Yes the plastic is purely for protection so that the product can remain in pristine condition while it's on display. People who are willing to pay such a premium for such a perfect item naturally expect such care. Any damage would instantly lower the value of the product before it's sold.

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

There seems to be some misunderstanding. Perhaps I was not direct enough. I'm aware that these boards are wrapped in plastic, and that the plastic protects the wood and preserves the value, and that when the buyer removes the plastic (one hopes that) he finds a very attractive board underneath.

But a number of people commented on being impressed by the boards in the slideshow, which I found curious, given that (irrespective of their eventual fate) all of the boards are currently wrapped in plastic. And I got some interesting responses. Ed is not impressed by the appearance of the boards themselves, but by the information conveyed in the captions; tchan likes the spacing of the rings in one of the slides. Legitimate points. That the board will look nicer when the plastic is taken off, though, is rather beside the point, since my question is why people find them attractive on the basis of the slideshow.

There seems to be some misunderstanding. I only gave the facts. Please don't put words into my mouth or impressions into my brain.

Indeed there was. Thanks for explaining. Now I understand your point.

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Even with the plastic wrapper, you can see the following:

The even color of the wood
The closely spaced rings
The cut of the wood leading to very straight lines on the top face of the goban
The lack of defects (no knots or cracks, etc.) on all faces shown (even the bottom)
The "Hands Off" sign in front of each goban.
The signature of the master goban maker at the bottom
The certificate of guarantee from the master goban maker with his photo during the lacquer dipping with the samurai sword.
Then there is the picture of Go Seigen in the magazine article sitting in front of one of his boards.

That's pretty impressive to me from just looking at the pictures in the slideshow.

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

The more I look at those photos the more I want one, though I said to myself to only get one when I hit shodan through EGF-rating ^^.

How good of a goban can I expect from around 2k euro? How much difference is there really between hon-kaya and shin-kaya(spruce?)?

Are you looking for a tabletop board or a floor goban? With 2K (around 200K Yen) you can get an excellent tabletop goban, and a fairly good floor goban too. See e.g. http://www.kurokigoishi.co.jp/english/o ... index.html

With that kind of money available to purchase a goban, one should not look at anything else than kaya (either hyuga-kaya or hon-kaya)

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Hon-kaya is the same type of wood as Hyuga kaya, but just grown in other parts of Japan thus it is cheaper. Kind of like grapes being grown in different places. Basically Hon-kaya boards are just about as wonderful as a Hyuga kaya board. Shin-kaya on the other hand is not kaya at all, just an imitation. The rings of the tree of a shin-kaya board would normally be have much wider spacing and thus show that the tree does not take as many years to grow.

I'd definitely say go for hon-kaya.

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

Mine didn't come with the plastic. Maybe I could get some and see what it's like.

Actually, slightly surprising to see these boards wrapped in plastic rather than with museum type glass covers that would show them off to better effect while still protecting them. Obviously a lot more expensive than a sheet of plastic but consiering the price of the boards, a trivial difference.

Perhaps intended but didn't arrive and so the plastic wrap an improvisation?

I'd suppose that they were wrapped in plastic from their workshop in Japan so that they would get maximum protection in transport as well as in display during the exhibition.

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

Thanks for sharing this topic and link to a nice collection of pictures. I wish I was back in Beijing to see this event.

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Thanks tchan001 and edlee, these are some wonderful images! Any chance we can have a photograph of master Yoshida Torayoshi' "Goban and Shogiban – Creating Game Equipment" for the thread as well?

Btw there are a few more here: http://huannanzhiji.blog.163.com/blog/static/1713418672011111993022522/ for any who might be interested.

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"Tsumegos are for reading power and Tesujis for knowing which moves to read"

Picture taken by me of the book for my private blog.

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

I know nothing about go equipment, but any guy who uses a samurai-sword to make them instantly wins =)

I just wanted to add that those bowls are gorgeous too!

Thank you very much! Sounds like it would be an interesting read, if Torayoshi details how he works his methods, philosophy and such. If he is anywhere near as good a writer as he is a goban builder I'm sure it would be interesting reading indeed.

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"Tsumegos are for reading power and Tesujis for knowing which moves to read"