The Pieter Mioch Interviews - Go Seigen (part 1) (2025)

The early years

Go Seigen is one of the greatest go players of alltime. Although he is getting on in years, he is stillactive as commentator and teacher. Pieter Mioch had theprivilege of being able to interview him, and uses theopportunity to illuminate at the same time a slice ofmodern go history.
Pieter, 31, has studied go at the local branch of theNihon Ki-in in central Japan. He lives with his familyin Kasugai City, near Nagoya. He is a steady contributorof articles about the Japanese go scene for the Dutch goassociation.

The Pieter Mioch Interviews - Go Seigen (part 1) (2)Go Seigen

On 26 June 1999, after two months of preparation,telephone calls, house calls, submission of personaldetails and so on, I was able to visit a livinglegend: Go Seigen.

"He is one of threego players who will still be famous several hundredyears from now. The other two are Dosaku (1677-1702) andShusaku (1829-62)."

This is Mr. Teramoto, Go's manager, expressing anopinion that is accepted generally, notjust in Japan.

"Players such as Cho Chikun andKobayashi Koichi, for example, will be quickly forgottenwhen other top players come and go. But Go Seigen hasleft too great a trail in the history of the game ofgo to be forgotten,"

... the gold bespectacled manager goes on to explain.

With deep respect and a slight feeling that by shakinghands with Go Seigen I was sure to become two stonesstronger, I began the interview with the fatherof modern go. Two and a half hours later I wasricher by an especially fascinating experience, butalso thoroughly bewildered.

Despite his 85 years, Go Seigen is still remarkablyenergetic and, after the first few minutes of theinterview he resolutely took the reins in his hands. Iwas rushed at lightning speed on a tour through Chinesephilosophy, various religions, Japanese and Chineseculture, experiences from his time before the war, andmuch else. I have therefore chosen to use material fromGo's autobiography "Ibun Kaiyu" (published in1997) as my lodestar.

Go Seigen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinesename Wu Qingyuan. In this article I will continue tostick with the name Go Seigen. Go was born on 19 May1914 as the third son in a family that had earlier madea fortune in salt commerce. Go's father was actually anofficial and had merely a modest income. Because it wasa turbulent time, things began to go downhill for Go'sfamily after he was born. When it became apparent thatGo's talent for go was so special that they could earna healthy salary with it, this was most welcome.

Go's father, who had enjoyed go lessons from HoninboMurase Shuho when he was studying in Japan, passedaway in 1925 when Go was eleven years old. Go was"discovered" a year laterby Iwamoto Kaoru when he was visiting China. In 1928,Go came to Japan at the invitation of Baron Okura (arich man who was behind the foundation of the NihonKi-in) and an important politician, minister InukaiTsuyoshi. When I asked Go what he thought was the mostmemorable experience of his career, he answered withouthesitation:

"The invitation to come to Japan from twoof the top people in Japan. I am stillvery proud of the fact that these important figures inJapan came to ask a Chinese boy, would you believe,whether he wanted to come to Japan one day. Many peopledo not know that and think that I came to Japan off myown bat. I came here at the time as a guest, and severalhighly placed people in the go world,including Honinbo Shusai Meijin, came specially to Tokyoto welcome me."

When Go spoke of his arrival in Japan, his look becamenoticeably sharper. Although it is more than 70years ago, he can apparently still recall theday like yesterday.

"It was a vessel of 2,500tonnes on which we then came to Kobe, after which therewas a long journey to Tokyo. We spent several days onit."

Immediately after Go arrived in Japan, he fulfilledthe high expectations of him in spectacular fashionby winning three games in a rowagainst established pros. Apart from Go himself, thissurely must have been a relief for Segoe Kensaku, atop Japanese pro who was Go's teacher and who was heldresponsible lock, stock and barrel by Baron Okura for Goin the go world. The pity was that, because of his weakconstitution, Go was forced to take iteasy and his first year was not spent full-time.

In 1930 he started properly in the Oteai, theprofessional grading tournament and at the time the mostimportant event. His results were frighteninglygood, and anyone who had doubted his talentcould now no longer do other than to admit that Go wasthe most sensational player of the moment. In 1932he became 5-dan. By today's standards that is not sospecial, but in those days they were not so lavish withpromotions, and a 5-dan then belonged to the elite.There was only a handful of players with a higher grade.

(Table of Go's Oteai results)

In the period from 1930 to 1961, Go was adominant force in the go world. Butoccasionally he had to take time out to regain hisstrength and then he played less. His health was notrobust, and during and after the second world war hefound himself in a difficult position because of hisChinese origins. It is an incontrovertible fact that Go,in a series of matches over ten games, proved to be thestrongest go player in the world. In addition to hisbrilliant style of play, he is known above all for aseries of novelties in the opening.

[Part I][Part II][Part III]

Translated, with permission, by John Fairbairn fromthe magazine "Go" of the Dutch Go Federation(Nederlandse Go Bond), Vol. 36 Nos. 5 and 6. Thanks aredue to Theo van Ees for supplying this source material.

Pieter Mioch can be contacted at pmioch@ma.ccnw.ne.jp

The Pieter Mioch Interviews - Go Seigen (part 1) (2025)

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