Re: Igo

[Charles De Wolf]

There are numerous mentions of the game of go in The Tale of Genji, first in the third Chapter (“Utsusemi”), in which Genji spies the woman he is pursuing in a match with her stepdaughter, whom he subsequently seduces. (Go is clearly not limited to middle-aged men on urban trains.)

For what it’s worth, I published an article back in 1999 (“Glimpses of the Game of Go in Japanese Literature,” The Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, fourth series, 14), in which I begin with historical background. In the Genji, mention is made of the renowned (and haughty) go master Kanren, about whom there is a story in Konjaku Monogatari, which I translated and published some years ago. Kanren’s customary opponent is the retired Emperor Uda, but then Kanren is mysteriously challenged and  soundly defeated by a woman who, it is then claimed, must have been a demon in disguise. I suppose that nowadays she’d be accused of having cheated with AI...Interestingly enough, she begins their match with a stone placed in the middle, a move now regarded as strictly amateurish, i.e. not 定石.)

Best wishes

Charles De Wolf

I’m really a modern historian, but I’ve been a subscriber/reader of this list for a long time and have learned a lot over the years. I’m starting a new project on the game of Go/Igo. I’m mostly interested in the post-Restoration history, but would like to be as thorough as possible, and so am interested in the pre-modern history as well. There are good sources I’m aware of for the Edo period – including commented versions of some texts by a member of the Nihon Kiin, Akita Shoichi, and I know that there are some mentions of the game in The Pillow Book, but I thought I would ask the list whether there were any other likely places to look to piece together a longer trajectory of Go in Japan?

Thanks in advance

Ian

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Dr Ian Rapley,

Senior Lecturer in East Asian History, Cardiff University

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[Scheid, Bernhard]

I also did research on the history of Go, many years ago. The classical sources are probably all nicely put together in a kind of canonical history by authors from the Japanese afficionado scene. However, these authors hardly deal with the social history of the game, i.e. questions as to which extent the game was indeed regarded favorably by warriors or rather despised because of gambling, etc. In this respect, Masukawa Kōichi, who published much on Go in the 1990s and early 2000s, is probably still the leading authority. Masukawa also compares the histories of Go and Shogi, indicating mutual influences. For a translation of one article on Oshiro-go (at the Edo Castle), see https://pokspace.goverband.at/essays/masukawa.htm (my translation under the nickname “Pok”). On this site, you may also find some glimpses on the history of Go in Europe.

Best

Bernhard

 

Btw. starting a game with “tengen” (middle dot) is not necessarily amateurish but still a possible (although rare) strategy.  A kind of amateurish trick against stronger opponents, however, is to start with tengen and then “mirror” all moves of the opponent.  

 

********

 

Dr. Bernhard Scheid

Institute for Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia

Austrian Academy of Sciences

Georg-Coch-Platz 2 / 4. floor
1010 Vienna

Austria

 

+43-1-51581-6424

bernhar...@oeaw.ac.at

https://www.oeaw.ac.at/ikga/team/forschung/scheid-bernhard

 

 

Von: 'Charles De Wolf' via PMJS: Listserv <pm...@googlegroups.com>
Gesendet: Sonntag, 14. Juli 2024 06:51
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Betreff: [EXT] [PMJS] Re: Igo

 

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[Charles De Wolf]

Many thanks for this, though I was unable to access https://pokspace.goverband.at/essays/masukawa.htm.

Happy to be corrected on the matter of 天元, about which I have now been reading.

Charles De Wolf

 

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[Scheid, Bernhard]

Perhaps this works:  http://pokspace.goverband.at/essays/masukawa.htm

Please ignore all warnings, the pages are simply not on a server with the new https protocol. Otherwise you may try: https://web.archive.org/web/20230406092938/http://pokspace.goverband.at/essays/masukawa.htm

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