The NHK Cup (Go), or as it is more commonly known the , is a professional Go tournament (Go competition) organized by the Japan Go Association (Nihon Ki-in) and sponsored by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK). The tournament lasts roughly one year from April to the following March. Tournament games are televised each Sunday from 12:30 to 14:00 (JST) on NHK Educational TV (NHK-E) and live commentary and analysis is provided by two commentators (Go professionals): (typically a female Go professional) who serves in that role for the entire tournament and a to provide detailed analysis. Post-game analysis involving the two players and the two commentators takes place once the game has ended (broadcast time permitting). This year (2023) marks the 71st time the tournament has been held and the host is Shiho Hoshiai 2P. Prior to 1963, the tournament was broadcast on the radio.

Tournament Format The tournament is a single-elimination tournament with 50 competing for the title of . A fixed number of spots in the main tournament are reserved for "seeded players" (higher ranked players, existing title holders, those with superior win loss records, etc.) while the remaining spots are decided through a series of preliminary tournaments. Once the final 50 players have been determined, they are divided into two blocks (Block A and Block B) of 25 players each.

The tournament consists of 6 rounds: the first 5 rounds determine the winner of each block、and then the two block winners meet in Round 6 for the tournament championship. The reigning title holder and runner-up as well as a select number of other players are awarded first round byes, thus actually only needing to win 5 games in order to win the tournament. The basic time control for each game is 30 seconds per move. In addition, each player has 10 periods of extra thinking time, 1 minute each.

The winner of the tournament receives 5,000,000 Yen (approximately US$48,000 ) in prize money, in addition to the NHK Cup.

Past winners The final games of each Cup fall into the following year. So the first NHK Cup, for example, was officially held in 1953, but decided in 1954.

+ Winners (by number of titles)PlayerTitlesYear(s) Won Sakata Eio 11 1956 - 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1981 Ōtake Hideo 5 1967, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1993 Yoda Norimoto 5 1990, 1992, 1997, 1998, 1999 Yuki Satoshi 5 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 Cho Chikun 4 1982, 1991, 1995, 2006 Cho U 4 2001, 2004, 2007, 2015 Ichiriki Ryo 4 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023 Iyama Yuta 4 2016, 2017, 2019, 2025 Ishida Yoshio 3 1986, 1989, 2000 Rin Kaiho 3 1969, 1973, 1977 Hashimoto Shōji 3 1966, 1979, 1984 Fujisawa Hideyuki 2 1968, 1980 Hashimoto Utarō 2 1955, 1962 Kobayashi Kōichi 2 1985, 2003 Hane Naoki 1 2005 Honda Kunihisa 1 1983 Ida Atsushi 1 2014 Iwamoto Kaoru 1 1954 Katō Masao 1 1987 Kitani Minoru 1 1959 Kobayashi Satoru 1 1994 Mimura Tomoyasu 1 2002 Ō Rissei 1 1996 Takagawa Shūkaku 1 1965 Takemiya Masaki 1 1988 Tōno Hiroaki 1 1978 Shimamura Toshihiro 1 1953 Yamada Kimio 1 2010 Seki Kotaro 1 2022 Yo Seiki 1 2024

+ Winners (in chronological order)#YearWinnerRunner-up 1. 1953 Shimamura Toshihiro Takagawa Kaku 2. 1954 Iwamoto Kaoru Fujisawa Hôsai 3. 1955 Hashimoto Utarō Sakata Eio 4. 1956 Sakata Eio Fujisawa Hôsai 5. 1957 Kitani Minoru 6. 1958 Takagawa Kaku 7. 1959 Kitani Minoru Fujisawa Hôsai 8. 1960 Sakata Eio Kitani Minoru 9. 1961 Hashimoto Utarō 10. 1962 Hashimoto Utarō Fujisawa Hideyuki 11. 1963 Sakata Eio 12. 1964 Miyashita Hideyuki 13. 1965 Takagawa Kaku Fujisawa Hideyuki 14. 1966 Hashimoto Shōji Fujisawa Hôsai 15. 1967 Ōtake Hideo Hashimoto Shōji 16. 1968 Fujisawa Hideyuki Fujisawa Hôsai 17. 1969 Rin Kaiho Sakata Eio 18. 1970 Ōtake Hideo Ishida Yoshio 19. 1971 Sakata Eio Ōtake Hideo 20. 1972 Ōtake Hideo Hashimoto Shōji 21. 1973 Rin Kaiho Katô Masao 22. 1974 Ōtake Hideo Takemiya Masaki 23. 1975 Sakata Eio Go Seigen 24. 1976 Takemiya Masaki 25. 1977 Rin Kaiho Ôhira Shûzô 26. 1978 Tōno Hiroaki Takagi Shôichi 27. 1979 Hashimoto Shōji Cho Chikun 28. 1980 Fujisawa Hideyuki Takagi Shôichi 29. 1981 Sakata Eio Sugiuchi Masao 30. 1982 Cho Chikun Ōtake Hideo 31. 1983 Honda Kunihisa Takemiya Masaki 32. 1984 Hashimoto Shōji Ishida Yoshio 33. 1985 Kobayashi Kōichi Takemiya Masaki 34. 1986 Ishida Yoshio Rin Kaihô 35. 1987 Katō Masao O Rissei 36. 1988 Takemiya Masaki Kobayashi Satoru 37. 1989 Ishida Yoshio Ōtake Hideo 38. 1990 Yoda Norimoto O Meien 39. 1991 Cho Chikun Ô Rissei 40. 1992 Yoda Norimoto Katô Masao 41. 1993 Ōtake Hideo 42. 1994 Kobayashi Satoru Kiyonari Tetsuya 43. 1995 Cho Chikun Kobayashi Satoru 44. 1996 Ō Rissei Kobayashi Kôichi 45. 1997 Yoda Norimoto Honda Kunihisa 46. 1998 Tôno Hiroaki 47. 1999 Imamura Toshiya 48. 2000 Ishida Yoshio Cho Chikun 49. 2001 Cho U Hane Naoki 50. 2002 Mimura Tomoyasu Ô Rissei 51. 2003 Kobayashi Kōichi Cho Chikun 52. 2004 Cho U Yoda Norimoto 53. 2005 Hane Naoki Imamura Toshiya 54. 2006 Cho Chikun Yûki Satoshi 55. 2007 Cho U Cho Chikun 56. 2008 Yuki Satoshi Takemiya Masaki 57. 2009 Iyama Yûta 58. 2010 Yamada Kimio Yoda Norimoto 59. 2011 Yuki Satoshi Hane Naoki 60. 2012 Iyama Yûta 61. 2013 Kôno Rin 62. 2014 Ida Atsushi Ichiriki Ryo 63. 2015 Cho U Terayama Rei 64. 2016 Iyama Yuta Ichiriki Ryo 65. 2017 Shida Tatsuya 66. 2018 Ichiriki Ryo Iyama Yuta 67. 2019 Iyama Yuta Ichiriki Ryo 68. 2020 Ichiriki Ryo Yo Seiki 69. 2021 Ichiriki Ryo Shinji Takao 70. 2022 Seki Kotaro Ichiriki Ryo 71. 2023 Ichiriki Ryo Shibano Toramaru 72. 2024 Yo Seiki Iyama Yuta 73. 2025 Iyama Yuta Yo Seiki

Lifetime Champions The title of is awarded to players who win the tournament 10 times. To date, only one player has won the tournament enough times to be awarded this title: Sakata Eio who won the tournament a total of 11 times.

References