Introduction

In Japan, Go (碁) has been popular since ancient times, appearing in many stories and being written about in poetry. In the Edo period, the iemoto (家元) system existed in Go, as in sado (茶道, art of tea ceremony) or kado (華道, art of flower arrangement). The top four schools of Go competed fiercely with each other to obtain the position of Godokoro (碁所), the highest official rank for Go players.
Many historical figures enjoyed the game of Go, and their game records (some of them seem fake) still remain today. A lot of materials about Go have been published, for example, the world-famous comic Hikaru no Go [Y84-G7365].
In this exhibition, we will introduce historical episodes about Go based on contemporary materials.

  • These high-definition images are available in the National Diet Library Digital Collections. Those that are labelled NDL Digital Collections can be viewed via the Internet on any computer. Those labelled Restricted access can only be viewed on computer terminals at the NDL or an affiliated library, or via the Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals. For more information, please refer to the webpages for the Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Libraries and Digitized Contents Transmission Service for Individuals.
  • A string in square brackets is a NDL Call Number.
  • The original Japanese-language article first appeared in June 2016 as part of Small Electronic Exhibitions Kaleidoscope of Books, No. 22. Please note that the descriptions herein are based on information that was current at that time.

Next Chapter 1:
Go in Literary Works: From Ancient to Middle Ages



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