Nihon Ki-in
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The Nihon Ki-in (日本棋院), also known as the Japan Go Association, is the main (non-profit) organization for Go in Tokyo, Japan. It maintains Japan's professional player system[1] and gives diplomas for amateur rankings.
Professional Tournaments
The Nihon Ki-in organizes many tournaments for professional players. The major title tournaments include the Kisei (棋聖, Board Master), Meijin (名人, Grand Master, hosted with Asahi Shinbun), Honinbo (本因坊), Judan (10-dan), Tengen (天元, Center), Gosei (碁聖, Master of Go), and the Oza (王座, King).[2] There are also separate Honinbo, Meijin, and Kisei titles for women.
Major Title Winners by Year
- (*): Kansai Ki-in[3] player.
- Non-Japanese players (Chinese or Korean) are described with their Japanese pronunciation.
| Year | Kisei | Meijin | Honinbo | Judan | Tengen | Gosei | Oza |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | - | - | Riichi Sekiyama | - | - | - | - |
| 1943 | - | - | Utaro Hashimoto | - | - | - | - |
| 1945 | - | - | Kaoru Iwamoto | - | - | - | - |
| 1947 | - | - | Kaoru Iwamoto | - | - | - | - |
| 1950 | - | - | Utaro Hashimoto | - | - | - | - |
| 1951 | - | - | Utaro Hashimoto* | - | - | - | - |
| 1952 | - | - | Kaku Takagawa[4] | - | - | - | - |
| 1953 | - | - | Kaku Takagawa | - | - | - | Utaro Hashimoto* |
| 1954 | - | - | Kaku Takagawa | - | - | - | Kaku Takagawa |
| 1955 | - | - | Kaku Takagawa | - | - | - | Utaro Hashimoto* |
| 1956 | - | - | Kaku Takagawa | - | - | - | Utaro Hashimoto* |
| 1957 | - | - | Kaku Takagawa | - | - | - | Shimamura Toshihiro |
| 1958 | - | - | Kaku Takagawa | - | - | - | Hosai Fujisawa |
| 1959 | - | - | Kaku Takagawa | - | - | - | Shoji Hashimoto* |
| 1960 | - | - | Kaku Takagawa | - | - | - | Dogen Handa* |
| 1961 | - | - | Eio Sakata[4] | - | - | - | Eio Sakata |
| 1962 | - | Fujisawa Hideyuki | Eio Sakata | Utaro Hashimoto* | - | - | Hidehiro Miyashita |
| 1963 | - | Eio Sakata | Eio Sakata | Dogen Handa | - | - | Eio Sakata |
| 1964 | - | Eio Sakata | Eio Sakata | Hosai Fujisawa | - | - | Eio Sakata |
| 1965 | - | Rin Kaiho[5] | Eio Sakata | Kaku Takagawa | - | - | Dogen Handa* |
| 1966 | - | Rin Kaiho | Eio Sakata | Eio Sakata | - | - | Eio Sakata |
| 1967 | - | Rin Kaiho | Eio Sakata | Eio Sakata | - | - | Fujisawa Hideyuki |
| 1968 | - | Kaku Takagawa | Rin Kaiho | Eio Sakata | - | - | Fujisawa Hideyuki |
| 1969 | - | Rin Kaiho | Rin Kaiho | Hideo Otake | - | - | Fujisawa Hideyuki |
| 1970 | - | Fujisawa Hideyuki | Rin Kaiho | - | - | - | Eio Sakata |
| 1971 | - | Rin Kaiho | Yoshio Ishida[4] | Utaro Hashimoto* | - | - | Eio Sakata |
| 1972 | - | Rin Kaiho | Yoshio Ishida | Eio Sakata | - | - | Eio Sakata |
| 1973 | - | Rin Kaiho | Yoshio Ishida | Eio Sakata | - | - | Rin Kaiho |
| 1974 | - | Yoshio Ishida | Yoshio Ishida | Shoji Hashimoto* | - | - | Yoshio Ishida |
| 1975 | - | Hideo Otake | Yoshio Ishida | Rin Kaiho | Fujisawa Hideyuki | - | Hideo Otake |
| 1976 | - | Hideo Otake | Masaki Takemiya | Masao Kato | Kobayashi Koichi | Masao Kato | Cho Chikun |
| 1977 | Fujisawa Hideyuki[4] | Rin Kaiho | Masao Kato | Masao Kato | Shimamura Toshihiro | Masao Kato | Norio Kudo |
| 1978 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | Hideo Otake | Masao Kato | Masao Kato | Masao Kato | Hideo Otake | Yoshio Ishida |
