This is a series of translated snapshots intended to shed fresh light on some familiar facets of professional go, in the same way that old black-and-white photos of modern scenes can open windows in the mind.
Selection here is also meant as a personal recommendation and implict review of the books from which the excerpts are taken, although I cannot guarantee they are readily available. - JF
HASHIMOTO UTARO - MOST WANTED MAN IN CHINA
The following is from the highly readable memoirs of the late Hashimoto Utaro (Igo Ichigo Ichie) in which he was interviewed by Hashimoto Atsuyoshi, a Yomiuri Shinbun go writer and no relation. Because Hashimoto was the pupil of Segoe Kensaku and thus the elder co-pupil of Go Seigen, both feature prominently in the book. This section covers his first trip to China and meeting Go.
I have added the explanations in [italics].
Q: You were a pupil of Segoe and at age 15 in 1922 became 1-dan and 4-dan in 1926. Had you heard about Go then?
A: The Chinese government was very disorganised then and as it was not stable not so many Japanese went there. Manchuria was run by Zhang Zuolin, the mountain belt [Shanxi area] by Yen Xishan, Shandong by Wu Peifu, and Nanjing southwards by Chiang Kaishek... Of course go was popular in China but because of the fighting there was no free time to play go and no clearly defined go circles. Therefore important rich people who wanted to study go paid large amounts of money to invite top players from Japan.
Before the Qing dynasty fell, Segoe went to China and taught go to Prince Su.
[(1863-1922) Hereditary title of Su Shanqi, a member of the Manchu imperial family who fought for the Qing restoration. Japanese supported him over independence in Manchuria - he got a million yen from the financier Ohira Kihachiro. After a failed attempt to reassert himself against Yuan Shikai, who declared himself emperor in 1915, he retired in 1916 to the Japanese controlled Port Arthur (Lushun).].
Once, Segoe went together with Honinbo Shusai, and they played there. On the one hand was the old school of go, and on the other a young player from Hoensha, still making his name. They were invited to play exhibition games, but a galling thing for Segoe was that no matter what he said, Shusai, holding the top position in the go world, would not risk losing to young players in China. Therefore, after much thought, they decided to leave the games unfinished and supposedly finish them another day. Segoe was to say to me many times that that created a debt to the Chinese people - it was inexusable to take large game fees and leave games unfinished.
Therefore he said he had to go to China once more and play with Shusai. He talked about it a lot but it never materialised. Because Segoe had already been to China he knew the situation and knew that there was a go genius in Beijing called Go Seigen. He thought it would be a great coup to bring this genius to Japan and so he instructed me to go to Beijing as his representative and check out how strong Go was.
Igo Ichigo Ichie
Q: You met Go in Beijing in 1928. when you first played him Go was 14 and you were 21. Did you go by yourself?
A: Yes. Because it was the first time I'd been overseas I thought it would be boring to go via a normal route so I decided to go via the Korean peninsula. I discussed it with Segoe and got his approval. We worked out a route to Beijing from Korea. I crossed to Korea by boat from Shimonoseki to Pusan. I think it took about 8 hours, but after arriving in Pusan I stayed there several days. Go was popular in Pusan and I stayed there some time teaching.
Then I went by rail to Seoul. The carriages in this train were splendid, unlike the ones in Japan. I spent almost a month in Seoul. Athough I told them I had to go to Beijing they wouldn't let me go. People kept asking me for teaching games. I was finally released and set off for Beijing.
My intended route was to go from Seoul by train to Sinuiju close to the Chinese border and enter China in Liaoning Province over the Yalu River, and then from Mukden [modern Shenyang] southwards to Beijing. [Shimonoseki to Pusan: 130 miles; Pusan-Seoul 210 miles; Seoul-Sinuiju: 250 miles; Sinuiju-Mukden: 110 miles, Mukden-Beijing: straight route is 400 miles but he deviated - see below] It's odd about me but I don't like going the same way as everyone else. The same in go. If you don't make new moves there's nothing to remember you by!
Q: The Japanese state of Manchuria did not exist then?
A: That's right. Normally you cross the Yalu River by train to get into China, but I got off the train at the town before and thought it more meaningful to cross the great river by boat. As background to that, when I left Japan I got lots of letters of introduction and kept them in my inside pocket. The most important of them were from Toyama Mitsuru [1855-1944; ultranationalist political leader whose party promoted expansion on the Continent, especially Manchuria; supported political exiles such as Kim Ok-kyun, friend of Honinbo Shuei, and Sun Yat-sen; because of his majestic kibbitzing while really very weak, he was dubbed the Sightseeing Sho-dan (Kenbutsu Shodan) by Shuei.].
When I went to Toyama's place and told him I was going to China, he immediately wrote me out letters of introduction. He said I was to use them if I got into difficulties. Having gone to the trouble of getting them, I felt the urge to use them, but if I used them willy nilly it might annoy him, so I held them back for emergencies. But they made someone going abroad feel much braver. Although it may be thought that, having such letters, I was different from an ordinary traveller, there was nothing in those letters to say where I could go after I crossed the Yalu River.
