Q. In your opinion, how many more years will real kaya wood remain a viable option for making floor gobans as there is difficulty in renewing a resource which needs hundreds of years to grow to the right size.
A. Japan-grown Kaya wood is no longer available as a material for high quality Go board. In our national forest, cutting Kaya tree, which can be processed into highest quality go board, is being prohibited. There are Kaya forests inChina, but it is also prohibited to cut down Kaya trees since 15 years ago. Until 20 years ago,ChinaexportedJapanlots of Kaya wood sufficient to make 200,000 go boards. Myanmar, bordered withChina, still have abundant Kaya trees. Most of the imported Kaya wood brought intoJapanare already processed into Go board and exported back toChinaas Go equipment. I think that Kaya wood will be in stock just for another 15 years, taking our stock, imported Kaya from China, and only a bit of log to be cutting down in the future into consideration. There are some American Kaya, but it is too light weight due to its lower density of wood, as compared to Japanese Kaya. So it is not suitable for Go board.

Go for the kaya because you will probably always be able to get shin-kaya in the future but kaya has limited supplies.


Quoted from: An interview with Hirotaka Kuroki, manager of the biggest company in Japan – KUROKIGOISHITEN CO.,LTD

Do note that the kaya board you are thinking of purchasing is made in Korea rather than Japan. I would personally prefer Japanese craftsmanship for go boards