On November 8th the final games were played to decide the three open places in Japan's Meijin League. I believe no one has commented on the fact that Kansai Kiin players captured all three slots. Sakai Hideyuki 8p beat Kim Sujun 8p, Yuki Satoshi 9p beat Nakano Yasuhiro 9p, and Murakawa Daisuke 7p beat Komatsu Hideki 9p. I have to guess that it has been a while since that last happened!

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Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

Thanks very much for the news. It's nice to get the finer details of the Japanese go scene.

How is the Kansai Ki-in sweep going over in Tokyo? Is there still (was there ever?) a bitter rivalry between the Nihon Ki-in and the Kansai Ki-in, or more like being fans of different sports teams?

edited: duh

A Japanese blogger mentioned it. As far as I know there was no mention of the results on the Nihon Kiin website except for the usual update of the tournament tables. Of course it happened just as everyone was getting ready for Game 7 of this year's match, so perhaps they can be forgiven (or was it a case of see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil from the Tokyo POV? )

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Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

Really happy to see Fujisawa-sensei's students succeed ^_^

I find it interesting too that they were all Kansai Kiin, but the rest of the league is all Nihon Kiin. Reversing it, I'm kind of surprised that was the case, since there are quite strong players in Kansai Kiin.

Looking at the last results, what happened to Yuki Satoshi going 0-8? I really liked his games after seeing him play in NHK and a bit on Igo Focus. That's a horrible slump.

How do players who grow up around Osaka decide whether to go with Nihon Kiin or Kansai Kiin? Is Kansai Kiin annoyed at the success of Iyama Yuta or happy that someone from Osaka has been so successful at the top.

I have not read that book yet, but I'm pretty sure the rival organization is Karigane Juniichi's Kiseisha and not the Kansai Ki-in.

You are right, I mixed it up. Sorry.