Meijin 718564 212592280 2008-05-15T12:55:24Z Jbgjbg 6924577 {{Go tournament | tournamentname=Meijin | fullname=Meijin | started=[[1976]] | honorarywinners=[[Cho Chikun]]<br>[[Koichi Kobayashi]] | sponsors=[[Asahi Shimbun|Asahi]] | prizemoney=36 million [[Yen]] ($330,000 [[USD]]) | affiliation=[[Nihon Ki-in]] }} {{otheruses4|a title in Go|a title in [[shogi]]|Meijin (shogi)}} '''Meijin''' (名人), literally translated, means "Brilliant Man." It is the name of the second most prestigious [[Japan]]ese [[List of professional Go tournaments|Go Tournament]]. It also refers to a traditional Japanese [[title]] given to the strongest player of the day during the [[Edo Period|Edo]] period. == The tournament == The Meijin tournament is sponsored by the [[Asahi Shimbun|Asahi]] Newspaper, and has prize money of [[¥]]36,000,000 for the winner and [[¥]]10,400,000 for the runner-up. The Meijin 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 1-4 dans (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 enter the league). [[komidashi|Komi]] is 6.5. Time limit is 8 hours each in the title matches and 5 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 [[Honinbo]], [[Honinbo Sansa|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 Meijin 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 [[Child prodigy|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 Honinbo school, it was also held by brilliant [[Yasui]]s and [[Inoue]]s. 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-dans 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 go houses|four houses]] fell into disrepair due to the lack of government stipends. In 1958, the [[Yomiuri Shimbun| 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 Shimbun|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). ==Historic Meijins== {| class="wikitable" !Number || Player || Years |- | 1st | [[Honinbo Sansa]] | 1612-1623 |- | 2nd | [[Inoue Nakamura Doseki]] | 1623-1630 |- | 3rd | [[Yasui Sanchi]] | 1668-1676 |- | 4th | [[Honinbo Dosaku]] | 1677-1702 |- | 5th | [[Inoue Dosetsu Inseki]] | 1708-1719 |- | 6th | [[Honinbo Dochi]] | 1721-1727 |- | 7th | [[Honinbo Satsugen]] | 1767-1788 |- | 8th | [[Honinbo Jowa]] | 1831-1839 |- | 9th | [[Honinbo Shuei]] | 1906-1907 |- | 10th | [[Honinbo Shusai]] | 1914-1940 |} == Past winners == {| class="toccolours" border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; margin:0;" !width=70|<center> Year !width=150|<center> Winner !width=150|<center> Runner-up !width=70|<center> Details |- align=center | 1962 | [[Fujisawa Shuko]] | [[Go Seigen]] | <sup>[[1st Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1963 | [[Sakata Eio]] | Fujisawa Shuko | <sup>[[2nd Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1964 | Sakata Eio | Fujisawa Shuko | <sup>[[3rd Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1965 | [[Rin Kaiho]] | Sakata Eio | <sup>[[4th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1966 | Rin Kaiho | Sakata Eio | <sup>[[5th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1967 | Rin Kaiho | Sakata Eio | <sup>[[6th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1968 | [[Takagawa kaku]] | Rin Kaiho | <sup>[[7th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1969 | Rin Kaiho | Takagawa kaku | <sup>[[8th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1970 | Fujisawa Shuko | Rin Kaiho | <sup>[[9th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1971 | Rin Kaiho | Fujisawa Shuko | <sup>[[10th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1972 | Rin Kaiho | Fujisawa Shuko | <sup>[[11th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1973 | Rin Kaiho | Ishida Yoshio | <sup>[[12th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1974 | [[Ishida Yoshio]] | Rin Kaiho | <sup>[[13th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1975 | [[Otake Hideo]] | Ishida Yoshio | <sup>[[14th Meijin (Yomiuri)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1976 | Otake Hideo | Ishida Yoshio | <sup>[[1st Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1977 | Rin Kaiho | Otake Hideo | <sup>[[2nd Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1978 | Otake Hideo | Rin Kaiho | <sup>[[3rd Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1979 | Otake Hideo | Sakata Eio | <sup>[[4th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1980 | [[Cho Chikun]] | Otake Hideo | <sup>[[5th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1981 | Cho Chikun | Kato Masao | <sup>[[6th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1982 | Cho Chikun | Otake Hideo | <sup>[[7th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1983 | Cho Chikun | Otake Hideo | <sup>[[8th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1984 | Cho Chikun | Otake Hideo | <sup>[[9th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1985 | [[Koichi Kobayashi]] | Cho Chikun | <sup>[[10th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1986 | [[Kato Masao]] | Kobayashi Koichi | <sup>[[11th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1987 | Kato Masao | Rin Kaiho | <sup>[[12th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1988 | Kobayashi Koichi | Kato Masao | <sup>[[13th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1989 | Kobayashi Koichi | Awaji Shuzo | <sup>[[14th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1990 | Kobayashi Koichi | Otake Hideo | <sup>[[15th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1991 | Kobayashi Koichi | Rin Kaiho | <sup>[[16th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1992 | Kobayashi Koichi | Otake Hideo | <sup>[[17th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1993 | Kobayashi Koichi | Otake Hideo | <sup>[[18th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1994 | Kobayashi Koichi | Rin Kaiho | <sup>[[19th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1995 | [[Takemiya Masaki]] | Koichi Kobayashi | <sup>[[20th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1996 | Cho Chikun | Takemiya Masaki | <sup>[[21st Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1997 | Cho Chikun | Kobayashi Koichi | <sup>[[22nd Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1998 | Cho Chikun | O Rissei | <sup>[[23rd Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 1999 | Cho Chikun | Yoda Norimoto | <sup>[[24th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 2000 | [[Yoda Norimoto]] | Cho Chikun | <sup>[[25th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 2001 | Yoda Norimoto | Rin Kaiho | <sup>[[26th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 2002 | Yoda Norimoto | Cho Chikun | <sup>[[27th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 2003 | Yoda Norimoto | Yamashita Keigo | <sup>[[28th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 2004 | [[Cho U]] | Yoda Norimoto | <sup>[[29th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 2005 | Cho U | Kobayashi Satoru | <sup>[[30th Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 2006 | [[Takao Shinji]] | Cho U | <sup>[[31st Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |- align=center | 2007 | [[Cho U]] | Takao Shinji | <sup>[[32nd Meijin (Asahi)|Details]]</sup> |} ==In fiction== In the [[manga]] ''[[Hikaru no Go]]'', there is a Meijin called [[Touya Kouyo]]. ==See also== *[[Honorary Meijin]] *[[Yasunari Kawabata]], author of [[The Master of Go]] ==External links== * [http://gobase.org/games/japan/TITLES/?ev=meijin The Meijin Tournament] {{Japanese go titles}} [[Category:History of go]] [[Category:Go competitions]] [[fr:Meijin]] [[ja:名人 (囲碁)]] [[uk:Мейдзін]] [[zh:名人战 (日本围棋)]]