Hirose Heijiro was born in Okayama in 1865. Though not normally ranked with the very best players, he was nevertheless remarkable in several ways. For one thing, he was a devout Christian and his marriage to Onozuka Nakako was the first between go professionals.
His early career spanned a difficult period for all go players, and he had to hold down a real job, first as a newspaper staffer and then, from 1884, as a civil servant while he studied with the female pro Ito Shige. He achieved promotion to 1-dan in 1892 while playing at Hoensha, and then rose up through the ranks rather quickly: 2-dan in 1893, 3-dan in 1895, 4-dan in 1898, 5-dan in 1902, 6-dan in 1912.
He became increasingly involved with Hoensha and became its President in 1920. Ironically, given his rapid early promotions, the appointment caused controversy because of his "low" grade. This was set aside partially with the award of 7-dan the following year, though it sparked a new controversy as it was seen as an administrative ploy. Nevertheless, he did important work in laying down the foundations for the Nihon Ki-in. The Ki-in honoured him with the title of Meisho Kishi (Go Professional Emeritus), and also with what was then effectively the highest possible award, posthumous 8-dan, when he died in 1940.
He had yet another claim to fame. He was the teacher of Iwamoto Kaoru. The long introduction above is useful to paint in the background to Iwamoto's career, for although he had many great gifts of his own, it is easy to see how the example of his teacher foreshadowed the way he chose to exploit those gifts. Both men reached the highest levels as a go player and both gave fresh impetus back to the go world through institutions they nurtured. They both also enjoyed long lives. Iwamoto, who was born in 1902 died only recently, at the end of 1999.
He joined Hirose in 1913, having spent much of his early childhood (1905~1911) in Pusan, Korea, where he learnt go under Habiro Seitaro then Nakamura Zenichiro (a 3d teaching pro). His return to Japan was precisely to study go.
He achieved 1-dan in 1917, and like his teacher rose swiftly through the ranks, eventually reaching 9-dan in 1967. The teacher-pupil game here was played in 1915, on five stones when Hirose was 6-dan but effectively in retirement. Iwamoto recalled that it was not just go he learned. Hirose ran a haiku salon and taught the youngster the art of poetry, too. On the other hand, he was expected to help with the chores inside and outside the home, and he also had to play paying guests in Hirose's school.
Iwamoto's first game against Hirose was on 8 stones, his test for acceptance as a pupil. Once he joined Hirose's school, he found that Kato Shin (then 2-dan) was his fellow pupil, and he had to take six stones from him. Indeed, virtually all his games in those days were high handicap games, though it was rare to play the master and the senior pupils.
In the game here Iwamoto was 12 years and 8 months old.
In later life Iwamoto first emigrated to Brazil (1929 ~ 1932) as a coffee farmer but returned to go when the venture failed. He also spent 18 months in 1961~62 in New York, spreading go. His home was a temporary site for the burnt out Nihon Ki-in in 1945 and he was instrumental in finding new headquarters. In his late years he was a benefactor to several European and American go centres (e.g. London, Sao Paulo, New York, Seattle, Amsterdam), largely through setting up the Iwamoto Foundation in 1986, with an initial contribution from him of 530 million yen.
