is the second oldest of the seven big titles in Japanese professional Go. The tournament is organised by the Japanese Nihon Ki-in and sponsored by the Nihon Keizai Shinbun, also known as The Nikkei. The six other big Go titles include the Kisei, Meijin, Honinbo, Judan, Tengen, and the Gosei.
As of 2026, there have been 73 iterations of the Ozā tournament since 1953. The winner's prize is currently ¥14,000,000, ranking it fourth largest among the big seven. All professional players of the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in can participate in the Ozā.
Outline The Ozā has a similar format to other big Go tournaments in Japan. Since the 16th Ozā in 1968, the winner of a preliminary tournament, played in single knockout, advances to play a best-of-five match against the previous year's title holder. Previously, the tournament format was a best-of-three match between two final players from the knockout rounds.
Past winners Edition Year Winner Score Runner-up 1st 1953 Utaro Hashimoto 1–0 Nobuaki Maeda 2nd 1954 Kaku Takagawa 2–1 Hidehiro Miyashita 3rd 1955 Utaro Hashimoto 2–1 Toshihiro Shimamura 4th 1956 2–0 Eio Sakata 5th 1957 Toshihiro Shimamura 2–0 Dogen Handa 6th 1958 Hosai Fujisawa 2–0 7th 1959 Shoji Hashimoto 2–0 Toshiro Yamabe 8th 1960 Dogen Handa 2–0 Hidehiro Miyashita 9th 1961 Eio Sakata 2–1 Kaku Takagawa 10th 1962 Hidehiro Miyashita 2–0 Katsuji Kada 11th 1963 Eio Sakata 2–0 Hosai Fujisawa 12th 1964 2–0 Takeo Kajiwara 13th 1965 Dogen Handa 2–0 Ichigen Okubo 14th 1966 Eio Sakata 2–1 Rin Kaiho 15th 1967 Hideyuki Fujisawa 2–0 Shoji Hashimoto 16th 1968 2–0 Eio Sakata 17th 1969 2–0 Hideo Otake 18th 1970 Eio Sakata 2–0 Hideyuki Fujisawa 19th 1971 2–0 Shoji Hashimoto 20th 1972 2–1 Utaro Hashimoto 21st 1973 Rin Kaiho 2–1 Eio Sakata 22nd 1974 Yoshio Ishida 2–1 Rin Kaiho 23rd 1975 Hideo Otake 2–0 Yoshio Ishida 24th 1976 Cho Chikun 2–1 Hideo Otake 25th 1977 Norio Kudo 2–0 Cho Chikun 26th 1978 Yoshio Ishida 2–1 Norio Kudo 27th 1979 Masao Kato 2–0 Yoshio Ishida 28th 1980 2–0 29th 1981 Shoji Hashimoto 2–1 Masao Kato 30th 1982 Masao Kato 2–0 Shoji Hashimoto 31st 1983 2–0 Hideo Otake 32nd 1984 3–0 Hiroshi Yamashiro 33rd 1985 3–0 Koichi Kobayashi 34th 1986 3–1 Rin Kaiho 35th 1987 3–1 Cho Chikun 36th 1988 3–0 Masaki Takemiya 37th 1989 3–1 Yasumasa Hane 38th 1990 Yasumasa Hane 3–2 Masao Kato 39th 1991 Hideyuki Fujisawa 3–1 Yasumasa Hane 40th 1992 3–2 Koichi Kobayashi 41st 1993 Masao Kato 3–0 Hideyuki Fujisawa 42nd 1994 Cho Chikun 3–2 Masao Kato 43rd 1995 O Rissei 3–0 Cho Chikun 44th 1996 Ryu Shikun 3–0 O Rissei 45th 1997 Kimio Yamada 3–1 Ryu Shikun 46th 1998 O Rissei 3–0 Kimio Yamada 47th 1999 3–1 Cho Chikun 48th 2000 3–1 49th 2001 Cho Chikun 3–0 O Rissei 50th 2002 O Meien 3–2 Cho Chikun 51st 2003 Cho U 3–1 O Meien 52nd 2004 3–1 Keigo Yamashita 53rd 2005 3–0 54th 2006 Keigo Yamashita 3–1 Cho U 55th 2007 3–1 Toshiya Imamura 56th 2008 Cho U 3–1 Keigo Yamashita 57th 2009 3–0 Kimio Yamada 58th 2010 3–0 59th 2011 3–0 Hane Naoki 60th 2012 Yuta Iyama 3–0 Cho U 61st 2013 3–1 62nd 2014 Daisuke Murakawa 3–2 Yuta Iyama 63rd 2015 Yuta Iyama 3–0 Daisuke Murakawa 64th 2016 3–0 Yo Seiki 65th 2017 3–0 Ryo Ichiriki 66th 2018 3–2 67th 2019 Shibano Toramaru 3–1 Yuta Iyama 68th 2020 3–1 Kyo Kagen (Hsu Chia Yuan) 69th 2021 Yuta Iyama 3–2 Shibano Toramaru 70th 2022 3–0 Yo Seiki 71st 2023 3–2 Yo Seiki 72nd 2024 3–1 Shibano Toramaru 73rd 2025 Ryo Ichiriki 3–1 Yuta Iyama
See also Ōza (shogi)
References
External links Nihon Ki-in archive (in Japanese) Ōza title games