| 1979 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | Hideo Otake | Masao Kato | Masao Kato | Masao Kato | Cho Chikun | Masao Kato |
| 1980 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | Cho Chikun[4] | Masaki Takemiya | Hideo Otake | Masao Kato | Hideo Otake | Masao Kato |
| 1981 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Hideo Otake | Masao Kato | Hideo Otake | Shoji Hashimoto* |
| 1982 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Kataoka Satoshi | Hideo Otake | Masao Kato[4] |
| 1983 | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Rin Kaiho | Masao Kato | Kataoka Satoshi | Hideo Otake | Masao Kato |
| 1984 | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Rin Kaiho | Kobayashi Koichi | Yoshio Ishida | Hideo Otake | Masao Kato |
| 1985 | Cho Chikun | Kobayashi Koichi | Masaki Takemiya | Kobayashi Koichi | Kobayashi Koichi | Hideo Otake | Masao Kato |
| 1986 | Kobayashi Koichi[4] | Masao Kato | Masaki Takemiya | Kobayashi Koichi | Kobayashi Koichi | Cho Chikun | Masao Kato |
| 1987 | Kobayashi Koichi | Masao Kato | Masaki Takemiya | Masao Kato | Cho Chikun | Masao Kato | Masao Kato |
| 1988 | Kobayashi Koichi | Kobayashi Koichi[4] | Masaki Takemiya | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Kobayashi Koichi | Masao Kato |
| 1989 | Kobayashi Koichi | Kobayashi Koichi | Cho Chikun[4] | Cho Chikun | Rin Kaiho | Kobayashi Koichi | Masao Kato |
| 1990 | Kobayashi Koichi | Kobayashi Koichi | Cho Chikun | Masaki Takemiya | Rin Kaiho | Kobayashi Koichi | Yasumasa Hane |
| 1991 | Kobayashi Koichi | Kobayashi Koichi | Cho Chikun | Masaki Takemiya | Rin Kaiho | Kobayashi Koichi | Fujisawa Hideyuki |
| 1992 | Kobayashi Koichi | Kobayashi Koichi | Cho Chikun | Masaki Takemiya | Rin Kaiho | Kobayashi Koichi | Fujisawa Hideyuki |
| 1993 | Kobayashi Koichi | Kobayashi Koichi | Cho Chikun | Hideo Otake | Rin Kaiho | Kobayashi Koichi | Masao Kato |
| 1994 | Cho Chikun | Kobayashi Koichi | Cho Chikun | Hideo Otake | Ryu Shikun | Rin Kaiho[6] | Cho Chikun |
| 1995 | Satoru Kobayashi | Masaki Takemiya | Cho Chikun | Norimoto Yoda | Ryu Shikun | Satoru Kobayashi | O Rissei |
| 1996 | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Norimoto Yoda | Ryu Shikun | Norimoto Yoda | Ryu Shikun |
| 1997 | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Masao Kato | Kudo Norio | Norimoto Yoda | Kimio Yamada |
| 1998 | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Naoto Hikosaka | Kobayashi Koichi | Norimoto Yoda | O Rissei |
| 1999 | Cho Chikun | Cho Chikun | Cho Sonjin[6] | Kobayashi Koichi | Kobayashi Koichi | Kobayashi Koichi | O Rissei |
| 2000 | O Rissei | Norimoto Yoda | O Meien | Kobayashi Koichi | Ryu Shikun[6] | Keigo Yamashita | O Rissei |
| 2001 | O Rissei | Norimoto Yoda | O Meien[6] | O Rissei | Naoki Hane | Kobayashi Koichi | Cho Chikun |
| 2002 | O Rissei | Norimoto Yoda | Masao Kato | O Rissei | Naoki Hane | Kobayashi Koichi | O Meien |
| 2003 | Keigo Yamashita | Norimoto Yoda | Cho U | O Rissei[6] | Naoki Hane | Norimoto Yoda | Cho U |
| 2004 | Naoki Hane | Cho U | Cho U | O Rissei | Keigo Yamashita | Norimoto Yoda | Cho U |
| 2005 | Naoki Hane | Cho U | Shinji Takao | Cho Chikun | Kono Rin | Norimoto Yoda | Cho U |
| 2006 | Keigo Yamashita | Shinji Takao | Shinji Takao | Cho Chikun | Kono Rin | Cho U | Keigo Yamashita |
