I'm curious, how negotiable are the prices? Anyone have any experience in haggling with Mr. Kuroki?

I didn't try to negotiate. The prices seemed fair, and the service and packing were wonderful. In addition, he sent me a Nihon Ki-In calendar at the end of the year; a nice touch.

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

He definitely likes to do business. He'll put together a great package for you if you show genuine interest.

I didn't try to haggle when I bought a set of stones and bowls because the price was lower than several other sources for those items. As it turned out, the quality of the stuff I bought was first rate and the service was excellent.

I had the same experiences with Mr. Kuroki as mentioned by kirkmc, km1000, and gowan.
Kuroki's shell stones are superb. If you are not sure which size you want,
you can order sample sets (10 stones each package), Standard Grade (jitsuyo).
It may take some time of regular use to really find out your preferred size and grade.

My son and I wanted to learn to play. He is only 8 years old and after two years we are still complete beginners, but really enjoy playing. I had read about KGT and decided to buy from them based on their excellent reputation. Mr. Kuroki was a pleasure to deal with. I gave him my budget and asked him to choose a goban, bowls and stones that would be appropriately matched. He selected this 6.7 sun kaya tenchimasa board, Mikura Island mulberry bowls and size 34 snow grade stones. It arrived via airmail within a week. It exceeded my expectations in every way, and is a flawless and cherished piece of functional art which may be used for generations.

It's lovely. The bamboo mat, however, isn't meant to go under a floor board, but under a table board so you don't put the wood directly on a table.

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

Mr Kuroki sent the tatami as a little bonus. If I had my wishes, it would cover the entire floor. : )
Apparently there is limited demand for kaya floor gobans, which is good, I suppose, as I understand there aren't going to be very many available any more.
I would not like to buy this set today at 85 JPY/USD. When I ordered from KGT, the exchange rate was 120 JPY/USD.

The kind of mat you put on a floor is a couple of inches thick. It's not just the bamboo, but has a very strong body to make it solid. I have one of the ones in the picture, under my table board. It's good, because it protects the board and my desk. If I hadn't gotten one, I'd use a cloth under the board.

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My blog about Macs and more: Kirkville

Beautiful set! Did you get a paulownia wood cover for the board? The dollar-yen exchange rate sure is discouraging right now. I bought my kaya board, mulberry bowls and Japanese clam stones around 1960 when the exchange rate was hugely more favorable to the dollar.

Yes, Mr Kuroki included a yellow cloth goban cover and paulownia cases for the equipment. They provide a great deal of protection. I don't know if the silk might be considered inappropriate, but I put it under the bowls.

Nice pictures! Playing with equipment like this is inspiring.

Can I come over and play? A stunning set!

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"This is a game that rewards patience and balance. You must think like a man of action and act like a man of thought."
-Jonas Skarssen

Come over anytime. It will be an epic tragedy. I will die in gote, but you will die of boredom, or maybe die laughing.

Did the calligraphy scroll come as part of the set?

No, I got the scroll from a yard sale. Here are some more photos for those that may be interested. Out of curiosity, I counted the tree rings with a jeweler's loupe one day - it was a sapling during the Warring States period, and saw the end of the Muromachi period and the rise of the Higashiyama bunka, the Edo, the Meiji, the Taisho, it shaded the contemporaries of Basho and Issa, bore silent witness to WWI and WWII, the building of the first Toyota plant, the lost decade, J-pop and Manga. Just wow.

Your board looks amazing! Can we see more pictures of the stones?

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"There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level." -- Bruce Lee

Here's a random sampling of the stones. They look great to me, although I don't have anything else to compare them to.

Hello! The bowls look gorgeous! Could you plese give a direct link to these bowls on Kuroki website? On the website i see 2 items of Mikura island bowls but the pictures there dont seem to resemble yours)) Yours are better!

These are not as expensive as the Island Mulberry bowls with knots, (tamamoku), but they were lovely and complement the set perfectly. As a professional woodturner for over 20 years, I found the craftsmanship to be impeccable and even astonishing. It is not easy to get this kind of finish on turned objects without considerable time and effort.



Here are some links to Island mulberry bowls in their online catalog, however I understood from our correspondence at the time that they have some inventory which is not always updated on their website. For that reason, I asked Mr. Kuroki to kindly select a complete set for me which would reflect his finest tastes given my budget. Although the kaya was not harvested from Miyazaki prefecture, he described the goban as "a pride of our shop" and he felt that in order to be appropriately matched, the gosu should be of fine quality. Although it would have been nice to visit Japan and choose a set in person, I have enjoyed every moment with this equipment tremendously, and in retrospect, it was clearly quite valuable to ask him for his advice and to follow his recommendations.

http://www.kurokigoishi.co.jp/english/o ... index.html

http://www.kurokigoishi.co.jp/english/g ... bowls.html