Yamamoto Genkichi is a name that will be unfamiliar even to many students of the history of go, but he did have his fifteen minutes of fame. For one thing, he invented the joseki that begins with Black 6 below:
Even more to his credit, he was a 6-dan in the days when that meant something, and the diploma that proved it has only just come to light. But what was special about this diploma is that it was awarded posthumously.
The Japanese journal Go World received a photo of it in May 2000 from Maejima Kohei, a reader in Saitama Prefecture, who said it was still a Yamamoto family treasure. It was known about, having been uniquely described in the famous go compendium Zain Danso of 1910, which even gave the full text. In the pre-fax and photo days of Zain Danso, the author - Ando Nyoi - had to make a trip to Hamamatsu, Yamamoto's birthplace, to see it and copy it. It is this kind of foot-slogging work that makes this work so valuable and trustworthy.
Why did Ando go to so much trouble in this case?
Yamamoto Genkichi was born in 1763 in the castle town of Hamamatsu, then part of Enshu Province, modern Shizuoka Prefecture. When Genkichi was eight years old (or nine by the Oriental count) and already known as a go prodigy, Honinbo Satsugen visited Hamamatsu on his procession to Kyoto. Satsugen directed that Genkichi could play a trial game on five stones with his pupil Sato Jujiro, who was 17 and provisionally rated as 1-dan. That game has been preserved - Genkichi won splendidly.
Satsugen immediately decided he had to have the boy as his pupil, but the parents declined. Their family had for generations been involved in the fish trade. They were an illustrious family in the area, and had been awarded the rights to their trade by Tokugawa Ieyasu, along with the right to bear arms and a surname. Their son was meant to continue the line.
But Satsugen did not give up and left word that Genkichi must go up to Edo one day. He also bombarded the family with reminder letters, but the boy was not allowed to go to Edo until 1779, when he was 16. But still Satsugen was overjoyed and promptly awarded him a 2-dan diploma.
Genkichi made steady progress thereafter and reached 4-dan in 1794 and 5-dan in 1803. He was then reckoned to be the strongest of the Honinbo pupils. Among the highlights of his early career was a successful 21-game match with Hattori Inshuku, who was then 6-dan and a truly formidable player.
Also in 1803, he played a match with the highly praised prodigy Okunuki Chisaku, later to be groomed as Honinbo Genjo's heir before being overtaken by Jowa. The match began at B-W-B handicap but Genkichi beat Chisaku down to Black. Six years later, in 1809, Chisaku visited Genkichi in Hamamatsu in the hope of revenge, but could only manage to split the scores 5-5 with one jigo playing even.
In his later years, Genkichi returned to Hamamatsu andchanged his name to Aoki Gen'etsu and then to Yamamoto Dosa (a priestly name combined with shaving his head), but he was still known as Genkichi of Hamamatsu to the many travellers who stopped by on their way along the famous Tokaido road.
He died in 1825 and was then largely forgotten, though his pupils did compile a collection of 100 of his games under the poetic title Hama no Shofu. But his death did not prevent further promotion to 6-dan.
In response to the letter about this 6-dan diploma, Go World contacted Mr Maejima who put them in touch with the current owner, Yamamoto Seizo, who now lives in Itabashi Ward in Tokyo. Obviously the visit could add little beyond confirming the accuracy of the Zain Danso text - which it did - but that was important because of the unusual origin of the diploma.
The first thing that one notices is that it was signed by Honinbo Genjo, on the 26th day of the 5th month, Bunsei 10 (1827-06-20), two years after Genkichi's death. The text (in Chinese) reads:
"The Buddhist layman Dosa was born to the Yamamoto family in the town of Hamamatsu in Enshu Province. His natural talents were such that he loved go. My teacher Satsugen once journeyed to Kyoto and passed via Hamamatsu where he first saw his reverence. At the time he was just nine years old. He was no ordinary hand at go and the Master, regarding him as a rare find, wanted him to return with him to the capital. His parents did not assent and so it ended there. But when his reverence was seventeen years of age, he did come up to the capital and visited the Master's school. He was immediately granted the grade of 2-dan. His reverence thought deeply and was increasingly resolute in achieving his intentions, and eventually climbed up to the grade of 5-dan. He polished his stratagems and refined his calculations, and though the days passed and the months accumulated and he grew old, he did not weaken. Alas, in year 8 of the Bunsei era his reverence suddenly left this abode. This grieved me profoundly and having conferred with my colleagues I herewith bestow 6-dan on him posthumously, so that he shall be of the status of playing B-W-B relative to a jozu [7-dan]. My hope thereby is to praise his departed spirit. May this be noted for eternity."
Genjo enjoyed a famous rivalry with Yasui Senchi (Nakano Chitoku) in which both had so much respect for the other that they declined to compete for the exclusive post of Meijin and were both content to remain as 8-dan. There is therefore no reason to suspect such a person of motives other than total sincerity for issuing this diploma. Which is no explanation, of course, but it may be significant that it was written at a time when he was preparing to retire and to hand over to Jowa. In fact he retired just seven months later on the 12th of the 12th month (1828-01-28).
But quite why Genjo felt such pangs of regret, strong enough effectively to overrule his own teacher Satsugen, remains - pleasingly in a way - a mystery. Genkichi lies still in a marked grave at the Tenrin temple in Hamamatsu, five minutes drive from the JR station. Like all the Yamamoto family gravestones there it has had been pieced together again after being smashed during wartime bombardments from American battleships. It is a nice touch that this little episode of rediscovering a diploma may also help restore his name among go players.
Here is a short selection of games by Genkichi, including the one mentioned above.
