength and profound analysis beneath the smooth surface of his game… It is not an exaggeration to say that all the principles and all the techniques of go are embodied in concentrated form in Shusaku’s go.”
— Segoe Kensaku 9-dan

“The speed and forcefulness of Shusaku’s play with black are like lightning striking the go board; his skill at finishing off his opponent once he took the lead is unrivalled.”
— Hayashi Yutaka, go historian

“Shusaku would read out all the possible variations, then play straightforwardly, making the simplest move, if he thought it ensured a win. This way of playing is only possible if one has a clear understanding of the principles of go and is blessed with superb positional judgement, and it also requires considerable self-confidence. On those rare occasions when he got into a bad position, he would display tremendous strength in fighting his way back into the lead. The castle game with Ito Showa in 1850 is a good example of a game in which he reveals his latent strength… Another feature of his go is his flexibility and willingness to experiment. Modern go is still far from surpassing Shusaku.”
— Ishida Yoshio 9-dan, former Meijin, Honinbo.

Inside the Book

This book presents a wide range of Shusaku’s games, with commentaries by leading modern professionals, together with a description of the historical background and a biography of Shusaku. An additional selection of games without commentary or with only minimal commentary is provided in the second part of the book, while other important games from the period are also introduced in the text. Apart from the castle games mentioned above, highlights include:

Shusaku’s precocious triumph over Gennan Inseki, the arch-enemy of the Honinbo house. Their series in 1846 produced the most famous move in go history, ‘the ear-reddening move of Shusaku’.

All the games from the famous twenty-three game series in 1853 in which Shusaku finally defeated his main rival, Ota Yuzo.

Shusaku’s games with his teacher, Shuwa, which contain some of the most interesting and subtle go of the period.

Shusaku’s twenty-game series, played at the rate of a game a day, with Sekiyama Sendaiu, the strongest ‘amateur’ player of the Edo period.

The wide range of games and the depth of the analysis presented in this book make it the definitive work on Shusaku. It is also the first such detailed treatment of a Japanese go player to be published in English.

The Editor

John Power was the editor of Go World from 1977 to 1994. He was born in Armidale, N.S.W., in 1946. He received a Ph.D. in modern Japanese literature from the University of Sydney in 1973 and has also studied at Tokyo University (1967) and Waseda University (1973–75). He is a professor of English at the College of Law at Nihon University in Tokyo. His previous translations include Ishida Yoshio’s Dictionary of Basic Joseki, Nakayama Noriyuki’s The Treasure Chest Enigma, and Tournament Go 1992.

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Copyright Page

Published by
Kiseido Publishing Company
CPO Box 1140
Tokyo, Japan

© Copyright 1982 in Japan by the Kiseido Publishing Company and John Power

All rights reserved according to international law. This book or any parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publishers.

Converted for SmartGo Books by John Mifsud.

Special thanks to Terri Schurter and Kirk McElhearn for their help reviewing the digital version.

We are grateful to John Fairbairn and T Mark Hall for permission to use the GoGoD game records of Shusaku’s games, in particular for updating to the Gregorian dates and for newly discovered moves in games 11, 26, 37, and several in Part Two.

Contents

INVINCIBLE
THE GAMES OF SHUSAKU

Copyright Page

Preface

The Four Go Houses & Holders of the Office of Meijin Godokoro

Chronology

Statistics of Shusaku’s Career

Glossary

Part One

The chapters in gray are included only in the full book.

Chapter One: Go in the Edo Period

Jowa v. Akaboshi (1835)

Shuwa v. Gennan Inseki (1840)

Shuwa v. Gennan Inseki (1842)

Shuwa v. Inoue Matsumoto Inseki (1861)

Chapter Two: The Life of Shusaku

Chapter Three: The Shusaku-Style Fuseki

Chapter Four: Shusaku’s Debut

Game 1: Shusaku v. Ito Showa (1840)

Shusaku and Shuwa

Game 2: Shusaku v. Shuwa (1842)

Game 3: Shusaku v. Shuwa (1842)

Shusaku and Ota Yuzo

Game 4: Shusaku v. Ota Yuzo (1842)

Game 5: Shusaku v. Ota Yuzo (1842)

Game 6: Shusaku v. Ota Yuzo (1842) †

Game 7: Shusaku v. Yasui Sanchi (1843) †

Game 8: Shusaku v. Kadono Tadazaemon (1843) †

Game 9: Shusaku v. Kishimoto Saichiro (1843)

Game 10: Shusaku v. Mizutani Junsaku (1844) †

Game 11: Shusaku v. Ito Showa (1844)

Game 12: Shusaku v. Ito Showa (1844) †

Game 13: Shusaku v. Ito Showa (1844)

Chapter Five: The Encounter with Gennan Inseki

Game 14: Shusaku v. Gennan Inseki (1846) †

Game 15: Shusaku v. Gennan Inseki (1846) †

Chapter Six: Heir to the Honinbo House

Game 16: Shusaku v. Shuwa (1846)

Game 17: Shusaku v. Jowa (1847)

Game 18: Shusaku v. Takegawa Yasaburo (1847)

Game 19: Shusaku v. Yasui Sanchi (1847)

Game 20: Shusaku v. Shuwa (1847) †

Game 21: Shusaku v. Yasui Sanchi (1847) †

Game 22: Shusaku v. Ota Yuzo (1849)

Game 23: Shusaku v. Ota Yuzo (1849)

Game 24: Shusaku v. Yasui Sanchi (C.G.‡ 1, 1849)

Game 25: Shusaku v. Sakaguchi Sentoku (C.G. 2, 1849)

Game 26: Shusaku v. Sakaguchi Sentoku (C.G. 3, 1850)

Game 27: Shusaku v. Ito Showa (C.G. 4, 1850)

Showa v. Shuwa (1841)

The Nijubango with Sekiyama Sendaiu

Game 28: Shusaku v. Sekiyama (Nijubango-1, 1851)

Game 29: Shusaku v. Sekiyama (Nijubango-2, 1851)

Game 30: Shusaku v. Sekiyama (Nijubango-3, 1851)

Game 31: Shusaku v. Sekiyama (Nijubango-19, 1851) †

Game 32: Shusaku v. Shuwa (1851–52)

Game 33: Shusaku v. Ito Showa (1851–52)

Game 34: Shusaku v. Hayashi Hakuei Monnyu (C.G. 5, 1851)

Ito Showa v. Inoue Matsumoto Inseki (1851)

Game 35: Shusaku v. Yasui Sanchi (C.G. 6, 1851)

Game 36: Shusaku v. Inoue Matsumoto Inseki (C.G. 7, 1852) †

Game 37: Shusaku v. Ito Showa (C.G. 8, 1852)

Chapter Seven: The Sanjubango with Ota Yuzo

Game 38: Sanjubango, Game One

Game 39: Sanjubango, Game Two

Game 40: Sanjubango, Game Three

Game 41: Sanjubango, Game Four

Game 42: Sanjubango, Game Five

Game 43: Sanjubango, Game Six

Game 44: Sanjubango, Game Seven

Game 45: Sanjubango, Game Eight

Game 46: Sanjubango, Game Nine

Game 47: Sanjubango, Game Ten

Game 48: Sanjubango, Game Eleven

Game 49: Sanjubango, Game Twelve

Game 50: Sanjubango, Game Thirteen

Game 51: Sanjubango, Game Fourteen

Game 52: Sanjubango, Game Fifteen

Game 53: Sanjubango, Game Sixteen

Game 54: Sanjubango, Game Seventeen

Game 55: Sanjubango, Game Eighteen

Game 56: Sanjubango, Game Nineteen

Game 57: Sanjubango, Game Twenty

Game 58: Sanjubango, Game Twenty-One

Game 59: Sanjubango, Game Twenty-Two

Game 60: Sanjubango, Game Twenty-Three

Chapter Eight: Unvanquished

Game 61: Shusaku v. Sakaguchi Sentoku (C.G. 9, 1853)

Game 62: Shusaku v. Yasui Sanchi (C.G. 10, 1853)

Game 63: Shusaku v. Inoue Matsumoto Inseki (C.G. 11, 1855)

Game 64: Shusaku v. Gennan Inseki (1855)

Game 65: Shusaku v. Shuho (1856)

Game 66: Shusaku v. Ito Showa (C.G. 12, 1856)

Game 67: Shusaku v. Mizutani Nuiji (1857)

Game 68: Shusaku v. Yasui Sanchi (C.G. 13, 1858)

Game 69: Shusaku v. Shuho (1858) †

Game 70: Shusaku v. Sakaguchi Sentoku (C.G. 14, 1858) †

Game 71: Shusaku v. Ebizawa Kenzo (1859)

Game 72: Shusaku v. Ebizawa Kenzo (1859)

Game 73: Shusaku v. Ebizawa Kenzo (1859)

Game 74: Shusaku v. Ito Showa (C.G. 15, 1859) †

Game 75: Shusaku v. Hattori Seitetsu (C.G. 16, 1859) †

Game 76: Shusaku v. Hayashi Yubi (C.G. 17, 1861) †

Sakaguchi Sentoku v. Showa (1861)

Game 77: Shusaku v. Shuho (Jubango-1, 1861)

Game 78: Shusaku v. Shuho (Jubango-6, 1861)

Game 79: Shusaku v. Hayashi Monnyu (C.G. 18, 1861)

Game 80: Shusaku v. Hayashi Yubi (C.G. 19, 1861)

Part Two

Game 1: Ota Yuzo (September 1842)

Game 2: Kadono Tadazaemon (May 1843)

Game 3: Kadono Tadazaemon (July 1843)

Game 4: Kadono Tadazaemon (August 1843)

Game 5: Kishimoto Saichiro (September 1843)

Game 6: Ota Yuzo (October 1843)

Game 7: Tsuruoka (October 1843)

Game 8: Ota Yuzo (October 1843)

Game 9: Ito Showa (December 1844)

Game 10: Nakagawa Junsetsu (June 1846)

Game 11: Gennan Inseki (September 1846)

Game 12: Shuwa (December 1846)

Game 13: Shuwa (December 1846)

Game 14: Shuwa (April 1847)

Game 15: Shuwa (April 1847)

Game 16: Shuwa (August 1847)

Game 17: Shuwa (August 1847)

Game 18: Shuwa (August 1847)

Game 19: Shuwa (September 1847)

Game 20: Shuwa (September 1847)

Game 21: Shuwa (October 1847)

Game 22: Ota Yuzo (October 1847)

Game 23: Yasui Sanchi (October 1847)

Game 24: Shuwa (October 1847)

Game 25: Ota Yuzo (December 1847)

Game 26: Yasui Sanchi (December 1847)

Game 27: Ota Yuzo (January 1848)

Game 28: Ota Yuzo (July 1848)

Game 29: Ota Yuzo (August 1848)

Game 30: Ota Yuzo (October 1849)

Game 31: Ota Yuzo (October 1849)

Game 32: Shuwa (November 1849)

Game 33: Ito Showa (December 1849)

Game 34: Sekiyama (July 1851)

Game 35: Sekiyama (July 1851)

Game 36: Sekiyama (July 1851)

Game 37: Sekiyama (July 1851)

Game 38: Shuwa (November 1851)

Game 39: Yasui Sanchi (January 1852)

Game 40: Ota Yuzo (August 1852)

Game 41: Ota Yuzo (November 1852)

Game 42: Kishimoto (November 1852)

Game 43: Shuho (October 1853)

Game 44: Shuho (October 1853)

Game 45: Shuho (November 1853)

Game 46: Shuho (January 1854)

Game 47: Shuho (December 1854)

Game 48: Shuho (December 1854)

Game 49: Shuho (December 1854)

Game 50: Shuho (December 1854)

Game 51: Shuho (November 1856)

Game 52: Mizutani (May 1857)

Game 53: Mizutani (May 1857)

Game 54: Shuho (December 1857)

Game 55: Ozawa (January 1859)

Game 56: Ebizawa (April 1859)

Game 57: Ebizawa (May 1859)

Game 58: Ebizawa (May 1859)

Game 59: Inoue Matsumoto Inseki (June, 1859)

Game 60: Ebizawa (October 1859)

Game 61: Ebizawa (November 1859)

Game 62: Ebizawa (November 1859)

Game 63: Shuho (October 1861)

Game 64: Shuho (November 1861)

Bibliographical Note

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† Commentary by Miyamoto Naoki 9-dan
‡ Castle Game

Preface

Shusaku has a unique position among the go players of history: for the past century there has been a firm consensus among go professionals that he is the greatest player of the historical period and the one whose games most repay serious study. In a recent poll, the results of which were published in the January 1982 issue of Igo Club, leading professionals and go writers were asked to name the top three players of the historical period (that is, up to and including the 21st Honinbo, Shusai, who died in 1940), and Shusaku easily took first place. (The other players in the top ten were, in order: Shuei, Dosaku, Shuwa, Jowa, Shuho, Shusai, Dochi, Ota Yuzo, and Mizutani Nuiji.) Shusaku also took first place in a similar poll of Igo Club readers, so there is no discrepancy in his evaluation by amateurs and professionals.

