I know much of how American's see Go comes from the fact that it was introduced to this country through Japan, thus our terms, and many of our preferences are dictated by Japanese preferences.

I know that Gobans are slightly larger in China, and that they tend not to use shell and slate for their stones; I also know that Yunzi, single convex stones seem to be highly favored. Beyond that I really know little about the equipment used outside of Japan.

So, I was just curious... Do the Chinese and Koreans ever play on floor boards like the Japanese? What woods are used for Chinese boards? How about bowls? Is top flight equipment in both of those countries as expensive as Japanese high end equipment?

Thanks,
Bill

One of the largest manufacturers and distributors of Baduk equipment is Korea is Six Brothers. Their web site is: http://www.6brothers.com, in Korean. You can see there that Korean equipment is very similar to Japanese. I can't help with Chinese equipment.

For some Chinese weiqi equipment manufacturers that I'm aware of:
http://www.lyslwq.com/index.asp
http://www.yunz.cn/

For some Chinese online stores which sell premium equipment for Chinese weiqi connoisseurs, try
http://www.mrweiqi.com/
http://www.benshou.com/

It would seem that for the high end go equipment, Chinese connoisseurs seem to prefer those of Japanese manufacture.

Personally, I think the nicely shaped double sided agate go stones are quite beautiful.

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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.

This is slightly off-topic, but: does anyone know what the story is behind the scalloped legs that gobans invariably have (not just in Japan, but it now seems in China and Korea too)?

I can be attracted to a baroque aesthetic, and I can be very attracted to a minimalist aesthetic, but screwing up the clean lines of a standard goban with complex and incongruous legs has always looked wrong to me.

It may be true that the traditional Chinese goban is larger and likely more square than Japanese boards, but I can't confirm that as I am not an expert.

In my experience, Chinese players are fond of Japanese style equipment, particularly bi-convex stones. Single convex yunzi are relatively cheap and common, but bi-convex yunzi are also popular. Among Chinese players with a bit more budget, they will usually still prefer slate and shell stones.

Benshou, the distributor tchan mentioned above, is a Japanese equipment distributor located in Beijing. In their playing room, all the boards are Japanese style and the stones are slate and shell.

in korea you can purchase cheap folding board and set of stones with less than $20.
for people who are not willing to pay high price and enjoy the game that is what they use.
that is what i have used when i was in korea 30 years ago.

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"The more we think we know about
The greater the unknown"
Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson

that's exactly what I got from the HMART near my house (its only a little smaller than full size)

I posted a small entry on my blog about a Qing Dynasty rosewood weiqi game table. If you want to take a look, the link is
http://tchan001.wordpress.com/2011/04/0 ... ame-table/

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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.

Here is a statement on the legs of the go board from ''The Game of Go--the National Game of Japan'' by Arthur Smith

"The legs of the board are said to be shaped to resemble the fruit of the plant called “Kuchinashi” or Cape Jessamine (Gardenia floribunda), the name of which plant by accident also means “without a mouth,” and this is supposed to suggest to onlookers that they refrain from making comments on the game ... "

Really? Thats cool.. Just curious, do you know the actual dimensions? There are some Hmarts not too far from my house, it might be worth checking them out.

--
Bill

I don't have a ruler with me, and if there are dimensions on the box, I can't read them. But I did find the very same one I have on the 6brothers web site: http://www.6brothers.com/detail.php?c_c ... 0_10000003

the stones they sold are a little small, but still not so small as to be useless for big hands.
18호P (18mm x 6mm)
edit: these are the stones I bought at HMART too
http://www.6brothers.com/detail.php?c_c ... 0_10000005

the board is large enough to support their next size up stones easily I think, but not quite large enough for full size stones.

all in all, compact enough to carry with you anywhere, yet still large enough to enjoy a game on it anytime. Awesome utility set for $20 total!

Gowan, thanks for the link to 6brothers, never would found that on my own. Too bad no one is importing their weirder gear. I'd love to have some of those colored glass stones, the colored plastic bowls, and maybe even a green stained board. The plastic bowls could be used for much besides go stones.

David Boise ID

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