Meijin (go)

Meijin (名人) means "Brilliant Man". 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.

This article is about a title in Go. For a title in shogi, see Meijin (shogi).
Meijin (go)
Full nameMeijin
Started1976
Honorary Winners
SponsorsAsahi
Prize money36 million yen ($330,000 USD)
AffiliationNihon Ki-in

The tournament

The Meijin tournament is sponsored by the Asahi newspaper, and has prize money of ¥36,000,000 for the winner and ¥10,400,000 for the runner-up.

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

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
Number Player Years
1st Hon'inbō Sansa 1612–1623
2nd Inoue Nakamura Doseki 1623–1630
3rd Yasui Sanchi 1668–1676
4th Hon'inbō Dosaku 1677–1702
5th Inoue Dosetsu Inseki 1708–1719
6th Hon'inbō Dochi 1721–1727
7th Hon'inbō Satsugen 1767–1788
8th Hon'inbō Jowa 1831–1839
9th Hon'inbō Shuei 1906–1907
10th Hon'inbō Shusai 1914–1940

Past winners
Year Winner Score Runner-up
1962Hideyuki Fujisawa9–3
1963Eio Sakata4–3Hideyuki Fujisawa
19644–1
1965Rin Kaiho4–2Eio Sakata
19664–1
19674–1
1968Kaku Takagawa4–1Rin Kaiho
1969Rin Kaiho4–2Kaku Takagawa
1970Hideyuki Fujisawa4–2Rin Kaiho
1971Rin Kaiho4–2Hideyuki Fujisawa
19724–2
19734–3Yoshio Ishida
1974Yoshio Ishida4–3Rin Kaiho
1975Hideo Otake4–3Ishida Yoshio
19764–1
1977Rin Kaiho4–0Hideo Otake
1978Hideo Otake4–2Rin Kaiho
19794–1Eio Sakata
1980Cho Chikun4–1–1Hideo Otake
19814–0Masao Kato
19824–1Hideo Otake
19834–1
19844–3
1985Koichi Kobayashi4–3Cho Chikun
1986Masao Kato4–0Koichi Kobayashi
19874–0Rin Kaiho
1988Koichi Kobayashi4–1Masao Kato
19894–1Shuzo Awaji
19904–2Hideo Otake
19914–1Rin Kaiho
19924–3Hideo Otake
19934–1
19944–0Rin Kaiho
1995Masaki Takemiya4–1Koichi Kobayashi
1996Cho Chikun4–2Masaki Takemiya
19974–2Kobayashi Koichi
19984–2–1Ō Rissei
19994–1Norimoto Yoda
2000Norimoto Yoda4–0Cho Chikun
20014–2Rin Kaiho
20024–1Cho Chikun
20034–1Keigo Yamashita
2004Cho U4–2Norimoto Yoda
20054–3Satoru Kobayashi
2006Shinji Takao4–2Cho U
2007Cho U4–3Shinji Takao
20084–3Yuta Iyama
2009Yuta Iyama4–1Cho U
20104–0Shinji Takao
2011Keigo Yamashita4–2Yuta Iyama
20124–3Naoki Hane
2013Yuta Iyama4–1Keigo Yamashita
20144–2Rin Kono
20154–0Shinji Takao
2016Shinji Takao4–3Yuta Iyama
2017 Yuta Iyama 4–1 Shinji Takao
2018 Cho U 4-3 Yuta Iyama
2019 Shibano Toramaru 4-1 Cho U

In fiction

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

gollark: It's a half-working program in my new """programming language""".
gollark: I agree completely.
gollark: 8x6, so 48.
gollark: Unrelatedly, here is a very small picture.
gollark: I think something about DRM.

See also

References
  • Classical Budo (1973), by Donn F. Draeger, pp. 27–30
  • MEIJIN (2010, fiction), by John DiStano (ISBN 978-1-4392-2545-5)
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