Polls aside, a more significant indication of the high regard that professional players have for Shusaku is the amount of time they devote to studying his games. There must be very few professionals indeed who have not gone through his Complete Games, and in fact this is invariably one of the first tasks assigned to insei or apprentice professionals. There is also the enduring popularity of the Shusaku-style fuseki, which, it is generally recognised, is one of the main foundations of modern fuseki theory. The inescapable conclusion is that studying Shusaku’s games is essential for all players seriously interested in the game.

This book is an attempt to present as wide a selection as possible of Shusaku’s games to the Western reader. The original inspiration for compiling it was the enjoyment I found in reading the commentaries by Miyamoto Naoki 9-dan which were published as supplements to Igo Shincho (the now-defunct magazine of the Kansai Ki-in) from January 1978 to April 1979. These commentaries, which impressed me with their clarity and insight, are meant to be the core of this book, but a large variety of other sources have been drawn upon to make the book comprehensive, and in addition a number of new commentaries – those by Sanno Hirotaka 9-dan – were commissioned specially for this book to complete the coverage of Shusaku’s castle games. I wrote the background sections linking the games and also wrote the three introductory chapters.

I would like to express my gratitude to David Thayer, who generously gave an immense amount of time to the manuscript. I would also like to thank James Kerwin, James Davies, and William Pinckard for their invaluable help with proofreading. However, I claim full responsibility for any mistranslations, factual errors or stylistic inelegancies which remain.

John Power

Notes

As a rule players have been referred to by one name throughout to avoid confusion, though in fact go players in the Edo period (and even now) changed their names at different stages of their careers. In this book Shusaku is referred to as Shusaku throughout, although he did not take the name Shusaku until 1841. He is called Honinbo Shusaku after becoming the heir in 1848, for, although he did not live to succeed to the title, it was customarily extended to the heir as a courtesy. The sole exception to the ‘one name’ rule is the player who appears in this book as Kadono Tadazaemon, Mizutani Junsaku, and Inoue Shutetsu – he set a record for name-changing (and incidentally developed schizophrenia). At various stages in his career he was known as Todani Umetaro, Dowa, Kadono Tadazaemon, Mizutani Junsaku, Inoue Shutetsu, the 12th Inoue Inseki, and, in retirement, Setsuzan. Such extraordinary nomenclatural fickleness seemed to deserve recognition.

Dates [within the text] have not been converted to the Gregorian calendar (strictly speaking, ‘March’, for example, should read ‘third month’ and so on). The actual discrepancy can vary from a few days to a few weeks. Occasionally, an additional, ‘intercalary month’ had to be inserted into the Japanese calendar to harmonise it with the solar year. [The dates that games were played have been converted to Gregorian for this SmartGo Books edition.]

Most game records are presented from Shusaku’s point of view, but no attempt at consistency has been made.

The Four Go Houses

Terms of office as head of the house are given in brackets.

Honinbo

Sansa, Meijin (1612 – 23)

Sanetsu 8-dan (1630 – 58)

Doetsu, unofficial Meijin (1658 – 77)

Dosaku, Meijin (1677 – 1702)
Doteki 7-dan (heir 1684 – 90)
Sakugen 7-dan (heir 1692 – 99)

Dochi, Meijin (1702 – 27)

Chihaku 6-dan (1727 – 33)

Shuhaku 6-dan (1733 – 41)

Hakugen 6-dan (1741 – 54)

Satsugen, Meijin (1754 – 88)

Retsugen 8-dan (1788 – 1808)

Genjo 8-dan (1809 – 27)

Jowa, Meijin (1827 – 39)

Josaku 7-dan (1839 – 47)

Shuwa 8-dan (1847 – 73)
Shusaku 7-dan (heir 1848 – 62)

Shuetsu 6-dan (1873 – 79)

Shugen 4-dan (1879 – 84)

Shuei 7-dan (1884 – 86)

Shuho 8-dan (1886)

Shuei, Meijin (1887 – 1907)

Shugen 6-dan (1907 – 08)

Shusai, Meijin (1908 – 40)

Yasui

Santetsu 8-dan (1612 – 44)

Sanchi, Meijin (1644 – 96)
Shunchi 6-dan (heir 1674 – 86)

Chitetsu 7-dan (1696 – 1700)

Senkaku 8-dan (1700 – 37)
Chisen 6-dan (heir 1727 – 28)

Shuntetsu Senkaku 8-dan (1737 – 75)

Sentetsu 7-dan (1775 – 80)

Senchi Senkaku 8-dan (1780 – 1814)

Chitoku Senchi 8-dan (1814 – 38)

Sanchi (Shuntetsu) 7-dan (1838 – 58)

Sanei 7-dan (1858 – 1903)

Inoue

Nakamura Doseki, Meijin (1612 – 30)

Genkaku Inseki 7-dan (1630 – 73)

Dosa Inseki 7-dan (1673 – 92)

Dosetsu Inseki, Meijin (1692 – 1719)

Sakuun Inseki 8-dan (1719 – 34)
Yuseki 5-dan (heir 1720 – 26)

Shunseki Inseki 8-dan (1734 – 72)

Shuntatsu Inseki 7-dan (1772 – 92)

Intatsu Inseki 7-dan (1792 – 1805)

Shunsaku Inseki 7-dan (1805 – 10)

Insa Inseki 6-dan (1810 – 24)

Gennan Inseki 8-dan (1824 – 46)

Setsuzan Inseki 6-dan (1846 – 50)

Matsumoto Inseki 7-dan (1850 – 91)

Otsuka Inseki 8-dan (1891 – 1904)

Tabuchi Inseki 5-dan (1906 – 17)

Egeta Inseki 7-dan (1917 – 61)

Hayashi

Monnyusai 8-dan (1612 – ?)

Monnyu 6-dan (? – 1685)

Genetsu Monnyu 5-dan (1685 – 1706)

Bokunyu Monnyu 8-dan (1706 – 26)

Incho Monnyu 8-dan (1727 – 43)

Monri Monnyu 7-dan (1743 – 46)

Tennyu Monnyu 7-dan (1746 – 57)

Yugen Monnyu 7-dan (1757 – 89)

Monetsu Monnyu 7-dan (1789 – 1816)

Tetsugen Monnyu 6-dan (1816 – 19)

Gembi Monnyu 8-dan (1819 – 48)

Hakuei Monnyu 7-dan (1848 – 64)
Yubi 5-dan (heir 1856 – 62)

Shuei 5-dan (later Honinbo) (1864 – 84)

There were also three minor go houses: Sakaguchi (associated with Yasui), Hattori (Inoue), and Mizutani (Honinbo; note that Mizutani Nuiji was not a member).

Holders of the Office of Meijin Godokoro

Sansa, 1st Honinbo (1603 – 23)

Nakamura Doseki, 1st Inoue (1623 – 30)

Sanchi, 2nd Yasui (1668 – 76)

Dosaku, 4th Honinbo (1677 – 1702)

Dosetsu Inseki, 4th Inoue (1710 – 19, 1708 became Meijin)

Dochi, 5th Honinbo (1721 – 27)

Satsugen, 9th Honinbo (1770 – 88, 1767 became Meijin)

Jowa, 12th Honinbo (1831 – 39)

The office of Meijin Godokoro was abolished with the fall of the Tokugawa government in 1868, but two players subsequently became Meijin. They were Shuei, 17th and 19th Honinbo, who was Meijin from 1906 to 1907, and Shusai, the 21st and last hereditary Honinbo, who was Meijin from 1914 to 1940.

Chronology

1578: Nikkai, the strongest go player of the day, had an audience with Oda Nobunaga.

1582: Nikkai played the ‘triple ko’ game with Kashio Rigen at Honnoji temple.

1588: Nikkai won a go competition organised by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and was awarded a stipend. Nikkai changed his name to Sansa and later founded the Honinbo school.

1600: Tokugawa Ieyasu won a decisive victory over his enemies at the Battle of Sekigahara.

1603: Tokugawa Ieyasu became shogun. Sansa was appointed as the first Meijin godokoro, a post which he held until his death in 1623.

1605: Ieyasu abdicated and retired to Sumpu Castle (in Shizuoka). Soon after, Sansa and Kashio Rigen played the first castle game in his presence.

1612: The Tokugawa government awarded stipends to the leading players. Four go schools – Honinbo, Yasui, Inoue and Hayashi – were founded.

1628: The castle games were transferred to Edo Castle and made an official annual ceremony.

1677 – 1702: The 4th Honinbo, Dosaku, the Saint of Go, held the office of Meijin godokoro.

1716: The 17 November was set as the date of the castle game ceremony.

1829: Birth of Shusaku on 5 May in Tonoura, In-no-shima; given name was Torajiro.

1831: Jowa, the 12th Honinbo, outmanoeuvred his main rival, Gennan Inseki, and became Meijin godokoro without fighting a sogo.

1834: Shusaku’s aptitude for go discovered by Hashimoto Yoshibei, who became his patron.

1835: Shusaku played with Lord Asano of Mihara; received instruction from the Abbot Hoshin.

Jowa defeated Akaboshi Intetsu on 19 July at the Matsudaira Go Party.

1837: Shusaku played Ito Showa in January; went to Edo to become a Honinbo disciple in November.

1838: Hayashi Gembi, a former ally of Jowa, challenged him to a sogo and revealed the details of his machinations to become Meijin godokoro (because Jowa failed to keep his promise to make Gembi 8-dan). The jisha-bugyo made several investigations.

1839: Jowa compelled to retire as Meijin godokoro on 30 November; the previous day he granted Shusaku a 1-dan diploma, one of his last official acts as Meijin godokoro.

1840: Shusaku made first visit home; was granted a stipend by Lord Asano.

In November Shuwa defeated Gennan in the first game of a supposed four-game sogo, so the latter withdrew his application for Meijin godokoro.

1841: Shusaku returned to Edo in August and the next month was given the name of Shusaku and promoted to 2-dan (16 September).

1842: Gennan lost to Shuwa in May and in the November castle game and finally gave up all hope of becoming Meijin godokoro. Shusaku promoted to 3-dan on 10 July.

1843: Shusaku promoted to 4-dan on 6 October; began using the Shusaku-style fuseki.

