Hello everyone! After much thought, I have finally pulled enough conviction out of me to try and reach a dream of mine. In the next few years, I would love to study Go in asia as an insei. As of now, I"m 18 and a KGS shodan. I"ll be attending UC San Diego in Fall, but I hope to study in asia at some point ( possibly after I get my 4 year degree or maybe I"ll even take a break from college). So in the coming years, I"m going to work to make my dream come true. I'm by no means a genius and I may not even have great potential, but I have focus and tenacity. I"m a hardworking kid and I owe everything I"ve achieved to my hardworking nature. And now I"m sure you can guess what my question will be.... so How can I make this happen? How do I become an insei? Obviously, it will take a great deal of work and I"m willing to put it in. Basically, I need a means to an end. I know the "end" but I don't even know where to start. I learned Go 4 years ago and I can truthfully say that I have never REALLY studied for it or had an actual goal. I simply played on and off because I enjoyed it and on occasion read through parts of a go book. So, please everyone help me devise a study plan! I've been reading through ways to get stronger and I realize 85% of getting stronger lies in doing tsmuego/ tesuji and playing; however, I need something more concrete that tells me how much I"m supposed to do or where in my game I need to work. I have a decent go library already so I plan to make use out of that and every now and then can shed out a little money for more problem books. I"m also aware that a teacher would be a huge asset, but I"m a bit low on $. I"m only attending UCSD because I"m on a large financial aid/ need based package. Additionally, my mother is also very poor and may be moving in her car soon while I attend UCSD which makes me feel really bad. If there are any teachers willing to work for free or small payments infrequently please send them my way. I"m also looking for a mentor or rival someone around my strength that I can play regular games with and compete.

One more thing... How do I even become an insei? Aside from just being strong enough to be one. Does the AGA have a program where they send young people abroad? Anymore info on this would be great.
Thanks for any responses and reading this huge chunk of words.

Don't worry about this yet. Get to at least 5-6d (honestly, probably more like 7-8d) on KGS first.

Is your goal to experience life as an insei or to become a pro? Those two are very different goals. Your average pro does not make much money. A reputable plumber in the US makes more than an average pro (a reputable plumber makes more than an average college grad, but that's another story altogether...there are too few reputable plumbers).

Nevertheless, if you are serious about this, I don't want to kill your dreams immediately. If the non-monetary rewards of becoming a pro are bigger than the financial costs, I'd recommend saving up maybe $200 for a lesson or two with a real pro. After the lesson, ask the pro if becoming a pro is a realistic goal for you. If the pro says yes, then perhaps you will have a real dilemma on your hands. If the pro says no, then I would just try to make the best of your time at UCSD, which is an excellent institution for motivated students, get a job, make a lot of money, and use it to finance your enjoyment of go.

My goal is to experience life as an insei and that's what I'm striving for. I don't really have a motive to become a pro especially not a financial motive.

I see. Then maybe you can try to reach out to former insei like that guy who writes the Go of Ten blog. You might also ask some pros who are visiting about the possibility. You might have to go through an informal route, given that you are a bit older than the typical insei. If you're interested in the insei experience (as opposed to official insei status), there might be more options. There doesn't seem to be any formal insei recruitment program in the West. If you're not aiming to become a pro, then I am guessing that you intend to make this an immersive cultural experience more than anything else. That seems worthwhile, especially if you end up becoming fluent in a foreign language at the end.

So my general advice is:
1. Cultivate personal relationships with pros and former insei.
2. Get stronger.
3. Make school your number one priority.

http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/english/insei.htm

I must say... if you're not actually serious about becoming pro, aiming to become an insei just "to experience life as an insei" is kind of an insult to everyone who's walked down that path struggling to become pro.... Just saying.

There are probably less insulting ways of getting your fix; http://internetgoschool.com/goinchina.vhtml looks very interesting (I was tempted by this), or http://insei-league.com/ which is an online only thing, to get you studying experience, without leaving home.

Good luck, I guess.

What? since when?

Why don't you contact Antti Törmänen and ask about how he was able to become an insei for 6 months.
http://gooften.net/about-me/

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A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

Thanks for all your advice Lemmata and I want to assure school is my number one priority. I would never jeopardize the knowledge I need for my future occupation on some little thing like studying go in Asia for 6 months to a year. But hey why not have something to work towards and hopefully look forward to.

I"m sorry you feel that way Locoron. But I don't believe every insei at the Nihon Kiin has aspirations to become a professional especially those in the lowest class. Is it so bad to want to study my favorite game abroad in a country where the game thrives? And have an amazing experience while being exposed to another country's culture that differs significantly from our own. I"m sorry you feel that way but to me, Go is a game. Nothing more and nothing less. I enjoy it, but I wouldn't want to make it my life. Oh and thank you very much for the link to the Go Juan school in China!!! That fits the perfect description of what I want to do. I probably shouldn't have coined the term insei because of the dream to become pro that most inseis have. I just want to study Go in Asia with professional/strong players and an insei's lifestyle was the closest thing I could think of to match the style of living I want to experience.

Thanks very much Tchan001 I"ll try and contact him about it. I'm very interested in how he became an insei even though being an actual insei doesn't mean much to me.

So far many people have been telling me about the difficulty of becoming an insei but not any real methods to get there. So hypothetically, if I did want to become an insei (go strength wise) What woudld it take?
So far my plans are the following:
1-2 hours (depending on how I feel that day) of go problems a day (Tsmuego & Tesuji)
1-2 serious games a day. Anymore exhausts me too much.
Studying 1 annotated pro game a week
Theoretical books whenever I feel they're needed.
Any critique of my study plan? Did I miss anything?

You could also try out the Korean-style insei league run by breakfast (Alexander Dinerchtein) on KGS. Obviously, it isn`t the same as attending study sessions and building rivalries and camaraderies in person, but it would give you a taste of a disciplined schedule and of playing in a serious way. Also, many of its members are very strong indeed, and the teachers include pros and semi-pros.

I don`t think you "insulted" anybody by wanting to experience the insei life. So long as you tried your very best, rather than just going along for the ride, that should be enough. You`d have to be prepared for isolation, learning at least the basics of Japanese, and some major culture shocks.

I`d like to sound a note of caution: you might be able to get truly strong at go, but there is a big cost to everything. It is said that it takes 10000 hours of deliberate effort to reach the highest levels of any field, and you had better be certain that you genuinely desire the thing you are striving for. I stopped studying go because I realised I did not want it as much as music. Before you go in deep, please take time to ask yourself whether there are things you want more than go excellence. What can you do with 8d go strength? Play all night on KGS? Teach weak players six hours a day for $20 a lesson? (You enjoy playing go, but would you enjoy teaching it?)Ghost write elementary books? Be a contender among 20 or so others for fairly small prizes at tournaments? I`m not trying to denigrate it, but unless you were absolutely exceptional, becoming insei and then low pro/strong ama might not open up many more doors than are already open to ordinary players.

All that said, you might find that sincerely and determinedly chasing a goal brings you unexpected rewards. As a musician, I`ve not progressed beyond playing cafes and local festivals yet, but the journey has stripped me of arrogance and self-delusion, and has made me appreciate all kinds of things far more deeply than I did before. Whether you become an insei, a pro, a strong amateur or just another kyu on KGS might not be as important as all the other things you might learn simply by giving your all to the attempt.

Choose well and do your best!

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