| 2007 | Keigo Yamashita | Cho U | Shinji Takao | Cho Chikun[6] | Kono Rin | Cho U | Keigo Yamashita |
| 2008 | Keigo Yamashita | Cho U | Naoki Hane | Shinji Takao | Cho U | Cho U | Cho U |
| 2009 | Keigo Yamashita | Yuta Iyama | Naoki Hane | Cho U | Keigo Yamashita | Cho U | Cho U |
| 2010 | Cho U | Yuta Iyama | Keigo Yamashita | Cho U | Satoshi Yuki* | Hideyuki Sakai* | Cho U |
| 2011 | Cho U | Keigo Yamashita | Keigo Yamashita | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Naoki Hane | Cho U |
| 2012 | Cho U | Keigo Yamashita | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama |
| 2013 | Yuta Iyama[4] | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama[4] | Satoshi Yuki | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama[4] | Yuta Iyama |
| 2014 | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Shinji Takao | Shinji Takao | Yuta Iyama | Daisuke Murakawa* |
| 2015 | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Atsushi Ida | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama |
| 2016 | Yuta Iyama | Shinji Takao | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama |
| 2017 | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama |
| 2018 | Yuta Iyama | Cho U[6] | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Yuta Iyama | Kyo Kagen[6] | Yuta Iyama |
| 2019 | Yuta Iyama | Toramaru Shibano | Yuta Iyama | Daisuke Murakawa* | Yuta Iyama | Naoki Hane | Toramaru Shibano |
| 2020 | Yuta Iyama | (tbd) | Yuta Iyama | Toramaru Shibano | (tbd) | (tbd) | (tbd) |
| Year | Kisei | Meijin | Honinbo | Judan | Tengen | Gosei | Oza |
Domestic Headquarters
- Tokyo Head Quarter (Ichigaya) : 7-2 Goban-cho, Chiyoda, Tokyo
- Tokyo Yurakucho Go Center: 9F Tokyo Kotsu-Kaikan, 2-10-1 Yuraku-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
- Osaka Head Quarter: 10F Applause Tower, 19-19 Sayamachi, Osaka
- Osaka Umeda Go Salon: 6F Hankyu Five Annex Building, 1-23 Sumidacho, Kita-ku, Osaka
- Chubu Head Quarter: 1-19 Syumoku-cho, Higashi-ku, Nagoya
Foreign Branches
- The Nihon Ki-in European Go Cultural Centre: Schokland14,1181 HV Amstelveen, Netherlands
- Nihon Ki-in Do Brasil: R. Dr Fabricio Vampre No116, Ana Rosa - Sao Paulo - Brazil
- Nihon Ki-in Go Institute of The West U.S.A: 700,N.E.,45 th Street, Seattle WA
References and Notes
- ↑ The professional player system includes not only professional tournaments but also qualification exams for new professionals.
- ↑ gobase
.org /games /jp / - ↑ Kansai Ki-in is the Osaka version of Nihon Ki-in.
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Eventually obtained honorary title
- ↑ He is a student of Go Seigen
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 He is a non-Japanese player
Related pages
- All Japan Student Go Federation
- American Go Association (American counterpart of Nihon Ki-in)
- British Go Association
- European Go Federation
- International Go Federation
- Tomoko Ogawa (former director of Nihon Ki-in, former president of the professional players assembly at Nihon Ki-in)
- Chizu Kobayashi (former director of Nihon Ki-in)
- Sachiko Hara (former director of Nihon Ki-in)
Famous players at Nihon Ki-in
- Go Seigen
- Eio Sakata - He holds the honorary NHK Cup
- Kaku Takagawa
- Hideyuki Fujisawa
- Masao Sugiuchi - He used to be the oldest professional player during 2004 to 2017
- Masao Kato - former president of the International Go Federation