1844: Shusaku left Edo for second visit home in October, won three games out of four v. Ito Showa in Nagoya. In November Jowa’s son, Kadono Tadazaemon (then Mizutani Shunsaku), became heir to Gennan, took the name of Inoue Shutetsu.

1846: Shusaku left home in April, played Nakagawa Junsetsu on black in Osaka in May and won four straight; won three games against Gennan Inseki on black in July (including the ‘ear-reddening’ game on 21 – 25 July). Gennan later commented that he was already of 7-dan strength. Promoted to 5-dan in September; refused Honinbo request to become Shuwa’s heir.

1847: The Asano clan waived its claim on Shusaku, so he agreed to become Shuwa’s heir. In September Shuwa and Shusaku completed a series of seventeen games begun in October 1846.

Death of Honinbo Josaku on 18 August and of Jowa on 10 October.

1848: Shusaku officially became Honinbo heir on 22 November; had an audience with the shogun on 15 December. Married Jowa’s daughter Hana. Promoted to 6-dan during 1848.

Ota Yuzo promoted to 7-dan. Gennan Inseki retired.

1849: Shusaku reached tagai-sen v. Ota Yuzo on 8 October (there is a theory that he was then promoted to 7-dan); played first two castle games on 17 November. Ito Showa promoted to 7-dan.

1850: Shusaku made third trip home from February to October. Shuwa promoted to 8-dan. 12th Inoue, Shutetsu (Kadono Tadazaemon), killed an Inoue disciple in a fit of insane jealousy, forced to retire. Matsumoto Kinshiro became the 13th Inoue.

1851: Shusaku played a nijubango (20-game match) with Sekiyama Sendaiu in Matsuyo, won 13 – 7.

1853: Shusaku began a sanjubango (30-game match) with Ota Yuzo on 27 January, forced him to sen-ai-sen in the 17th game on 21 June; series suspended after Yuzo’s jigo with white in the 23rd game on 29 November. Shusaku promoted to 7-dan.

1854: Party celebrating Shusaku’s promotion to 7-dan held on 20 August. O-konomi go cancelled due to an earthquake on 4 November. Hayashi Gembi retired, awarded 8-dan.

1855: Large earthquake on 11 November caused the cancellation of the castle games.

1856: Death of Ota Yuzo at an inn in Echigo (Niigata) in April. Death of 12th Inoue, Shutetsu.

1857: Shusaku made his fourth and final visit home from January to September; played Mizutani Nuiji in April.

1858: Death of Yasui Sanchi on 8 July.

1859: Death of Gennan Inseki and Sekiyama Sendaiu. Shusaku lost a jubango with Ebizawa Kenzo (2 stones) 3–7. Shuwa applied for Meijin godokoro in December, but his application was shelved.

1861: Shuwa lost a crucial castle game to 13th Inoue, Matsumoto Inseki, which in effect put an end to his hopes of becoming Meijin godokoro.

Shusaku lost a jubango with Shuho (black) 3–7–1 jigo; played his last two castle games.

1862: Death of Shusaku from cholera on 10 August. A fire at Edo Castle caused the cancellation of the castle game ceremony, though the actual games (shitauchi) had already been played.

1863: Shuwa resigned hope of making Shuho his heir, made son Shuetsu heir in November. Castle games (shitauchi) played, but ceremony cancelled. Thereafter, no castle games at all.

1867: Ishigaya Kosaku had a memorial stone to Shusaku erected in his home province.

1868: Fall of the Tokugawa government, beginning of Meiji period.

1879: Founding of Hoensha, Shuho first president.

1900: Publication of Kogyoku Yoin, a selection of one hundred of Shusaku’s best games.

1904: Publication of Zain Danso, a history of Edo go which revealed details of Jowa’s intrigues.

Statistics of Shusaku’s Career

There are 388 games given in the Complete Games of Shusaku, but of these two are rengo (team games) and 38 are unfinished games, mainly being uchikake games which perhaps were never intended to be played to a finish. Many of the records of the remaining 348 games are incomplete, but the results are recorded and enough moves are given to make it clear who is winning. Of these 348 games, Shusaku won 228 (65.5%), lost 109 (31.3%) and drew 11 (3.2%). His year-by-year results are given below.

1840 – on three stones: 1 win; 1841 – on two stones: 5 wins (total 6–0)

1842 – on two stones: 12 wins – 5 losses; on black: 3 wins (total 15 – 5)

1843 – on two stones: 1 win; on black: 14–5–1 jigo; on white: 5–7 (20–12–1)

1844 – on black: 14–2–2 jigo; on white: 3–1 (17–3–2)

1845 – on white: 2–1; giving two stones: 1 win (3 – 1)

1846 – on black: 18–5–1; on white: 3–1 (21–6–1)

1847 – on black: 18–5; on white: 4–2; giving four stones: 1 win (23–7)

1848 – on black: 5–1; on white: 9–2; giving two stones: 1–1; giving three: 5–4 (20–8)

1849 – on black: 10–2; on white: 2–2 (12–4)

1850 – on black: 4–1; on white: 7–3; giving two stones: 3 wins; giving three: 1 win (15–4)

1851 – on black: 4 wins; on white: 15–7; giving two stones: 2 wins; giving three: 1 loss (21–8)

1852 – on black: 3 wins; on white: 1–3 (4–3)

1853 – on black: 9–0–2 jigo; on white: 6–8–1 jigo; giving two stones: 5–5 (20–13–3)

1854 – on white: 6–1; giving two stones: 1 loss; giving five stones: 1 win (7–2)

1855 – on black: 1 win

1856 – on white: 2–0–2 jigo; giving three stones: 1 loss (2–1–2)

1857 – on black: 1 win; on white: 2–4; giving two stones: 2–7–1 jigo; giving three: 1 loss; giving four: 2 losses (5–14–1)

1858 – on white: 1–1

1859 – on black: 2 wins; on white: 3–1; giving two stones: 4–7 (9–8)

1860 – on white: 1–2; giving three stones: 1 loss (1–3)

1861 – on white: 5–6–1 jigo

Total: 228 wins – 109 losses – 11 jigo

Glossary

aji: potential, latent possibilities

ajikeshi: erasing or destroying the potential

amashi: a strategy for white in no-komi games in which he lets the opponent take good points but as compensation takes territory, aiming to ‘outlast’ the opponent

atome: heir

bango: match consisting of a set number of games

furikawari: swap, trade

gaike: a go player either not belonging to or not a direct disciple of one of the four main houses (literally ‘an outside house’)

godokoro: a player of Meijin rank appointed as head of the go world by the Tokugawa government

haya-go: a fast game of go

honte: the proper move (though it may sometimes appear slow)

iemoto: the head of a school

jisha-bugyo: the Commissioner for Shrines and Monasteries, who had jurisdiction over go (three commissioners were appointed at one time and served a month in office in rotation)

josen: black in all games – the handicap for a 2-dan difference

jozu: 7-dan (literally ‘skilful’)

jubango: a ten-game match

jun-Meijin: 8-dan (literally ‘quasi-Meijin’)

kadoban: a game which could lead to a change in handicap or the loss of a series (lit. ‘corner game’)

karami: attacking two groups simultaneously, a splitting attack

Kisei: Go Saint (Dosaku is known as the former Kisei and Shusaku as the latter Kisei)

Meiji: the period from 1868 to 1912

Meijin: 9-dan, the top player (lit. ‘master, expert’)

nijubango: a twenty-game series

oba: a large point in the fuseki or the endgame

o-konomi-go: an unscheduled castle game played at the personal request of the shogun

o-shiro-go: a castle game

rengo: a team game (the players on each team play in turns without consulting each other)

ryo: a gold coin, worth approx. $70 (in 1982)

sabaki: settling a group (by creating a flexible and resilient shape)

sanjubango: a thirty-game match

semeai: a capturing race, i.e. a fight to the death between two groups

semedori: being forced to add the extra stones necessary to remove a captured group from the board.

sen-ai-sen: black-black-white (the handicap for a 1-dan difference)

senban: playing on black (when the teai is tagai-sen)

sen-ni: alternating between black and two stones (the handicap for a four-dan difference)

senzensen: see sen-ai-sen

shinogi: saving a group under attack

shitauchi: the practice of playing the castle games before the date of the castle game ceremony

sogo: a challenge match (lit. ‘fighting go’)

tagai-sen: even – alternating black and white

tane-ishi: the pivotal stone(s)

teai: the conditions on which two players play each other, i.e. the handicap

tedomari: the last meaningful point in the fuseki or in the endgame

Tempo Shiketsu: the Tempo Era (1830 – 44) Top Four (Sakaguchi Sentoku, Ota Yuzo, Yasui Sanchi, Ito Showa)

tenuki: ignoring the opponent’s move and switching elsewhere

uchikake: suspending play during a game (it was White’s privilege to suspend play on his move)

uchikomu: 1. to invade; 2. to force an opponent to take a handicap (or force him to a higher handicap) by taking a lead of four games (six games at the beginning of the Edo period)

warikomi: wedging in between two enemy stones

wariuchi: an invasion which has room to extend in both directions

1. Go in the Edo Period

This chapter is only included in the full book.

2. The Life of Shusaku

Shusaku was born on the 5th May, 1829, in the village of Tonoura on the small island of In-no-shima, located in the Inland Sea close to the port of Onomichi. This area was then part of the province of Bingo, which corresponds to the modern Hiroshima prefecture.

Shusaku was the second son of Kuwahara Wazo, a merchant dealing in marine and agricultural products, fertiliser and general merchandise. Wazo was actually a member of the Yasuda family of Mihara, a town on the mainland south of Onomichi, but when he married Kuwahara Kame, he was adopted into the Kuwahara family and made its heir. Shusaku’s given name was Torajiro – he did not take the name of Shusaku until he was twelve – but to avoid confusion, he is referred to as Shusaku throughout this book. He had one elder brother and one younger sister.

Shusaku’s go talent was discovered early and by the time he was six, he was already known throughout the province as a go prodigy. Various local stories about him have been preserved. His mother, Kame, had some elementary knowledge of go, and the fact that she played go while pregnant with Shusaku is said to have had an effect on his talent – prenatal education often figures in legends about famous figures in the Orient. When he was a baby, giving him go stones would always soothe him when he was crying. His father is said to have punished him once by putting him in a closet, only to be puzzled when he soon stopped crying. On opening the closet door, he found the child happily playing with some go stones on a go board stored there.

Shusaku probably learnt to play go at the age of four or five, being variously said to have been taught by his mother or by a rich merchant in Onomichi who later became his patron. The story of his encounter with the latter, Hashimoto Yoshibei, is preserved in detail.

On the 29th September, 1834, Shusaku’s father took him to Onomichi in order to see some ritual sumo wrestling which was part of the autumn festival of the Ushitora Shrine in the centre of the town. First, he visited the shop of a business connection, Orihashi Gembei, and, while he was talking to a clerk in the shop, Shusaku disappeared. His father thought that he might have gone on ahead to the shrine, but when he went there to look for him, Shusaku was nowhere to be seen. On returning to the shop, he found that Shusaku had slipped inside the house and had been watching Orihashi play go with a visitor, Hashimoto Yoshibei. The latter was a well-known Onomichi merchant and was also the leading cultural figure of the town, being a poet and a man of learning. Since Shusaku refused to budge, his father had to go on to the festival by himself. Hashimoto was impressed by the intentness with which the child watched the game and tried a nine-stone handicap game with him. He was surprised by Shusaku’s play, which was not like that of a beginner, so he played a couple more games. Each time there seemed to be some improvement in Shusaku’s play. When his father returned, Orihashi and Hashimoto praised the child and encouraged Wazo to develop his talent.

