Meijin (名人,めいじん) 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 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).
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 and 4 dan (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 entered 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-dan players 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 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 + MeijinOld Meijin: p. 125. Meijin since 1976: Edition Year Winner Score Runner-up 1 (old) 1961–62 Hideyuki Fujisawa 13-player league 2 (old) 1963 Eio Sakata 4–3 Hideyuki Fujisawa 3 (old) 1964 4–1 Hideyuki Fujisawa 4 (old) 1965 Rin Kaiho 4–2 Eio Sakata 5 (old) 1966 4–1 Eio Sakata 6 (old) 1967 4–1 Eio Sakata 7 (old) 1968 Kaku Takagawa 4–1 Rin Kaiho 8 (old) 1969 Rin Kaiho 4–2 Kaku Takagawa 9 (old) 1970 Hideyuki Fujisawa 4–2 Rin Kaiho 10 (old) 1971 Rin Kaiho 4–2 Hideyuki Fujisawa 11 (old) 1972 4–2 Hideyuki Fujisawa 12 (old) 1973 4–3 Yoshio Ishida 13 (old) 1974 Yoshio Ishida 4–3 Rin Kaiho 14 (old) 1975 Hideo Otake 4–3 Ishida Yoshio 1 1976 4–1 Ishida Yoshio 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 Hideo Otake 9 1984 4–3 Hideo Otake 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 Hideo Otake 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 Iyama422017Yuta Iyama4–1Shinji Takao432018Cho U4–3Yuta Iyama442019Toramaru Shibano4–1Cho U45 2020 Yuta Iyama 4–1 Toramaru Shibano4620214–3 Ryo Ichiriki472022 Toramaru Shibano4–3Yuta Iyama4820234–2Yuta Iyama492024 Ryo Ichiriki4–2Toramaru Shibano5020254–2Toramaru Shibano
In fiction In the manga Hikaru no Go, there is a Meijin called Toya Koyo.
See also
International Go Federation List of professional Go tournaments Honorary Meijin Yasunari Kawabata, author of The Master of Go
External links Nihon Ki-in archive (in Japanese) The Meijin Tournament Meijin title games
References
Sources Classical Budo (1973), by Donn F. Draeger, pp. 27–30 MEIJIN (2010, fiction), by John DiStano ()