The Life of Honinbo Shuei

[HKA]

John Fairbairn is responsible, directly or indirectly, for over half of the information available to non Asian language speakers about Go.

Do you mean "history information about Asian players, associations, games" instead of "information" in general? If so, over 50% seems still a bit of an exaggeration. (Although roughly, say, one fourth is still impressive.)

Without meaning to minimize John Fairbairn's worthy contributions, I am also puzzled by HKA's claim.

I would say this title belongs jointly to such people as Richard Bozulich (especially him), John Power, and James Davies of Ishi/Kiseido, Dr. Sidney Yuan of Yutopian, and other translators such as Robert J. Terry. (And I'm probably overlooking many others.) Some have been bringing go to the west for over 40 years. The level of go played in the west (or at least, in the English-speaking part) would be much lower without their efforts.

These are fair comments. I was meaning historical and cultural info as opposed to technique. Hard to measure, not sure how much I am overstating, but I suspect not alot - certainly between Jasiek's 1/4 and my over half.

[mlund]

Looks like I'm adding the Kindle app to my iPad tonight ...

- Marty Lund

[RBerenguel]

Yesterday I finished reading the book. It was interesting, but overall I'm slightly disappointed. I can't pinpoint anything in particular, probably I was putting too high expectations on the book. Of course, a biography with hard to get facts is hard to get right, and I appreciate the length and depth of it. But somehow, several parts of it were very confusing, with some comments that didn't make sense after a phrase several paragraphs (or pages) ahead made it clear (or clearer, maybe I just wasn't paying enough attention.) I enjoyed quite a bit the historical background scattered here and there, but would have loved a little more (more about Japanese relationships with the outside world, the build up of said relationships, the settings for the wars.)

For the price it has, I can absolutely recommend it, it is a good read even if I was expecting "something else."

[gowan]

As Boidhre says, it's quite easy to do. As for the legality, removing copy protection of legally purchased goods is not completely settled... But no lawyer would win a case against you (or me) for doing anything to your legally bought property, as long as you did not give it to anyone else.

Indeed and I doubt anyone cares if I want to convert a Kindle file to ePub because I want to use a different reader. Or if someone with a Nook or whatever, wants access to the Kindle market but not buy a new e-reader like my wife for instance. Amazon and the author(s) get their money whether I convert or not so I really feel no guilt about it.

Don't Kindle and other e-book readers have some protection software that limits copying and file sharing? I guess that's to prevent, say, a group of 20 people from buying one copy and then making 19 more copies. If you remove that and duplicate the file isn't that piracy?

[RBerenguel]

As Boidhre says, it's quite easy to do. As for the legality, removing copy protection of legally purchased goods is not completely settled... But no lawyer would win a case against you (or me) for doing anything to your legally bought property, as long as you did not give it to anyone else.

Indeed and I doubt anyone cares if I want to convert a Kindle file to ePub because I want to use a different reader. Or if someone with a Nook or whatever, wants access to the Kindle market but not buy a new e-reader like my wife for instance. Amazon and the author(s) get their money whether I convert or not so I really feel no guilt about it.

Don't Kindle and other e-book readers have some protection software that limits copying and file sharing? I guess that's to prevent, say, a group of 20 people from buying one copy and then making 19 more copies. If you remove that and duplicate the file isn't that piracy?

IANAL, but it's not piracy if you remove it and keep the file for personal use. At least, Amazon would not care at all: you have bought what they want.

[tundra]

Don't Kindle and other e-book readers have some protection software that limits copying and file sharing? I guess that's to prevent, say, a group of 20 people from buying one copy and then making 19 more copies. If you remove that and duplicate the file isn't that piracy?

Like RBerenguel, IANAL either. But it really depends on the jurisdiction. In Canada, for example, at least up until recently, you were free to change the file format, as long as it was for your own personal use. For example, if you had originally bought music on a phonograph record, you could transfer it to cassette tape when that technology developed. And later on you could have transferred it to CD. And still later, to an mp3 file. None of these changes required you to buy a new copy of the recording.

Now, copyright law in Canada is being rewritten. So it is possible that there is now, or will be, legal protection for DRM locks. I am not sure. But my point is just that there is nothing inherently wrong with the end user changing a file format to suit his needs.

[mlund]

I'm about a third of the way finished. I'm quite happy with my purchase, though I wish the electronic format provided a few more enhancements. I was thinking today on my drive to work how I'd love to be able to hold down on a name like Shuei and pull of the immediate lineage / succession tie-ins around him into a pop-out so I wouldn't have to flip back and reorient myself to remember where Shuetsu, Shugen, Shuwa, Shuho, and Shuei all fell. Same goes with some of the government officials, etc - kind of like a highly concise appendix fragment you could access mid-page like they do with word definitions.