At the beginning of 1835, Wazo took Shusaku with him when he went to Onomichi to make his New Year’s greetings to Orihashi. It had been arranged for Hashimoto to be present also, and Shusaku played games with both of them. This time he was able to hold his own on four stones against them. In autumn of the same year, on the occasion of the Ushitora Shrine festival, Shusaku made his third visit to Onomichi and was now able to play Hashimoto and Orihashi on even. His manners were very good and he was a very fast player. Not surprisingly, in view of this rapid progress, word began to spread that there was a go prodigy in Tonoura.

Among those who heard of Shusaku’s talent was the daimyo of the region, Lord Asano of Mihara. Lord Asano, head of the Mihara branch of the prominent Asano clan of Hiroshima, was a keen go player and since he was on friendly terms with Hashimoto Yoshibei, it was soon arranged for Shusaku to visit Mihara Castle to play a game. Lord Asano played so slowly, however, that Shusaku became bored – he was after all still only a child of six – and he wandered out onto the verandah of the castle while waiting for his turn to move. The courtiers were startled at this discourtesy, but Lord Asano was more indulgent and commented that it was only natural in view of his slowness. The result of the game is not recorded, but Lord Asano expressed himself as very gratified that such a prodigy had appeared within his domain and thereafter he became a lifelong patron of Shusaku. The latter made frequent visits to Mihara Castle and it is even possible that for a period he became a page there.

The most important benefit of Lord Asano’s interest was that he arranged for Shusaku to receive intensive instruction from his own go teacher, Hoshin, the abbot of Hosenji temple in the nearby town of Takehara. Hoshin, the strongest player of the district, was of professional strength and much later, in 1849, he did receive a 3-dan diploma from Gennan Inseki. Shusaku’s serious training as a go player thus started at six, and by 1836 he had almost caught up with his teacher. In later years he never forgot the debt of gratitude he owed to Hoshin and would always send him copies of the records of his castle games and would also play teaching games with him when he made one of his visits home to Tonoura. Unfortunately, no game records survive from the period of Shusaku’s apprenticeship to Hoshin.

In January 1837 Shusaku had his first meeting with a famous player who was to play an important part in his go career, both as a teacher and as an opponent in the castle games. This was Ito Showa (1801 – 78), then 5-dan, who visited Onomichi during a go instruction tour he was making of the western Honshu region. Showa was the guest of honour at a meeting of the leading go enthusiasts of Onomichi, and since this was held at the residence of a friend, Hashimoto was able to arrange for the visiting master to play a game with Shusaku. Showa, however, must have been in a bad mood, for when he was presented with the local boy wonder, who had been described to him as close to a shodan, he commented sarcastically: ‘Almost a shodan – that makes you a “banquet beggar”.’ This remark presumably implied that Shusaku went around currying favour with his go ability like a professional jester – perhaps Showa had seen too many ‘prodigies’ during his travels. The local go players were upset at the slight, but Shusaku sat down at the go board quite unperturbed. Once again, the result of this game is not recorded, nor is the handicap, but it did not take Showa very long to realise that the account of Shusaku’s strength had not been exaggerated and he regretted his rash comment. However, he bided his time in making his apology – strong players appreciate the importance of timing. Some ten years or so later, after Shusaku had become the Honinbo heir and Showa had risen to 7-dan, the latter dropped in at the Honinbo residence one day and apologised for his rudeness at their first meeting. Shusaku replied that actually he had reason to be grateful, since Showa’s comment had spurred him on.

It was clear by now to Shusaku’s patrons that he could not advance his studies any further at home, so Lord Asano decided to send him to Edo to become a Honinbo disciple. The choice of the Honinbo school was a natural one, for with the 12th Honinbo, Jowa, holding the post of Meijin godokoro, the prestige of the school was at its height. For its part, the Honinbo school, perhaps guided by a recommendation by Ito Showa, had no hesitation in accepting Shusaku as a pupil.

In November 1837, escorted by an Asano retainer, Shusaku left home for Edo, arriving there towards the end of the year. All the arrangements had been completed by the Asano clan’s representatives in Edo, so Shusaku immediately entered the Honinbo school at Kurumazaka in Ueno as a live-in pupil and remained there, apart from his visits home, until the end of his life.

Shusaku officially became a disciple of Jowa, but that does not meant that he received instruction directly from the Meijin. A disciple played with his teacher only on rare occasions (a custom which still continues in Japanese professional go), for example, when he first became his disciple or when he became shodan. In Shusaku’s case, we know of only one game between the two and that was played on a ceremonial occasion and was not completed (Game 17). However, we do know, from one of the most famous anecdotes about Shusaku, that Jowa took a keen interest in his new disciple. One day Jowa came into the room where the pupils studied and after watching Shusaku play, made the celebrated comment: ‘This is the greatest go talent for one hundred and fifty years. Hereafter my school will surely prosper.’ This was clearly a reference to the 4th Honinbo, Dosaku, popularly known as the Saint of Go and considered the greatest player of the first half of the Edo period.

The study of a professional go pupil mainly consisted of going over classical games and playing with his brother disciples. This study had to be fitted in between performing various chores, such as cleaning up the house in the morning and at night, looking after visitors, running errands, etc. From the start, however, Shusaku seems to have had no trouble adapting to the strict routine of the school. Biographical accounts always make a point of his application and his perseverance and will-power. The actual year when Jowa made the comment quoted above is not known, but probably from the outset the Honinbo school realised that it had a pupil of unusual promise on its hands. Incidentally, Jowa also saw to it that Shusaku did not neglect his general education and his study of calligraphy.

After nearly two years of study, Shusaku was awarded a shodan diploma by Jowa, dated the 29th November, 1839. This was actually one of Jowa’s last acts as head of the Honinbo school and the last diploma to which he attached his signature as godokoro, for on the following day he retired from both positions. A diploma was not usually considered necessary for a live-in disciple, but Shusaku was in a special position, having been entrusted to the Honinbo house by the Asano clan, so perhaps an official diploma was considered advisable as proof of his progress.

In spring the following year, shortly after playing his first game of which we have a record, a three-stone handicap game against Ito Showa (Game 1), Shusaku left Edo for a prolonged visit home. He must have received a hero’s welcome, for although becoming shodan at the age often was not a unique achievement, it was still extremely uncommon. On arriving home, Shusaku immediately went to Mihara Castle to pay his respects to Lord Asano. The latter showed his approbation of Shusaku’s progress by awarding him a stipend, the amount being expressed as ‘five persons’ rations', that is, an annual sum equivalent to the rice rations for five persons for a year. Needless to say, awarding a stipend to one so young was without precedent and shows in what high regard Lord Asano held Shusaku. Hayashi Yutaka, the go historian, theorises that the payment of this stipend indicates that Lord Asano considered Shusaku a retainer and that he probably expected Shusaku to become the go instructor to the Asano clan after completing his studies in Edo.

Shusaku remained at home for over a year and during this period he continued his general education under some prominent scholars residing in the district. He studied the Chinese classics, the core of a traditional education, under Sakai Kozan, a Confucian scholar attached to the Hiroshima Asano clan, and calligraphy under the well-known calligrapher Chikuun Dojin. In later life Shusaku was renowned for his superb calligraphy, the basis for which was laid in this period. The fact that he received personal tuition from the top scholars in the area was of course owing to the patronage of the Asano clan.

In August 1841 Shusaku finally left home to return to Edo to continue his go studies. On the way he dropped in at Osaka in mid-August and there played four games on two stones with Nakagawa Junsetsu 5-dan. Nakagawa had been a retainer (hatamoto) of the shogun, but he was so fond of go that he ceded the stewardship of his house to his younger brother and devoted himself to studying go. He settled in Osaka and spent his life spreading go in the Kansai region. He was considered one of the strongest Kansai players, so Osaka go fans were surprised when Shusaku won all four games by resignation. However, Nakagawa carefully went over the game records afterwards and commented that he was far from sure that he could have beaten Shusaku even if the latter had just taken black without a handicap. Considering the difference in dan between the two, this was refreshing candour on Nakagawa’s part.

Word reached Kyoto of what had happened and the top Kyoto player, Kawakita Fusatane 5-dan (whom Nakagawa had beaten in a match), sent for the game records. Like so many others, Kawakita found it difficult to credit that one so young could play so well. Even the emperor of the time, Ninko, who was a keen go player, heard about Shusaku and asked to see the game records. He expressed the wish that Shusaku might come to Kyoto to play Kawakita, but this never eventuated.

On the 16th September, shortly after arriving back in Edo, Shusaku was promoted to 2-dan by Honinbo Josaku. Before that, on the 11th, he was directed by Josaku to change his name. Josaku gave him the ‘saku’ character (meaning ‘strategy’) from his own name and the ‘shu’ character (meaning ‘outstanding’ or ‘excellent’) from Shuwa’s, to form Shusaku. Incidentally, in contrast to his 1-dan ranking, Shusaku became a ‘provisional 2-dan’ (nidan-kaku). The reason was that when the post of godokoro was vacant, promotions had to be decided in consultation with the heads of the other go houses. Since it was not worth the trouble in the case of the lower dans, the head of the house would just award a provisional ranking on his own authority.

On the 10th July, 1842, less than ten months after becoming 2-dan, Shusaku was promoted to 3-dan (again a provisional ranking). The following year, on the 6th October, he was promoted to 4-dan, this time receiving an official ranking sanctioned by the other go heads. There were eleven 4-dans at this time, and Shusaku was the youngest.

Except for 1840, most of which he had spent at home, Shusaku had been promoted regularly, a dan a year. Apart from his natural talent, the rapidity of Shusaku’s progress owed much to the generosity of some top players who played long series of games with him. In 1842, for example, Shusaku played twenty games of which a record has survived and of these sixteen were with Ota Yuzo, then 6-dan and thirty-five years old. Since Yuzo was one of the leading players of the day, he must have been very impressed with the youngster’s talent to give him so much of his time. In 1843 and 1844, Shusaku played a long series of games with a senior Honinbo disciple, Kadono Tadazaemon. Kadono, the eldest son of Jowa, was the player against whom Shusaku first tried out his famous ‘Shusaku fuseki’, in a game played on the 18th July, 1843 (Part Two Game Three). Ota Yuzo and Kadono were the two players mainly responsible for schooling Shusaku during the early years of his apprenticeship. Apart from two 2-stone games in 1842 (Games Two and Three) and a game on black in February 1844 (which was a jigo), Shusaku did not play seriously with Shuwa until 1846, when the question arose of his becoming Shuwa’s heir.

In October 1844, accompanied by a senior Honinbo disciple, Sanai Tokujiro 4-dan, Shusaku left Edo for his second visit home. On the way he stayed for nearly a month at Nagoya, the hometown of Ito Showa, and while there played four games on black with Showa, winning three of them. Since he also made stopovers in Kyoto and Osaka, he did not reach Tonoura until December.

In the New Year, Shusaku visited Mihara Castle for his customary audience with his daimyo patron. Lord Asano greeted the news of his promotion to 4-dan by increasing his stipend. The fact that Shusaku’s visit home was even more prolonged than his previous visit, lasting for eighteen months, tends to support the theory that the Asano clan intended that he should become the clan go instructor in the future. Shusaku made regular visits to the castle to teach Lord Asano and his retainers and also continued his general education. He did have some opportunities to play serious go, for Sanai Tokujiro remained in the Hiroshima area for a while and two other Honinbo disciples, Katsuta Eisuke 4-dan and Kishimoto Saichiro 5-dan, also made visits. In May 1845 Shusaku returned a small part of his debt to his former teacher, the abbot Hoshin, by playing a teaching game with him. The teacher was now the pupil, taking two stones against Shusaku and losing.

In April 1846 Shusaku finally left Tonoura to return to Edo. On the way he played a game which has become a classic, one of the immortal games of go history.