Then I suddenly thought of Baron Okura Kishichiro, head of the Okura industrial group and vice-president of the Nihon Ki-in. He had always been helpful in Tokyo and, thinking that he probably had a trading office nearby, I went to look for it and immediately found it. When I said to someone in the office, "I want to cross the Yalu River by boat, can you get me one?" they said that was a strange thing to do. But they got me one. That is a very nice memory.
And so I arrived at Mukden, and received a splendid welcome. I was there about a week. I have touched on this before, about the Yokohama Shokin Bank, now the Bank of Tokyo, but I was already teaching go to the directors and because I was assured of lodgings at the bank it meant I could see the town while teaching go to various people there.
Next I went to Changchun and was welcomed there too, and then on to Harbin. [a deviation NNE from the above route; Mukden-Changchun 160 miles; Changchun-Harbin 140 miles; round trip 600 miles] I returned southwards by Manchuraun Railways all the way to Dairen (modern Lüta). [M to L 220 miles; so far 1520 miles]
Because Dairen was a big city, the bank had a branch here too, and as the manager was a go fan I spent several days here, then decided to cross by boat to Tianjin (Tientsin) [across the Bohai Bay] and thence to Beijing. [L to T: 230 miles; T to B: 70 miles] But the boat was full and I couldn't get a ticket. But then they said I could have one if I went steerage on deck. It was summer and I could stand one night on deck so I accepted.
As the evening wind blew and I lay down to rest on deck a young man approached me and asked where I was going. I could see he was a high-school pupil (old style). When I said Beijing, he said he was too. I found out he had won an essay prize in the Mainichi Shinbun newspaper and had decided to spend it on a trip to China.
He was Tsuchiya Kiyoshi, who later became a member of the editorial board of Asahi Shinbun then vice-chairman of Sankei Shinbun. An amazing coincidence. Then another student came up, called Itagaki, and the three of us decided to go to Beijing together. We spent the trip discussing how it was a good opportunity to see the political situation in China for ourselves, and then arrived at Tianjin's port, Tanggu.
Although we decided to go to Beijing together, I was the only one with an objective, to meet Go, and the others simply wanted to see Beijing. We entered the centre of Beijing together and things were terrible. Chiang Kaishek had just completed his northern expedition and had just entered Beijing. It was confusion everywhere, and it felt fairly dangerous, but we found a hotel called the Yiersan-guan and then set off on foot to see the city. I hadn't forgotten about meeting Go, but the situation in the city was very interesting and I was talked into it by my companions. Posters about the fighting were stuck up everywhere, just like a Japanese election.
One in Japanese caught my eye. From the police section in the Japanese consulate "wanted" notices were going round the city hotels asking whether a certain person was staying there. The wanted person was me! I immediately went to the consulate, and because I was the person they were looking for, they were very happy to see me. I was taken at once to the house of a Japanese merchant, Yamazaki Yumin. Go Seigen had already called there, and since he said he could come round straightaway we arranged to start playing the next day. While I was calling here and there on my way from Japan I had caused a lot of worry for others.
Q: You played at Yamazaki's house on 4th September. Time limits were 9.5 hours. Present title games have 8 hours, so it was fairly long. I imagine it spanned two days.
A: Chinese people don't rush! They're so eternally calm. They don't take much notice of things like time. They wanted people to play as long as they liked.
Q: Did you study Go's games?
A: No. I didn't know about him at all.
Q: So you met him for the first time. Let us look at the games. You played two. This is the first. Go won by 6 points. Had you decided in advance to play the high kakari white 2? Had anyone played this move then?
A: It was popular.
Q: Presumably you did not focus on winning or losing but treated it as a test?
A: It was just a test, but once you start playing the outcome becomes important and you play to win.
Q: So where did you feel the resistance in Go's go?
A: At first I thought he was nothing special. White 16 and 18, Black 19 and White 20 were a new joseki. Then he cut at Black 21 and I connected (22).... then I ataried at 36. Go then played his next move at once (Black 37). Oh, he's strong, I thought. Even now I have a clear memory of how superb it was. It is a probe, asking me how I want to capture.
Q: Can you still play this game over from memory?
A: All of it, to the very end!
Q: The game changes if 38 is one point above 30 , doesn't it?
A: Rather than changing the game, that move has a different impact on the opponent. Indeed, I could see why Segoe said he was strong......
Q: Go won the second game by 3 points. After that you met Duan Qirui. Where was that?
A: After I played Go in Beijing I meant to return to Tianjin and get the boat back to Kobe from there. But I got an invitation from Duan Qirui and stayed in Tianjin about 10 days. He once ruled the Empire!
Yes. He was active in the Xin-hai [1911] revolution. Later he formed a cabinet, but was ousted by the nationalist government and was exiled to Tianjin.
A: I went to Tianjin immediately after the change of government. My plan after I arrived there was to get a ship to Kobe, but thinking about what to do until I could get a ticket, I went to the house of a doctor called Fujita to whom I had received an introduction. He asked whether I had some letter of introduction, and while telling him that I didn't really want to use it, I showed him one from Toyama Mitsuru.