It's fascinating to see what happened to Go in Japan during the end of the shogunate and the Meiji restoration - the shift from noble to merchant patrons and the perils of a new government. I kind of got the feeling of "here's the new boss, same as the old boss, only the old boss liked you and this guy wouldn't stop to scrape you off your shoe - good luck with that."

I have to wonder if the great artists of the day felt the same way as the era of Renaissance patronage got swept away with the Colonial, Revolutionary, and Napoleonic Eras in Western Europe.

- Marty Lund

[gogameguru]

I finished reading volume one over the weekend and really enjoyed it.

I've never been especially interested in go history, as distinct from go or history in general, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But compared to other English language historical go books that I've read (e.g. most of John's other books, Invincible etc), this book outdoes all of them in terms of giving you a really tangible glimpse of life in Japan at a particular time (after the Meiji Restoration in this case), and in conveying aspects of central character's personality. Actually, in some ways it reminded me of Kawabata's The Master of Go more than any other go related book I've read.

John's writing is lucid and free flowing, so it's easy to get into the story as if it were a piece of fiction. Whenever I had some free time, usually at night, I was glued to the book and my wife laughed at me because I was reading this on an iPad in bed (which is not particularly comfortable no matter what Apple says and usually I have a strong preference for real books, especially after staring at a screen all day).

Anyway, The Life of Honinbo Shuei joins some of the dots between existing English language historical go books nicely. And I think the end result justifies the decision to put 'The Life' in its own book, because it allowed John to include a lot of information that he would've otherwise had to edit out and really develop the story at length. I suspect even people who aren't go players, but who are interested in Japan or history, would still enjoy reading this. Perhaps (hopefully) there's an angle there for the GoGoD team?

All in all, it's a very well written and readable exposition of a fascinating life, and it sets the scene well for the rest of the series. My only gripe is that I haven't yet unlocked the secret to becoming incredibly strong later in life, but there's still time - and volume two is coming .

I'd definitely recommend this to anyone with broader interests than just game records and go problems .

[gowan]

I second gogameguru's comments about the book. While I like the historical writing in books like Invincible and John Fairbairn's other books, this one filled me in on a period of history about which I knew very little. The Meiji Restoration was a time of turmoil in Japan and in the orient in general and that is reflected in the story of the go world in Japan at the time and Shuei's life in particular. I had always wondered how he got the title "Meijin" when the old structure of the go world was lost. In the modern world of tournament go, titles and ranks are relatively easily determined, but before the time of tournaments it was all much more complicated. I'll be interested to read the commentaries on games coming in later volumes. In the Edo era the go world was supported by the patronage of the Shogunate governmen which ended with the Meiji Restoration, but the go world in Japan survived due to patronage of wealthy individual lovers of the game. LAter, this form of patronage led to the establishment of the Nihon Ki-in (Baron Okura and others). I found the story of Shuei's friendship with Kim Ok-kyun very touching, again something I knew little about prior to reading the book.

[mlund]

I finished reading this two weeks ago and wow, I was very happy with my purchase. The historical insights were great, and they tied in perfectly to get an idea of the environment that Shuei and his contemporaries had to deal with. I really have an appreciation for why there's still a Honinbo title in Japan while the names of rival houses didn't survive into the 20th century. The story of this book had a lot of drama (even though it wasn't written as a drama) - familial strife, achievement, poverty, friendship, fear, triumph, revenge, and even an assassination or two. It really worked for me.

If you have a soft spot for vignettes of history as well as an interest in Japan and / or Go then I think this is definitely a book for you.

- Marty Lund

[hyperpape]

John, would you object if I lifted your precis of the book and included it (labeled as such) in the sensei's page for the book?

[John Fairbairn]

John, would you object if I lifted your precis of the book and included it (labeled as such) in the sensei's page for the book?

Not at all. Thank you for asking.

[Mivo]

If there are plans to release the book in the SmartGo Books format, or as an inferior option as an epub, I'd be happy to pick it up. Won't buy from Amazon, though, for a variety of reasons. Nice to see that Shuei is getting some attention!

[logan]

Hi John,

I was wondering when your third vol. of Honinbo Shuei's matches in supposed to be released? I though it was June for vol. 1, July vol. 2, and Aug. vol. 3. I'd been waiting all month for it : )

Also, I purchased your "Gateway To All Marvels" book and really liked it. I think it's a wonderful book and look forward to re-reading it again, and again in the future.

Thank-you very much,
logan

[John Fairbairn]

logan: T Mark is finishing proofreading as I write. I then need to do a final read and it can take a couple of days for Amazon to propagate it. I've had some distractions lately.