In May Shusaku stopped off in Osaka, as on the way down. During May and early June he played four games on sen-ai-sen with Nakagawa Junsetsu 5-dan, whom he had defeated on two stones in 1841. This time also Shusaku won all four games, including one on white (Part Two Game Ten). Nakagawa could not have been too surprised, considering his comment on the previous occasion, but he was even more impressed than before with Shusaku’s talent.

Although these victories further enhanced Shusaku’s reputation, they were not the highlight of his Osaka visit. Junsetsu was a disciple of Gennan Inseki, who had been living for a while in Osaka, though at this time he was away on a trip. The actual details are not known, but Junsetsu must have persuaded Shusaku to stay in Osaka until Gennan returned, on the understanding that some games would be arranged. The historic encounter took place in July.

Gennan had given up all hope of becoming Meijin godokoro after his successive defeats by Shuwa in 1840 – 42 and, at forty-eight years of age, had reached a stage in life when go players in the Edo period started thinking about retirement. However, he was still the senior figure in the go world and was widely considered to be of Meijin strength, so it was a considerable privilege for Shusaku to be given an opportunity to play him.

Since Shusaku was only a 4-dan, he naturally took two stones in the first game, played on the 20th July (see Chapter Five), but after one day’s play Gennan realised that two stones was not a viable handicap. Instead of finishing the game the next day, Gennan proposed that Shusaku simply take black, an unprecedented honour for a 4-dan against an 8-dan.

In the first game with Shusaku on black, played on the 21st July, Gennan caught Shusaku with a new variation of the taisha and secured an early advantage. Shusaku fought back strongly, but the position looked very promising for Gennan when play was suspended at the end of the first day. However, on the second day Shusaku played a brilliant move which took Gennan by surprise and reversed the flow of the game. This move, Black 127, is the most famous move in go history and is known as ‘the ear-reddening move of Shusaku’, for reasons explained in Chapter Five. Eventually Shusaku managed to secure victory by three points. This was such an outstanding game that it is not only considered a masterpiece for the winner, Shusaku, but also one of the lifetime masterpieces of the loser, Gennan Inseki.

Gennan did no better in the remaining three games of the series. The second game was suspended after fifty-nine moves and left unfinished, but the third and fourth were both won by Shusaku. One more win and Shusaku would have been entitled to go to sen-ai-sen, that is, the handicap for a 7-dan against Gennan Inseki, but at this point the series was concluded. Shusaku’s triumph of three wins on black to no losses was the first really outstanding achievement of his career. Probably Nakagawa Junsetsu did not feel so bad about his own results when he saw what happened to his teacher.

Gennan retired in 1848, handing over the reins of the Inoue house to his heir Inoue Shutetsu, but in March 1855, four years before he died, there was one final game between the two (Game 64). Shusaku, then 7-dan, again took black and he forced Gennan to resign after 219 moves, so Gennan never succeeded in besting Shusaku. Of course, this final game whilst in retirement must have been played solely out of curiosity, in order to see at first hand how much Shusaku had improved since their first encounter. For that matter, even the 1846 match would not have been so serious for Gennan, since nothing was at stake, in contrast to the match with Shuwa. That was why Gennan could afford to be magnanimous about the handicap. He was also generous in his assessment of his opponent. In February 1849, Gennan visited Onomichi, where he met Hashimoto Yoshibei and other local go players. When asked his opinion of Shusaku, Gennan replied that at the time of their match Shusaku was already 7-dan in strength and that there was no telling how strong he might become thereafter.

In September Shusaku arrived back in Edo to find a promotion to 5-dan waiting for him. The exact date of the promotion is not known, because as a rule no diplomas were issued for ranks above 4-dan. Presumably the lower-ranked players, who were by far the majority, might on occasion need some proof of their rank, but the higher-ranked players would have been sufficiently well-known to make a diploma unnecessary.

Another, much greater honour was also awaiting Shusaku: he was requested to become the official heir to Shuwa. The current Honinbo, Josaku, was not in very good health, and it was probably thought advisable to secure the line of succession as early as possible. Jowa, Josaku and Shuwa conferred, but the decision was predetermined – the only conceivable candidate was Shusaku. To their surprise, Shusaku refused, the first time in the history of the Honinbo house that the honour was declined.

Shusaku had considerable strength of character for a seventeen year old and was resolute in his decision. He was keenly conscious of his obligations to the Asano clan, which after all was paying him a stipend, and to his other benefactors in Onomichi, and he knew that not only they but also his parents expected him to return home when he had completed his training in Edo. If he stayed in Edo, he would also be unable to fulfil his filial duty of looking after his parents in their old age.

The Honinbo house had to work indirectly to solve this problem. It requested Lord Wakizaka Awaji, then holding the post of jisha-bugyo, to mediate. He approached the main Hiroshima branch of the Asano clan, which in turn approached the Mihara Asano clan and persuaded it to relinquish its claim on Shusaku. When Shusaku was informed of this, he was finally able to accept the Honinbo offer with a clear conscience. At the same time it was decided that he should marry Jowa’s daughter, Hana (his child by his second wife Seiko).

The whole process of securing Shusaku’s consent took some time and probably was not completed until early 1847. In the meantime Shuwa had begun for the first time to take a serious interest in Shusaku’s go. Previously the two had played surprisingly little – a mere three completed games in the eight years that Shusaku had been a Honinbo disciple. Shuwa promptly decided to make up for lost time, without waiting for Shusaku’s agreement to become the heir, and between October 1846 and September 1847 they played a famous series of seventeen games (a full list of their games). At one point (July 1847) they played five games in three days. Shusaku took black throughout the series and played brilliantly, scoring thirteen wins to four losses. Moreover, he played his own ‘Shusaku-style fuseki’ in seven of the games – this must have been an ideal opportunity to test out his theories in practice. Since his decisive victory over Gennan, Shuwa was generally regarded as the top player of the day and he remained at the pinnacle of the go world until his death in 1873. Shusaku was the only player to do so well against him and he would have been entitled to change the handicap from josen to sen-ai-sen if he so wished, but that would have meant taking white against his teacher, and this Shusaku, a person of unusual modesty, obstinately refused to do. There is a story that when Shusaku was promoted to 7-dan, Shuwa tried to persuade him that playing a game on white would not be unsuitable in view of his rank, but Shusaku refused as resolutely as ever. This is a contrast to Shuho, who when he reached 7-dan twice took white against Shuwa (he did not enjoy the experience, for he was crushed both times – in no-komi go the difference between playing with white and with black is much greater than might be imagined).

In February 1847 Shusaku played his only game with Jowa (Game 17). The game, played at a party celebrating the promotion of a Honinbo disciple, was not a serious one and was not meant to be finished, but in the ninety-four moves played Shusaku, taking two stones, convincingly demonstrated that not even a former Meijin could give him a handicap. One may regret that a game like this was not played out to a finish, but perhaps the status of someone like Jowa was too elevated for him to indulge in competitive play with a disciple. Fortunately for the student of go, Shuwa did not feel any such constraint when he became the head of the house – in addition to the games with Shusaku, he played fifty games with Shuho (whom he intended to make his heir after Shusaku’s death).

Josaku died on the 18th August, 1847, whereupon Shuwa became the 14th Honinbo. On the 10th October Jowa also died. (There is some confusion about these dates, however, as the Honinbo family records give the 17th and 20th December respectively.) On the 16th September, 1848, Shuwa made a formal application to the government to have Shusaku recognised as his heir. Permission was granted on the 22nd November that year, just after the castle games. The timing might seem unfortunate, but actually this was fairly quick action for the Edo bureaucracy. On the 15th December, accompanied by Shuwa, Shusaku went to Edo Castle for an audience with the shogun, Tokugawa Ieyoshi. Shusaku also married Hana about this time, thus completing the change in his status. In addition, he was promoted to 6-dan during 1848, though just when is not known for certain. There are two theories, one that he was promoted in January (the theory adopted in the Complete Games of Shusaku and followed in this book), while the other is that it was not until after his audience with the shogun.

Gennan Inseki retired during 1848, so the era of the godokoro squabble finally came to an end. The 1850’s were to be the age of Shusaku, and his performance in the castle games represented the climax of classical go. After his death the whole feudal structure was swept away.

On the 8th October, 1849, Shusaku reached tagai-sen (even) against Ota Yuzo (1807 – 56). This was an important milestone in his career, for throughout his life Yuzo was his greatest rival. Of the 388 games of Shusaku which survive, 82 are with Yuzo, many more than with any other opponent. Yuzo was a member of the group known popularly as the Tempo Top Four (after the Tempo era, which ran from 1830 to 1844), the other members of which were Yasui Sanchi, Ito Showa and Sakaguchi Sentoku. These players were rivals of Shuwa (who played an extraordinary 135 games with Yuzo), though generally bested by him. Ota Yuzo had early on discovered Shusaku’s talent and he played a large number of games with him. At first these were probably just meant as teaching games, but they soon turned into a serious rivalry, though the two always remained good friends. Shusaku’s results against Yuzo are the best gauge of his progress, for the latter played him constantly throughout the first decade or so of his career and constituted the most formidable barrier in the path of the all-conquering hero. Below is a summary of the changes in handicap between the two.

May 1842: Shusaku first played Yuzo, on two stones, just before his thirteenth birthday.

August 1842: Shusaku reached sen-ni (black/two stones), then proceeded to josen (all black).

September 1842: Shusaku forced back to sen-ni.

Early 1843: Shusaku reached josen again.

September 1843: Shusaku reached sen-ai-sen (BBW).

1844 – 45: no games survive.

December 1846: Shusaku began playing Yuzo on sen-ai-sen.

October 1849: Shusaku reached tagai-sen (even) after 21 games on sen-ai-sen.

June 1853: Shusaku forced Yuzo to sen-ai-sen, after 29 games on tagai-sen, in Game Seventeen of the thirty-game match, after which Yuzo played six games only on sen-ai-sen.

The fact that it took Shusaku twenty-one games to reach even after getting to sen-ai-sen is sufficient indication of how much trouble Yuzo gave him. From another point of view, of course, one can say that he was fortunate to find an opponent so worthy of his measure, for some of his best go was played against Yuzo. The latter was an extremely aggressive player, so every game was a severe test of Shusaku’s skill.

There is a theory that Shusaku was promoted to 7-dan after reaching tagai-sen against Yuzo in 1849, and it is followed in the Complete Games but not in this book. The preponderance of the evidence is in favour of the other theory, which is that the promotion did not take place until after he forced Yuzo to sen-ai-sen in 1853. Once again we have no way of knowing for certain as an official diploma was not issued. However, there is a record that a party celebrating the promotion to 7-dan was held in August 1854, which makes the later date more plausible. In addition, the handicaps on which Shusaku played other players, especially in the castle games, prior to 1853 strongly suggest that he was still playing as a 6-dan (specifically, taking black in successive games against 7-dans in the castle games). Actually the Honinbo house was traditionally conservative in its promotions to ensure that its players had good records against the other schools.

In November 1849 Shusaku made his debut in the castle games, and the second, more public stage of his career began. Until then he had just been one, however brilliant, of a number of Honinbo pupils; from this point on he was playing for the honour of the Honinbo house. As its official heir, his games now assumed greater significance, especially those with players from other schools. Most important were the games played once a year at Edo Castle in the presence of the shogun – a player’s performance in these was the real test of his merit.

Shusaku got off to a good start, with easy wins (both on black) against Yasui Sanchi in the official game and Sakaguchi Sentoku in the o-konomi game played at the direction of the shogun on the same day. These victories were so convincing that they must have increased his self-confidence considerably.

