Now, the Satonushi of Yara was merely 15 years of age [24 was average for a satonushi, a minor Ryukyuan title akin to lord of a manor], and was very good at go. There was no-one in his own country to rival him, and he had been allowed to train with two professional players, Saito Doreki and Nishimata In'etsu, retained by the Lord of Satsuma. He took two stones from these but was tough to beat. He was also an avid student of Dosaku's openings.
At that time, the Godokoro in Japan had been entrusted to Inseki [Inoue IV = Inoue Dosetsu Inseki, 8d, 1646-1719] as guardian for Dochi, and so Lord Shimazu referred the matter of the game for Yara Satonushi to him. At the same time he also submitted an application to the monthly-rotating Commissioner of Shrines and Temples.
Lord Shimazu's letter said: "A mission has just arrived from the King of Chuzan in our dominion, the Ryukyu islands. Among the retinue thereof is a youth known as Yara who plays go to some degree. Accordingly, this Yara is desirous that you should view his skill, and I am in receipt of a message from the King of Chuzan to that effect. I would therefore be obliged if you would shortly honour us with your presence here to view Yara's skill. The envoys have intimated that they would be honoured if, on this occasion, you were accompanied by the Honinbo and Insetsu [Inoue Insetsu V = Inoue Sakuun Insetsu, IV's adoptee, 1672-1735]. The 11th month."
Inseki, after consulting with Dochi, in all respects followed the precedent of Dosaku and went to ask the opinion of the Commissioner of Shrines and Temples, Ando Ukyoshin. But since this Privy Councillor had already received an application from Lord Shimazu, it was approved without delay, and at last a game was fixed for the 1st day of the 12th month (1711-01-19). The three-stone handicap was based on Yara's results with his trainers.
On the appointed day, Dochi wore his Buddhist robes, while the Insekis, father and son, wore noshime, the ceremonial robes of a samurai. The rest were attired in padded silk garments and aprons and thus most splendidly attired the retinue set out. They arrived at Lord Shimazu's mansion at seven in the morning and there were welcomed by Nose Rekian, the Lord's official in charge of Buddhist affairs. Dochi and the Insekis were shown into the main antechamber while their disciples were placed in side rooms.
Mukai Ichinoshi, Lord Shimazu's sword-bearer and steward, hosted the reception and there were also two physicians in attendance. The attendants were also in the kamoshimo ceremonial dress of samurais, such was the astonishing level of formality.
Once the Great Lord himself had appeared, Dochi first advanced to the seat of honour at the board. Yara, accompanied by his interpreter the Peichin of Eta [Kumamoto], then took the seat opposite and under the instructions of Inseki placed three stones. Then, for the first time, the disciples were called in to the scene of the game.
Lord Shimazu's tea master, Kodama Kashun, had previously been a pupil of Dosaku and was about 1-dan strength in go, and so Inseki ordered his pupil Aihara Kaseki [1698-1763+] to play him. The following games were played on that day:
Honinbo Dochi won without counting giving three stones to Yara Satonushi [click here for the game];
Tsubota Ganseki tied with the Chikudon Peichin of Nakabaru on a B-2 handicap [chikudo:n peichin was a Ryukyuan title of the 7th rank, aged about mid 20s];
Iie Incho, the future Hayashi V, won without counting giving five stones to the Chikudon Peichin of Nakabaru;
The guests included the Prince of Misato and Prince of Tomigusuku, and close followers of Lord Shimazu. Among the go players were Inseki Insetsu, Matsushima Riseki and Takahashi Yuseki. At nightfall, they put away the boards and feasted on three soups and five vegetables on three trays, a typical Buddhist feast - the go professionals were officially part of the Nichiren sect - and performed the tea ceremony.
Yara Satonushi was anxious to play once more with Honinbo Dochi and, through the mission, applied to this effect to the Honinbo family. Left to his own devices, Dochi would have spiritedly agreed, but the more experienced Inseki, wise to the ways of the world, reported instead that Dochi was ill and said he would appoint Aihara Kaseki in his place. No-one in the Shimazu family believed in Dochi's illness, but, having heard that Kaseki was to be the substitute, they fixed the date of the game as the 9th day of the 12th month (1711-01-27). At that time Kaseki was barely 13 years old.
