Jump to content

Meijin (Go)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Old Meijin)
Meijin (Go)
Full nameMeijin
Started1976
Honorary Winners
SponsorsAsahi
Prize money30 million yen
AffiliationNihon Ki-in

Meijin (名人) means "Expert or Master". It is the name of the second most prestigious Japanese Go Tournament. It also refers to a traditional Japanese title given to the strongest player of the day during the Edo period.

The tournament

[edit]

The Meijin tournament is sponsored by the Asahi newspaper, and has prize money of ¥30,000,000 for the winner (since the 45th Meijin in 2020).[1]

The tournament is open to Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in players. A nine-player league decides the challenger each year. Every year, the three worst-ranked players in the league drop out. Entrance into the league is decided by three preliminaries. The first is between 1-4 dans (6 winners: 4 Nihon ki-in and 2 Kansai ki-in). The second is between 5-9 dans and the six winners (18 winners). The third is between these 18 and the 3 people dropped from the league (3 winners, who enter the league). Komi is 6.5. The time limit is 8 hours each in the title matches and 3 hours in the league and prelims. Byo-yomi is 1 minute per move.

History

[edit]

The title of "Meijin" derives from a game played by the first Hon'inbō, Sansa. An onlooker (no less than Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga) watched him play a particularly brilliant move and exclaimed "Meijin!" in appreciation of its greatness. The term was thereafter applied to the strongest player of the day. Sansa, besides being Nobunaga's Go tutor, also taught Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who, after taking control, established Sansa as Godokoro, roughly meaning "Head of the Government Go Bureau." The Meijin title came to be greatly prized by all of the most promising Go prodigies of the age, freed from the cares of everyday life by the government stipends coming from the Go Bureau. Most often held by members of the Hon'inbō school, it was also held by brilliant Yasuis and Inoues. No player from Hayashi house attained Meijin status. The title "Meijin" is also attached to the rank of 9 dan during this period hence there is only one 9-dan/Meijin at a time even if there are many players that are at the strength of a 9 dan. 8-dans in the Edo period are called Jun-Meijin which means half-Meijin which is a rank accorded to sixteen players in the Edo period. After the Meiji Revolution, the four houses fell into disrepair due to the lack of government stipends.

In 1958, the Yomiuri newspaper decided to sponsor a "Strongest Player" tournament to decide the strongest player of the current time. In 1961 the tournament's name was changed to Meijin.

Since they already sponsored the Shogi Meijin tournament, in 1975 the Asahi newspaper offered to buy the rights to the Meijin tournament from the Yomiuri. After months of debating, the title was sold and the Yomiuri began sponsoring a new title, Kisei (Go Saint). The tournament before 1976 thus became called the Old Meijin.

Historic Meijins

[edit]
Number Player Years
1st Hon'inbō Sansa 1612–1623
2nd Inoue Nakamura Doseki 1623–1630
3rd Yasui Sanchi 1668–1676
4th Hon'inbō Dōsaku 1677–1702
5th Inoue Dōsetsu Inseki 1708–1719
6th Hon'inbō Dōchi 1721–1727
7th Hon'inbō Satsugen 1767–1788
8th Hon'inbō Jōwa 1831–1839
9th Hon'inbō Shūei 1906–1907
10th Hon'inbō Shūsai 1914–1940

Past winners

[edit]
Edition Year Winner Score Runner-up
1962 Hideyuki Fujisawa 9–3
1963 Eio Sakata 4–3 Hideyuki Fujisawa
1964 4–1
1965 Rin Kaiho 4–2 Eio Sakata
1966 4–1
1967 4–1
1968 Kaku Takagawa 4–1 Rin Kaiho
1969 Rin Kaiho 4–2 Kaku Takagawa
1970 Hideyuki Fujisawa 4–2 Rin Kaiho
1971 Rin Kaiho 4–2 Hideyuki Fujisawa
1972 4–2
1973 4–3 Yoshio Ishida
1974 Yoshio Ishida 4–3 Rin Kaiho
1975 Hideo Otake 4–3 Ishida Yoshio
1 1976 4–1
2 1977 Rin Kaiho 4–0 Hideo Otake
3 1978 Hideo Otake 4–2 Rin Kaiho
4 1979 4–1 Eio Sakata
5 1980 Cho Chikun 4–1–1 Hideo Otake
6 1981 4–0 Masao Kato
7 1982 4–1 Hideo Otake
8 1983 4–1
9 1984 4–3
10 1985 Koichi Kobayashi 4–3 Cho Chikun
11 1986 Masao Kato 4–0 Koichi Kobayashi
12 1987 4–0 Rin Kaiho
13 1988 Koichi Kobayashi 4–1 Masao Kato
14 1989 4–1 Shuzo Awaji
15 1990 4–2 Hideo Otake
16 1991 4–1 Rin Kaiho
17 1992 4–3 Hideo Otake
18 1993 4–1
19 1994 4–0 Rin Kaiho
20 1995 Masaki Takemiya 4–1 Koichi Kobayashi
21 1996 Cho Chikun 4–2 Masaki Takemiya
22 1997 4–2 Kobayashi Koichi
23 1998 4–2–1 Ō Rissei
24 1999 4–1 Norimoto Yoda
25 2000 Norimoto Yoda 4–0 Cho Chikun
26 2001 4–2 Rin Kaiho
27 2002 4–1 Cho Chikun
28 2003 4–1 Keigo Yamashita
29 2004 Cho U 4–2 Norimoto Yoda
30 2005 4–3 Satoru Kobayashi
31 2006 Shinji Takao 4–2 Cho U
32 2007 Cho U 4–3 Shinji Takao
33 2008 4–3 Yuta Iyama
34 2009 Yuta Iyama 4–1 Cho U
35 2010 4–0 Shinji Takao
36 2011 Keigo Yamashita 4–2 Yuta Iyama
37 2012 4–3 Naoki Hane
38 2013 Yuta Iyama 4–1 Keigo Yamashita
39 2014 4–2 Rin Kono
40 2015 4–0 Shinji Takao
41 2016 Shinji Takao 4–3 Yuta Iyama
42 2017 Yuta Iyama 4–1 Shinji Takao
43 2018 Cho U 4–3 Yuta Iyama
44 2019 Toramaru Shibano 4–1 Cho U
45 2020 Yuta Iyama 4–1 Toramaru Shibano
46 2021 4–3 Ryo Ichiriki
47 2022 Toramaru Shibano 4–3 Yuta Iyama
48 2023 4–2 Yuta Iyama

In fiction

[edit]

In the manga Hikaru no Go, there is a Meijin called Toya Koyo.

See also

[edit]
[edit]

References

[edit]
  • Classical Budo (1973), by Donn F. Draeger, pp. 27–30
  • MEIJIN (2010, fiction), by John DiStano (ISBN 978-1-4392-2545-5)
  1. ^ "第45期 名人戦". Nihon Ki-in (in Japanese).