In February 1850 Shusaku left Edo for his third visit home to Tonoura. Since he was now the Honinbo heir, he was accompanied by a retinue consisting of Wada Ikkei 3-dan and other Honinbo disciples. On the way, he played Nakagawa Junsetsu in Osaka for the third time; Junsetsu lost three straight, taking black in two games and white in the third.

Shusaku arrived in Tonoura in late April and stayed there until October – he could not make as prolonged a visit as in the past, since he had to be back in Edo in November to play the castle games. During May Shusaku played four games with Kishimoto Saichiro 5-dan, a Honinbo disciple, in the Jikanji temple in Onomichi. These were public games, played before an audience of local go fans to commemorate his selection as the Honinbo heir. Kishimoto played on sen-ai-sen, taking white in the third game, but he lost all four. In July Shusaku also played his former teacher, Hoshin, who took two stones but lost by five points.

Shusaku’s third castle game, in November 1850, was another easy win against Sakaguchi Sentoku – the difference in fuseki ability was just too great. However, his fourth game, an o-konomi game against Ito Showa, was the toughest of all his castle games. Ito Showa, taking white, got off to a very good start and maintained his lead through the middle game. Shusaku fought back desperately, setting up ko after ko to rescue a large group in trouble. Eventually he pulled off an upset victory by three points, but he had to work hard for it. The result was one of the most complex and absorbing games of his career.

The 1850’s and the beginning of the 1860’s, the period of Shusaku’s maturity, were notable not only for his unblemished record in the castle games, but also for his ‘bango’, that is, matches consisting of a set number of games with one opponent. The most famous of these were his nijubango (twenty-game match) with Sekiyama Sendaiu, the number one ‘amateur’ player in Japan, in June 1851, his sanjubango (thirty-game match) with Ota Yuzo in 1853 and his jubango (ten-game match) with Murase Shuho (the 18th Honinbo) in 1861.

Sekiyama Sendaiu (1784 – 1859) was a samurai retainer of the Sanada clan of Matsushiro in the present-day Nagano prefecture. As a child he had studied under Honinbo Retsugen and in his forties he studied under Honinbo Genjo and Honinbo Jowa; he did not become a professional, so he remained a shodan all his life, but his actual strength probably reached about 5-dan. He is considered the strongest amateur player of the Edo period. Sekiyama performed his duties as a retainer to a feudal lord, but the ruling passion of his life was go; he not only played whenever he had a chance but also published a couple of books on go.

Sekiyama invited Shusaku to Matsushiro to play the nijubango, and it started the day that he arrived. It was played at the rate of a game a day, which probably makes it unique. Sekiyama played on josen (all black) and managed to win seven games, a very commendable performance for a man of sixty-seven against an opponent of twenty-two. Shusaku later commented that two of the games were masterpieces (he did not say which two), while for his part Sekiyama marvelled at the fact that Shusaku played a different fuseki in each game. It should be put on record, however, that there is a suspicion that the good-natured Shusaku made a present of the final game (Sekiyama won by one point).

Shusaku’s second bango was a much more serious affair: his prestige as the top player of the day depended on the outcome.

One day at the end of 1852 a number of leading go players, including Yasui Sanchi, Ito Showa, Sakaguchi Sentoku and Hattori Seitetsu, were gathered together at a party held at the home of a wealthy go connoisseur, Akai Gorosaku. During the conversation the question arose of who was the strongest player of the time and agreement was soon reached that this could only be Shusaku. Since the above players had all suffered considerably at his hands, their conclusion was only natural. However, there was one dissenting opinion. Ota Yuzo, who was in attendance, refused to chime in with the majority and when pressed for his opinion would only mutter, ‘I can’t say’. Yuzo’s response was understandable, considering his results against Shusaku, for at this time he was the only player able to hold his own against him. Since Shusaku reached tagai-sen in October 1849, the two had played six games and each had won two with black, the remaining two having been left unfinished. Yuzo’s reaction aroused the interest of Akai Gorosaku who promptly decided to sponsor an extended match between the rivals.

The sanjubango between Yuzo and Shusaku is the most famous bango of the classical period and it represents a fitting climax to Edo period go. The match began on the 27th January, 1853, and Yuzo made a good start by winning the first game. However, by the time he won the 17th game in June, Shusaku had taken a lead of four games, thus forcing Yuzo to the handicap of sen-ai-sen (BBW). The crucial difference was that Shusaku won three games with white, while the best that Yuzo could do with white was to get one jigo. Shusaku continued to do well after the handicap was changed, winning three of the next five games (including two wins on white), but Yuzo rallied in the 23rd game and managed to secure a jigo playing with white. Yuzo was satisfied with this success and decided not to continue with the series. Shusaku himself commented that the 23rd game was probably Yuzo’s lifetime masterpiece. As so often happened with Shusaku’s losing opponents, Yuzo’s reputation did not suffer because of defeat. On the contrary, he has been admired for his tenacity in holding tagai-sen for so long against Shusaku. It was no wonder that the latter considered him the strongest member of the Tempo Top Four.

Three years later, in 1856, Yuzo died while traveling in the Echigo (modern Niigata) region, and when he heard the news Shusaku was grief-stricken, lamenting that he had lost a precious rival.

After the sanjubango, the golden age of go gradually began drawing to a close. The appearance off Uraga Bay in 1853 of Commodore Perry’s squadron of ‘black ships’ on a mission to open Japan up to trade with the West was the harbinger of the collapse of Japan’s feudal structure. As the Tokugawa government entered its final decade, it became too preoccupied with the threats to its stability to give much thought to go. This can be seen in the decline of the castle games.

Shusaku’s letters to his parents show that he was very worried about the castle games during the 1850’s. In 1854, for the first time in his career there was no o-konomi go, which was a great disappointment. The popularity of o-konomi go had always been a sign that go was flourishing, for these games were played at the express wish of the shogun when he attended the castle games.

Even worse, in 1855 there were no castle games at all, but this was due to an act of nature: in October there was a large earthquake which caused some damage to Edo Castle. However, even though the castle games were resumed in 1856, o-konomi go were only played in 1859 and 1861 and their scarcity was a source of considerable dissatisfaction to Shusaku. He was not to know that after his death the castle games disappeared altogether. On the 15th November, 1862, there was a fire in Edo Castle, so the ceremonial replaying of the castle games on the 17th was cancelled, although of course the actual games (the shitauchi) had already been played, beginning on the 11th. In 1863 also, the ceremony was cancelled after the shitauchi had taken place; thereafter, no castle games at all were played. The decade before the Meiji Restoration and the decade after saw go at its lowest ebb.

In January 1857 Shusaku left Edo for his fourth and final visit home. He was accompanied by Kadono Kamesaburo (1837 – 1903), the third son of Jowa, who, under the name of Nakagawa Kamesaburo, was to play an important role in the modernisation of the go world in the Meiji period, becoming the second president of the Hoensha. By coincidence, during this trip the two discovered a prodigy, Mizutani Nuiji (1846 – 84), who was later to become one of the leading players of the Hoensha. Mizutani lived on the Island of Oshima near the town of Imaharu in Shikoku, just across the Inland Sea from In-no-shima. His father, a doctor, brought him to Tonoura in mid-April to receive instruction from Shusaku. The latter obliged by playing two four-stone games with his eleven year old opponent, but Mizutani won these so easily that he tried him out in a three-stone game. Mizutani again won easily, which so impressed Shusaku and Kamesaburo that they earnestly tried to persuade him to come to Edo and enter the Honinbo school. Unfortunately, his father would not permit this, on the grounds that the child’s health was poor (the real reason was perhaps that he did not approve of playing go as a profession). Mizutani’s debut was thus delayed, and it was not until 1880 that he finally went to Edo and joined the Hoensha at the invitation of its president, Shuho. His three games with Shusaku are still remembered as model handicap games for black (all three are given in this book).

Shusaku returned to Edo in September and did not again leave the capital. Apart from the castle games, he did not play very much. As mentioned earlier, he was dissatisfied with the scarcity of o-konomi games, though he would have been much more upset if he had lived to see the castle games discontinued altogether (poor Shuho just missed out – he shaved his head in preparation, only to see the castle games suspended). At least Shusaku did get the opportunity to extend his record to nineteen straight wins. From 1855 to 1861, a period which amounts to a third of his professional career, Shusaku played only sixty games, about one sixth of his lifetime total (referring here of course to surviving game records). That is sufficient indication that this was a relatively inactive period for Shusaku, which is unfortunate, since he was at his peak. Nearly all of his games now were with younger players, so from his point of view they were just teaching games. Among these, however, there were three interesting series which are worthy of note.

The first was with a Honinbo disciple, Kajikawa Noboru (1831 – 90), who was then 3-dan. Kajikawa, playing on two stones, won seven games in a row, with one jigo, then also won a game with just black. Needless to say, these were the best results that any player ever had against Shusaku. Kajikawa did not develop into a top player, only reaching 5-dan, but he did have his moment of glory.

The next series was played in 1859 with Ebizawa Kenzo (1842 – 1913), a disciple of the Yasui school. He later changed his name to Iwasaki Kenzo and became one of the leading players of the Meiji period, succeeding Nakagawa Kamesaburo as president of the Hoensha, but at this time he was an anonymous, poverty-stricken 3-dan. First of all, he played a jubango on two stones with Shusaku, gaining the excellent result of seven wins to three losses and so changing the handicap to sen-ni (alternating black and two stones). This was the end of his winning streak, however, for he lost all three games (two on black and one on two stones) played on the new handicap.

The third series is by far the most interesting to go history, for it was with the player whom Shusaku expected to become his heir. Murase Shuho, like Ebizawa Kenzo, came from a very poor family, but he had one great stroke of luck: his father, a carpenter, lived next door to the Honinbo residence in Ueno, and so he was given every opportunity to develop his go talent. Shuho was born in 1838 and he became shodan at the age of ten. He was the strongest Honinbo disciple after Shusaku and from the large number of games that they played with him, it seems clear that Shuwa and Shusaku were grooming him as the heir to Shusaku. However, for some reason he incurred the enmity of Jowa’s widow, who was a powerful figure in the Honinbo house, and after Shusaku’s death, Shuwa was compelled to pass over Shuho in favour of his own son Shuetsu as the new heir. Shuho later left the Honinbo house in disgust and spent a ‘lost’ decade travelling around the countryside before returning to Tokyo in 1879 to become the first president of the Hoensha. Shuho was far and away the strongest player of the late nineteenth century, and in 1886 a reconciliation was effected with the Honinbo house, and he became the 18th Honinbo. Unfortunately, he died three months later and only played one game as Honinbo.

Shuho first began playing Shusaku in 1850, progressed to two stones in 1853, then to black in 1854, but was not able to hold his own on that handicap until the end of the 1850’s. In 1861 the two played a formal jubango, which was a great success for Shuho, for he scored six wins to three losses and one jigo. One more win and he could have changed the handicap to sen-ai-sen, but he was not to have the chance to play another game with Shusaku.

The jubango with Shuho was concluded on the 7th November. Later that month Iemochi, the 14th Tokugawa shogun, who was very fond of go, held both the ordinary o-shiro-go and the o-konomi games. Playing on white, Shusaku had easy wins against Hayashi Monnyu and Hayashi Yubi, and these were the last completed games he played.

On the 12th December Shusaku received the sad news from home that his mother had died. He was much upset by this and went on a hundred-day fast (a Buddhist service to pray for the repose of her soul). It is said that his health was adversely affected by his meagre vegetarian diet. Shusaku was further saddened to hear of the death of his benefactor Hashimoto Yoshibei on the 4th March, 1862.

