I have read a couple of posts here regarding Hyuga Kaya and Kaya.

Is the Hyuga Kaya worth the premium over regular Hon Kaya? I've noticed that the Hyuga Kaya boards at Kurokigoishi are more expensive even for the lesser cuts compared to the Hon Kaya boards with better cuts.

Has anyone had the chance to play on a Hyuga Kaya board? Or what are you thoughts on the price difference? Is the value only based on rarity and not quality?

Some time I ago, I started a thread asking similar questions. You can go over there and see what the equipment experts on L19 had to say. These guys know their stuff.

Summary:

• The cut of the wood is more important than the difference between hon-kaya and Hyuga-kaya
• If everything else is equal, Hyuga-kaya is better in several dimensions (closer grains, more elasticity, higher oil content, smell) but these dimensions are strongly correlated with the closeness of grains
• The aesthetic judgment of the panel was to buy a hon-kaya board with masame cut and close grains unless you just happen to have a ton of money, in which case go wild with that Hyuga-kaya!

Whether it is worth getting an Aston Martin (over say a BMW) or not depends on how much money you have. A BMW is still pretty damn nice. If you have a couple million dollars, then driving James Bonds' car is totally worth it. Otherwise, what is that money for?

Define "worth"?
Can you play better Go on such board? (not likely)
Does it have higher resell value? (no clue)
Will you have more fun? (highly subjective)
And so on...

So you see, your question is hard to answer without further specifics.

_________________
- Bantari
______________________________________________
WARNING: This post might contain Opinions!!

Thanks for the concise summary. It sounds like the boards are more valued due to the rarity of the wood being harvested now, not so much with the qualities of it.

Let me simply the question further. If you placed two boards with similar cuts and grain, one Hyuga Kaya and the other Hon Kaya, could someone even tell you which one is the Hyuga Kaya board?

It is hard to say. I guess a Japanese expert might be able to tell. Your requirement of similar grain and cut makes the issue less clear. Hyuga kaya and ordinary kaya both come in various quality. A superior kaya board might look and play in a superior way to a lower quality Hyuga board. It is safe to say that the best grain and uchiaji are found in boards made from Hyuga wood. The question, of course, is who decides what is superior quality.

To put a humorous spin on it, the guy writing the check or handing over the American Express card gets to decide which is superior.

I have only seen photos of Hyuga boards on Kuroki's site:
http://www.kurokigoishi.co.jp/english/products/images/p04.jpg

I happen to prefer the dramatic whorls and stripes in the bottom photo for the same reasons I enjoy the purple striped shell stones and ash bowls that have fungus stains.

Enjoy your search.

_________________
David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.