When he saw it he became filled with deep emotion. It said Toyama was my life's benefactor and there were plenty of people here who had been helped by him. He asked me to wait a while and went out. After a short wait, he returned and said, "Tomorrow, an invitation will come from General Duan Qirui, so please make sure you go to see him."
It was about time I got back to Japan but he was very keen, so I decided to accept his hospitality for about 10 days. He took me to some concession or other. I don't know which one, but at the time Tianjin had French and American concessions and Duan was sheltering there. Although he was defeated by the Nationalists and exiled, he had been prime minister and those near him defended him zealously. To my surprise, on about the third day, strong go players started gathering from here and there. I think there were over 10, and there were people who had been invited from quite far away.
Most movingly, among them was someone I was able to meet again, Gu Shuiru. He lived in Shanghai, but he had previously studied in Japan, and as I knew him well from that time I was immensely happy to see him. At any rate I thought it was impressive that in the midst of such a political situation Chinese people could still think of gathering strong players from all over the country to enjoy a game of go.
Q: Did you play Duan Qirui?
He didn't play with me. I watched his games through the corner of my eye as I played with other players, and I thought he was pretty strong. Although they must have been strong, all the players summoned from all round the country lost to Duan (skilfully!) and he was very happy. As a prize the players were allowed to smoke opium. Gu told me the reason the players came from all over China was not to play Duan but to be able to smoke opium. That's how popular opium was at the time.
The reason I remember the opium is that when I was introduced to Duan's son I shook hands with him, and his hand was ice cold. But when the first day of the go meeting finished, and I shook hands with him to say goodbye, his hand was raging hot. I told Gu about this strange thing and he told me it was the effect of the opium. When you smoke opium the body warms up and you feel very good, apparently.
Opium is smoked with a pipe, and I was tempted too as everyone seemed so happy! I stayed about 10 days in Tianjin, but when I left a received an astonishingly large thank-you gift. He was a losing general and in exile, but we received tremendous hospitality. It was a world we don't understand.
Q: After you returned to Japan, Go Seigen came in November of that year escorted by Yamazaki. first he played, and won against, Shinohara Masami 4-dan, and then he beat Honinbo Shusai on two stones, and also beat the Honinbo pupil Murashima. Suddenly Go's name was on everyone's lips in the go world. In the summer of the following year, 1929, came the well known mimic-go game against Kitani 4-dan in the Jiji Shinpo games. You had some involvement in this so tell us about it.
A: Yes. At the time Go lived next door to me and my role was to help him. Go came to Japan with his mother and elder brother and none of them knew hardly any Japanese, so Segoe told me to ask them if there was anything they needed. My daily task was to go the Go's house and help them with their shopping.
Q: Go even now is not very good at Japanese but it's said that he asked you whether it was alright to play mimic Go.
A: The way a player like Go thinks about the game is not simply the matter of winning or losing. When he was playing anyone, he prayed to Buddha the previous day. He would neatly put down black and white go stones as an offering. After that he would study with us as opponents. But rather than winning or losing he concentrated on how to make excellent moves. Looking at him, I would feel that this was an awesome mental attitude. Therefore, in answer to a question, I said that in go it didn't matter where you started. As you know, if you look at newspaper go columns, it is etiquette to start in the top right corner. But it is not an obligation. Handicap go is different, but Go's query was whether you could start anywhere in even games.
However, he made no mention then of the mimic go. So, I replied that you can't play inside an eye but otherwise you can play anywhere that's vacant. It was before an important game with Kitani, and so thinking he shouldn't be bothering himself, I said, "Go on, do what you want" as we parted. Then the next day I went to watch them play at the Nihon Ki-in. And Go was playing mimic go.
Q: This is a famous game and many will know it. Let's play some of it over. The mimicry lasted to move 63, and in the end Kitani won by 3 points. But this game became a problem.
Apparently the newspapers and Nihon Ki-in got lots of letters and telephone calls of protest from fans who had seen the game in the newspaper. They were saying that it must have been Hashimoto who taught him this. I remember saying, in response to a question from a newspaper man that this was an awesome opening; I call it the 'stalking wolf opening'. If the opponent makes one mistake, you can suddenly gobble him up. However, for the fans mimic go was not very interesting, and it was seen as an insult for a 14-15 year old boy to play that way. The objections poured in but Go lost this game and mimic go thereafter lost any effectiveness. Not many people play it today.
Q: Go was then 14. His mind was still impressionable.
A: I wanted to ask Go why he played that way in his first game with Kitani, but I took the view that go should be played with freedom and he tried to show that it was possible to play that way. However, mimic go itself is not specially new. Playing on the centre point and then mimicking is called Taiko go, because it is said to have been tried by the Taiko [Hideyoshi Toyotomi]. It was studied long ago, in the age of Lord Kibi Mabi. So it was not an invention and Go must have felt he could play where he liked. Go Seigen studies go so well he can be called the god of go, and when he thinks of something he puts it straight into action with no hesitation. Most people hesitate a little. In that sense he is an awesome person.
Igo Ichigo Ichie by Hashimoto Utaro publihsed by Naniwa-juku Sousho, Osaka, 1992.
ISBN 4-8339-0148-X C0276