A greater misfortune was to follow. In midsummer an epidemic of cholera (said to have been introduced into Japan by a foreign ship) broke out in Edo, and a number of Honinbo disciples caught the disease. Ignoring Shuwa’s attempts to stop him, Shusaku devoted himself to nursing the patients and as a result became infected himself. The illness was aggravated by the fact that his health was still poor due to the effects of his fast earlier in the year. On the 3rd August he began to vomit blood; on the 9th there was a respite in his illness, which made everyone hopeful of a recovery, but the next day it worsened, and he died about one o’clock in the afternoon. (At the time his illness was thought to be measles – cholera was not yet known to Japanese medicine – but the detailed description of his symptoms which survives makes it certain that the culprit was cholera.)

Shuwa was as heart-broken as if he had lost one of his own children. In a letter to Shusaku’s father, he wrote: ‘… When I think of what must be your grief, I spend my days with tears flowing down my face. Shusaku was truly a person of great natural ability, and his talent was known to everyone. That he was fit to become godokoro was recognised by the shogun (Iemochi) and all devotees of go. This premature parting makes me feel that I am dreaming.’

Thus ended the career of one of the greatest players of the classical period. In a sense, Shusaku was fortunate not to witness the depths to which organised go sank over the next two decades, but it is interesting to speculate on the difference it might have made to go history if he had lived on through the subsequent period of modernisation.

3. The Shusaku-Style Fuseki

Dia. 1: the basic pattern

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The term ‘Shusaku-style fuseki’ refers to the 1–3–5 configuration in Dia. 1, with Black rotating through the komoku points in adjacent corners. This pattern was not invented by Shusaku, but he developed it systematically, refining it and adding his own variations, so the pattern has become synonymous with his name. The aim of the pattern is to simplify the game for Black by restricting White’s strategic options in the fuseki. In Shusaku’s hands this pattern became a formidable weapon for Black and it has retained popularity until the present day, though undergoing some modifications in komi go. In his brief career Shusaku’s complete mastery of the fuseki made him almost invincible with black. Time and time again, as the game commentaries will show, he had built up a winning position before the middle game had even begun. Occasionally this detracts from the drama of his games by making them too one-sided, but it is the reason why so many modern professionals consider him the ideal model for learning how to play with black. It is no wonder that, as the famous (though possibly apocryphal) story goes, when asked about his result in a game once, Shusaku simply replied: ‘I had black.’

Shusaku’s major theoretical achievement and the reason why his pattern has had such an important influence on the development of modern fuseki theory is that he developed an integrated whole-board strategy which took into account all of the opponent’s possible counters. The key to this pattern is the way in which it restricts White’s options, as mentioned above. To begin with, take White 4 in Dia. 1 – White virtually always makes this approach move and there is a good reason.

Dia. 2

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If White occupies the empty corner with 1, Black will enclose the top right corner with 2. If then White 3, Black will play 4, this move being an ideal combination of a pincer and an extension. Permitting this is considered unfavourable for White. However, if White plays 3 at ‘a’ or ‘b’, Black will enclose the bottom right corner with 3. This would simplify the game, which is to Black’s advantage in a no-komi game.

To return to Dia. 1, White often plays 6 next to prevent Black from enclosing this corner, whereupon Black makes the kosumi at 7. Instead of 6 –

Dia. 3

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If White plays 1, enclosing the corner with 2 or ‘a’ is good for Black. If next White 3, Black 4 is the ideal pincer-extension combination.

Black 7 in Dia. 1 is Shusaku’s famous kosumi. Shusaku was very proud of this move and is said to have boasted that however much go advanced in later ages, this kosumi would retain its value as long as go was played on a 19 x 19 board.

Black 7 is a solid, steady move. First of all, it prevents White from forcing Black into a low position by pressing at 7; next, it sets up three good continuations for Black: ‘a’, ‘b’ and ‘c’. Black ‘a’ is the extension-cum-pincer, a move considered so desirable that White usually forestalls it by extending up the right side with his next move. Black ‘b’ forces White into a low position at the top while building thickness for Black. Black ‘c’ is a good pincer, an alternative to ‘b’ if Black wants to play more aggressively.

Black 7 is just a little slow, though that drawback is outweighed by its virtues in a no-komi game. It was often said that the aim of the kosumi was to set up a safe win by three points. Nowadays a player using the Shusaku pattern in a komi game usually switches 7 to a pincer at ‘d’ to keep up the pressure on White. In the Edo period Black’s aim was to play safely and solidly, relying on his lead from having the first move, while the onus was on White to create complications and get a fight going. In modern komi go the position is, if anything, reversed. With a 6½ point start, which Japanese professionals often refer to as a ‘large komi’, White is content to play a more leisurely game, while it is Black who feels the pressure on him to nullify White’s initial advantage. Shusaku could not have foreseen the advent of komi go (in the Edo period komi was only used in rengo or team games), but that his confidence in his opening was not misplaced is demonstrated by the fact that top twentieth century players have continued to use the pattern to 7 in no-komi games.

There is not room here for a detailed discussion of all the variations of the Shusaku pattern, but the reader will find plenty of material for study in the games in this book. In particular, the countermeasures adopted by Shuwa and Gennan Inseki, two of the strongest opponents Shusaku faced, are instructive. Here we shall content ourselves with a brief survey of the origins of the pattern and its later development.

Dia. 4. Honinbo Sanetsu (white) v. Honinbo Doetsu (played between 1648 and 1657)

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The 1–3–5 formation first appeared in a game in the mid-17th century (Dia. 4), but thereafter seems to have been forgotten until the 19th century, when it reappeared in the game given in Dia. 5. Note that the kosumi appears for the first time, though in a different corner.

Dia. 5. Inoue Shunsaku Inseki (white) v. Hayashi Tetsugen Monnyu (1809 castle game)

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Dia. 6. Jowa (white) v. Gennan Inseki (then Hattori Rittetsu) (1813)

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Four years later Gennan Inseki used it in a game against Jowa (Dia. 6), then in 1826 in a game against Yasui Senchi (Dia. 7).

Dia. 7. Yasui Senchi (white) v. Gennan Inseki (1826)

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Dia. 8. Yasui Senchi (white) v. Honinbo Josaku (1836 castle game)

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The first appearance of the exact pattern we know as the Shusaku pattern seems to have been in an 1836 game by the 13th Honinbo, Josaku (Dia. 8).

Shusaku first played the Shusaku-pattern in a game against Kadono Tadazaemon in July 1843 (Part Two Game Three), then gradually refined it over the next few years. Although he was not the first to play this pattern, he was the first to experiment with it systematically. The players who preceded him with it do not seem to have attached any special significance to it (though Gennan, who did play it at least twice, must have been surprised to see Shusaku play it throughout their famous series in 1846).

Dia. 9. Maeda Nobuaki (white) v. Go Seigen (Autumn 1930 oteai, no komi)

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After Shusaku’s death, his pattern was further developed by later generations and became established as one of the standard opening strategies. Its popularity was stimulated by the publication in 1900 of Kogyoku Yoin (Tapped Jewel Reverberations), a collection of one hundred of Shusaku’s best games, compiled by a disciple, Ishigaya Kosaku (1818 – 1906). One player who was strongly influenced by this book was Go Seigen, who studied it intensively in China before he came to Japan in 1928 at the age of fourteen. On seeing early game records of Go Seigen, Segoe Kensaku commented that he was a reincarnation of Shusaku, so strong was the similarity in their styles. Around 1930 Go Seigen played the pure Shusaku-style fuseki in quite a few of his games, Dia. 9 being one example. This was still three years before he and Kitani completely revolutionised fuseki theory with their New Fuseki. The important point is that, like all modern players, his fuseki was based upon a thorough study of Shusaku’s fuseki.

Dia. 10. Sakata Eio (white) v. Hashimoto Utaro, Honinbo (6th Honinbo title match, Game 7, 1951. Komi: 4½)

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There is not space here to discuss the counter-strategies worked out by modern players for white, but in passing it may be mentioned that one popular counter is the high approach move at 6 in Dia. 10. This game is of interest because Black plays the kosumi at 7 despite having to give a komi of 4½ points (Hashimoto won this game and defended his title).

Dia. 11. Rin Meijin (white) v. Takagawa (7th Meijin, Game 1, 1968. Komi: 5)

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A representative modern variation of the Shusaku pattern for Black is shown in Dia. 11. Instead of making the kosumi, Black plays a pincer at 7. The development up to 16 is conventional, but then Black attacks aggressively at 17 instead of defending at 19.

Dia. 12. Kitani Minoru (white) v. Sakata Eio (2nd Top Position title match, Game 1, 1957. No komi)

＞＜ ▶︎

Dia. 12 shows another representative modern pattern, with White answering the pincer at 7 with a two-space jump. Two very popular modern josekis appear in the top right and left corners, though the game diverges from joseki with White 22.

Dia. 13. Sakata (white) v. Rin (25th Honinbo title match, Game 2, 1970. Komi: 4½)

＞＜ ▶︎

Dia. 13 shows a modern variant of the Shusaku pattern, with Black playing 5 on the star-point instead of on the komoku.

Dia. 14. Hashimoto Utaro (white) v. Iwamoto Kaoru (3rd Honinbo title match, Game 6, 1945. Komi: 4½)

＞＜ ▶︎

Another variant, with 5 on the mokuhazushi point, is shown in Dia. 14.

The 1–3–5 pattern has never lost its popularity and has undergone endless experimentation in the past century. It seems unlikely that the possibilities of the pattern will ever be exhausted.

Dia. 15. Takagi Shoichi (white) v. Cho Chikun (Oteai, 21 April 1981. No komi)

＞＜ ▶︎

Finally, here is the latest example of the full-fledged Shusaku-style fuseki in an important game. Cho Chikun played the 1–3–5 pattern in two games of the 1981 Honinbo title match, but earlier in the year he also played Shusaku’s kosumi in the oteai game which won him promotion to 9-dan (Dia. 15). As the second kosumi at 23 and the reinforcement at 43 show, his strategy was to play a very solid, profit-oriented game. Admittedly, Black 7 is not very common these days, but it seems justified to say that Shusaku’s confidence in his fuseki theory was not misplaced.

4. Shusaku’s Debut

Game One
Shusaku v. Ito Showa (1840)

The first game by Shusaku to survive is the following three-stone game against the senior Honinbo disciple, Ito Showa. Shusaku had already played Showa when the latter visited the Hashimoto family in Onomichi, and quite possibly it was he who arranged for Shusaku to enter the Honinbo school. The following game was played at a study group three and a half months after Shusaku became shodan. Since Ito Showa was 6-dan, Shusaku was presumably playing him on a handicap alternating between two and three stones. In this game Shusaku just manages to pull off a narrow win on three stones, but his style is still immature. The enormous surge in his strength comes over the next two years.

White: Ito Showa 6-dan
3 stones: Kuwahara Shusaku 1-dan
Date: 16th April, 1840
202 moves. Black wins by 4 points.
Commentary by Ishida Yoshio 9-dan

A lack of severity

Moves 1–6

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 2, 6. The ogeima was the standard response to White’s approach move in handicap games in the Edo period. The one-space jump is rarely seen.

Moves 7–17

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 18–28

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 20 to 26 just help White. This kind of mild play soon disappears completely from Shusaku’s game.

Moves 29–32

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 32. Black ‘a’ would make better use of the star-point stone.

Moves 33–39

＞＜ ▶︎

White 39. White is aiming at pushing through at ‘a’. This is the first real test of Shusaku’s strength.

Move 40

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 40. If at ‘a’, White will counter with ‘b’, making White ‘c’ a serious threat.

Moves 41–42

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 42 is the fighting answer to White 41. Instead –

Dia. 1

＞＜ ▶︎

Capturing at 1 would be just what White wants, as he would be able to force with 2 and 4, then connect at 6. Black would have to defend against the cut at 9 with Black 7, White 8, Black 9, so White would get sente to make a good extension to 10.