On the day, Kaseki, accompanied by Inseki and two or three pupils, managed to win by 2 points taking White in the Shimazu mansion. [Click here for that game]. The result was reported in writing to the Commissioner of Shrines and Temples, Ando Ukyoshin, who in turn referred the news up to the Shogun. The Shogun was said to be exceedingly pleased.
It was when this game finished that the Pekumi of Eta famously told Inoue Inseki that he had once visited China and saw their go players. He expressed the view that the Chinese were a stone behind the level of the Japanese, who were therefore the best in the world, and he was especially impressed with Kaseki. The Japanese, still officially in isolation and starved of information about China, can hardly be blamed for believing this. However, even assuming the Pekumi was competent to judge, there is no certainty that he would have met the best players. Xu Xingyou would probably have ruled the roost at the time of his visit, or if early enough even Huang Longshi. Either way it would be absurd to place either of these players anywhere behind the Japanese.
Indeed, what interested Inoue Inseki most was the possibility that, in Kaseki, he had found a player to challenge the Honinbo hegemony, and the Ryukyuans were once again relegated to the history books. But there was one final piece of business. It was said that Yara Satonushi returned home a grade stronger. As such he needed a diploma to confirm it, and to match the one the Peichin of Hamahiga had taken back.
The problem was that there was no Meijin-Gokoro to sign it, as was required for diplomatic purposes. Inseki was keeping the Godokoro seat warm for Honinbo Dochi but had not been given the title of Meijin (because he could not then lose it until he died and that would have excluded Dochi for too long). But someone had to sign and Inseki came up with an ingenious solution, perhaps inspired by the tales he had just heard of China. He signed a diploma authorising Yara to play at two stones to a guoshou and signed it: Inoue Inseki, Daguoshou of Japan.
Though not formalised in quite the same way as Japanese grades, guoshou could be regarded in practice as equivalent to a Japanese jozu, or top professional entitled to play in the castle games. But a daguoshou was the big cheese. Since the diploma had to be passed by the Commissioner of Shrines and Temples, Inseki had thus been virtually acknowledged as Meijin, a fact he made good use of later.
The third and final mission from the Ryukyu Islands arrived in 1748. On this occasion there were two go players, the Peichin of Tagami and the Satonushi of Yonaha. Following the precedents already laid down, the Lord Shimazu wrote, on the 23rd of the 12th month, an application to the Commissioner of Shrines and Temples for official games to be played against with Inoue Inseki household. The request was granted immediately and games between Tagami and Inoue Shunseki Inseki [click here] and between Yonaha and Okada Shuntatsu were scheduled for the 25th (1749-02-12).
It would seem, however, that Ryukyuan go had made no advances since the previous mission, for the two games were at three and four stones respectively. Nevertheless, the Ryukyuans won both games comfortably and the main business of the encounter, which had obviously lost all novelty value, was to negotiate a suitably splendid diploma - rather than being esteemed diplomats the visitors were seen rather more as modern go tourists.
The Tagami Peichin had set his heart on a diploma saying that he could play with Black relative to a jozu (7-dan), but Inoue Inseki would have none of this. Instead he relented enough to award a diploma stating the Ryukyuan could take alternately Black and two stones from a jozu, thus establishing him as 4-dan - he was probably 1-dan but Lord Shimazu had to save face. Inoue again, like his predecessor, signed the diploma as Daguoshou of Japan.
Go in old Okinawa then went back to sleep. More than likely the increasing independence and belligerence of the Satsuma warlords towards the gradually weakening Tokugawa shoguns played a part, but there is one curious document that indicates go was more than just a memory there. I have seen only part of it, but it is called Zhongshan Yipu (Chuzan Ekifu - Go Games from the Ryukyu Islands) and contains 12 undated games, some of which may be by Tsuhako - or at least someone of a similar name. The book itself appears to be dated 1869 and edited by the Chinese Sun Xiaowen using records kept by a Ryukyuan family. I would love to know more.
But go in new Okinawa has taken on a new lease of life in this millennium year 2000. Host to world leaders at the Economic Summit, the islands chose to advertise themselves to the world using their very own titleholder, the Women's Honinbo, Chinen Kaori 3-dan, from Miyakojima. So first and last we can say that, despite a modest go-playing population, Okinawa has always been supremely international.