Moves 43–50

＞＜ ▶︎

Black fights strongly.

Moves 51–62
60: connects

＞＜ ▶︎

The sequence to 62 seems to be inevitable. Shusaku’s play has been quite a contrast to his faint-hearted play on the left side at the beginning.

Move 63

＞＜ ▶︎

White 63 is dubious, as White loses sente. White should play in at ‘a’, making Black choose between connecting at ‘b’ and playing down at 63.

Moves 64–68

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 68 is a good cut, enabling Black to seize the initiative.

Moves 69–80

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 81–90
89: connects

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 91–99

＞＜ ▶︎

Black handles the fight perfectly up to 94, but 96 is an overplay. Permitting White 99 is very painful.

Black loses his key stones.

Moves 100–103

＞＜ ▶︎

White 3. White’s group does not have two eyes, but it is safe nonetheless.

Dia. 2

＞＜ ▶︎

If Black tries to kill him with 1 to 5 in Dia. 2, White has a clever counter at 6. If Black persists with 7, White sets up a ko with 8. Black cannot afford to play this way because if he loses the ko, his whole group dies. Therefore, instead of 7 –

Dia. 3

＞＜ ▶︎

Black would capture with 1. However, White cuts at 2, exploiting Black’s shortage of liberties. Black cannot give atari, so White is alive with 6.

If Black cannot capture White, then Black should have defended in the centre to prevent White 99.

Moves 104–114
112 at 104

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 115–119

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 16. Black does not have time to connect at 19, as White 18 would endanger his group, but losing his pivotal cutting stones is a big setback.

Moves 120–134

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 135–150
ko: 139, 142, 145, 148

＞＜ ▶︎

White 35. White is getting a surprising amount of territory at the top, considering how weak his position there was originally. The game is now very close.

White falls behind.

Moves 151–160
ko: 154, 157, 160

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 161–163

＞＜ ▶︎

White 63 is necessary to defend against the threat of Black 63, White ‘a’, Black ‘b’. White cannot connect his three stones, so White ‘c’, Black ‘d’ would follow. Black would not be able to play this sequence immediately, as ‘a’ and ‘c’ shorten the liberties of his own group to the right, enabling White to capture him by giving atari at ‘e’. However, Black would be able to make use of this threat, giving atari at ‘f’, for example, so White has little choice but to defend at 63.

Moves 164–169

＞＜ ▶︎

Taking gote here gives Black the chance to occupy the large point of 68, ensuring him of a small but definite lead.

Moves 170–184
ko: 175, 178; 184: connects ko

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 84. Connecting the ko shows that Black is certain of his win.

Moves 185–202
ko: 189, 192, 195, 198, 201

＞＜ ▶︎

The game record ends at move 202, but the game is virtually finished anyway. White ‘a’ next is biggest (Black ‘b’, White ‘c’, Black ‘d’ would follow), after which White would switch to ‘e’ at the top.

Black wins by four points.

Considering that Shusaku was a mere child of eleven at the time of this game, he need not have been ashamed of the way he performed against a veteran player like Ito Showa. There is an undeniable mildness in his play, especially in his fuseki, but there is also ample evidence of his fighting strength.

Shusaku and Shuwa

During the period of Shusaku’s apprenticeship, the leading player of the Honinbo school was Tsuchiya Shuwa (1820–73), who became the heir to Honinbo Josaku in 1840 and the 14th Honinbo in 1847. After he routed Gennan Inseki in their three games in 1840 and 1842, he also established himself as the top player of the time and he was unfortunate that historical circumstances denied him the chance to become Meijin godokoro. He was a player of genius who is greatly admired by many modern professionals for his light, flexible play and his development of the ‘amashi’ strategy.

Shusaku became Shuwa’s heir in 1848, and, perhaps in preparation for this, the two played in 1846–47 a famous series of seventeen games which contains some of the best go of the period. Shusaku won the series 13–4, and his overall results against Shuwa were 17 wins, 6 losses, 1 jigo, three games uncompleted. These results of course gave Shusaku the right to change the handicap to sen-ai-sen, but he refused to do this because he did not want to take white against his teacher. This exceptional modesty, which has not been the rule in Japanese go, has not hurt Shusaku’s reputation. All the same, some great games have been lost to go history because the two never clashed on even terms. Shusaku’s results on black are no guarantee that he would have done as well with white. Below is a complete listing of all known games between the two, including the famous seventeen-game series.

April 1842 – Shusaku (2 stones) lost by 12 points (Game 2).

April 1842 – Shusaku (2 stones) won by resignation (Game 3).

1st January, 1844 – play suspended after 68 moves (Shusaku black).

15th February, 1844 – jigo (Shusaku josen in this and all subsequent games).

(The 17-game series)

2nd December, 1846 – Shusaku won by 6 points (Part Two Game Twelve).

9th December, 1846 – Shusaku won by resignation (Game 16).

11th December, 1846 – Shusaku won by 6 points (Part Two Game Thirteen).

20th December, 1846 – Shuwa won by 7 points.

2nd April, 1847 – Shusaku won by resignation (Part Two Game Fourteen).

2nd April, 1847 – Shusaku won by 4 points (Part Two Game Fifteen).

21st August, 1847 – Shusaku won by 8 points (Part Two Game Sixteen).

23rd August, 1847 – Shusaku won by resignation (Part Two Game Seventeen).

23rd August, 1847 – Shusaku won by 1 point (Game 20).

24th August, 1847 – Shuwa won by resignation.

25th August, 1847 – Shuwa won by resignation.

25th August, 1847 – Shusaku won by 9 points (Part Two Game Eighteen).

11th September, 1847 – Shusaku won by 7 points (Part Two Game Nineteen).

17th September, 1847 – Shusaku won by resignation (Part Two Game Twenty).

11th October, 1847 – Shusaku won by resignation (Part Two Game Twenty-One).

23th October, 1847 – Shuwa won by resignation.

24th October, 1847 – Shusaku won by 7 points (Part Two Game Twenty-Four).

28th November, 1849 – Shusaku won by 9 points (Part Two Game Thirty-Two).

10th December 1850 – Shuwa won by 1 point (Appreciating Famous Games, p. 228).

1st January, 1851 – play suspended after 67 moves.

15th November, 1851 – Shusaku won by 4 points (Part Two Game Thirty-Eight).

21st November, 1851 & 22nd March, 1852 – Shusaku won by 3 points (Game 32).

1st January, 1860 – play suspended after 43 moves.

Game Two
Shusaku v. Shuwa (1842)

White: Honinbo Shuwa 7-dan
2 stones: Kuwahara Shusaku 2-dan
Date: April, 1842
171 moves. White wins by 12 points.
Commentary by Kitani Minoru 9-dan

An aggressive start

Moves 1–8

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 8 is solid, but a pincer at ‘a’ would be the modern style.

Moves 9–15

＞＜ ▶︎

White 15. White does not play ‘a’ because he does not want to give Black a chance to hane at ‘b’.

Moves 16–23

＞＜ ▶︎

White 23. White cannot permit Black ‘a’.

Move 24

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 24. Black ‘a’ would be more solid but would give White an excellent move at ‘b’.

Moves 25–26

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 26 is aggressive. The safety-first move would be Black ‘a’.

White is untroubled.

Moves 27–29

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 28 is an attempt to attack White on a large scale, but it gives White a good move at 29.

Dia. 1

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 1 in Dia. 1 would not make it so easy for White; if White ‘a’, Black has a good answer at ‘b’.

Moves 30–38
37: connects

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 39–47

＞＜ ▶︎

White 47 is necessary to prevent Black from sealing White in in sente with the sequence in Dia. 2.

Dia. 2

＞＜ ▶︎

After Black 5, White would have to add a stone to defend against Black ‘a’.

Moves 48–49

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 48. If Black plays in at ‘a’, he could pick up two stones but at the cost of weakening his own stones to the left. He therefore surrounds White with 48, but 49 ensures White of life.

Moves 50–51

＞＜ ▶︎

White 51. White 1 etc. in Dia. 3 would only help Black to build up central influence.

Dia. 3

＞＜ ▶︎

White’s successful invasion

Moves 52–62

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 62. A reinforcement at ‘a’ at the top is necessary, but obviously Black feels that it would be too slow.

Moves 63–66

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 66 is a sharp move. Black rejects the uninspired exchange Black ‘a’-White 66.

Moves 67–72

＞＜ ▶︎

White 67. Answering passively as in Dia. 4 would be just what Black wants. White gives up a stone but gets a useful forcing move at 71. Black also has to bear in mind the aji of White ‘a’.

Dia. 4

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 73–80

＞＜ ▶︎

White 73 is a subtle move. White could cut with 1 in Dia. 5, but after Black 2 to 6, the five white stones at the bottom would be considerably weakened. White 73 makes the cut a serious threat, so Black has to defend by playing on a dame point with 80.

Dia. 5

＞＜ ▶︎

Move 81

＞＜ ▶︎

White 81 is good style: this is the positive approach for settling the white group at the bottom.

Moves 82–91

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 82 defends against the threat of White ‘a’, but since it gives White a good hane at 91, Black ‘b’ would probably have been better.

Although White is under attack, he defends so skilfully that he comes under little pressure. First, White 85 induces the cut at 86, making White 89 sente and giving White a reserve eye at the bottom.

Moves 91–99

＞＜ ▶︎

Next, White 91 induces Black 92, setting up the continuation to 99. Black has to extend at 94, as an atari there by White would be unbearable. As will be seen later, White 97 is a useful forcing move.

Shuwa’s confidence

Moves 100–112

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 12. Black cannot cut at 1 in Dia. 6, due to the forcing moves. There is no point in Black’s cutting at ‘a’ either, as White simply lives by pulling back at ‘b’ (refer to moves 157 – 165).

Dia. 6

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 113–117

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 16. Black’s strategy here is dubious, as it only invites White to resist with 17. A more subtle approach and one which would not give White such a ready counter would be to attack with 1 and 3 in Dia. 7.

Dia. 7

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 118–121

＞＜ ▶︎

White 21. White is defying Black to start a ko, as he has plenty of ko threats (White ‘a’, then ‘b’, for example).

Moves 122–140

＞＜ ▶︎

There seems to be little that Black can do to stop White from settling his group. White is coasting along to a win.

An authoritative win

Moves 141–151

＞＜ ▶︎

White 51 is a fierce move.

Dia. 8

＞＜ ▶︎

If Black wants to kill White, he has to stop him from getting two eyes by attacking with 1 to 5 in Dia. 8, but then White counters by starting a bloody ko with 6 and 8. White has a perfect ko threat at ‘a’, while if he won the ko by capturing at ‘b’ he would then threaten a severe attack on Black’s centre stones by connecting at ‘c’. Attacking with 1 etc. is therefore not a realistic option for Black.

Moves 152–157

＞＜ ▶︎

White 53 maintains the threat of Dia. 8, but after Black 56, White must defend at 57.

Moves 157–165

＞＜ ▶︎

Black 58. This kind of move shows that Shusaku is still a bit green, for he misses the chance to play the tesuji of 1 to 5 in Dia. 9, which might perhaps still have kept him in the game.

Dia. 9

＞＜ ▶︎

Moves 166–171

＞＜ ▶︎

The difference in territory becomes too great when White succeeds in sealing off the whole left side up to 71.

Shusaku showed no lack of fighting spirit in this game, but the masterly ease with which Shuwa parried his attacks and contained his aggressiveness is impressive. Shuwa was obviously in top form. In the next game, however, we see the disciple turn the tables.

Moves after 171 not recorded.
White wins by 12 points.