1001 GoGoD games for your Coffee Break #49 (14 March 2013

[TMark]

You are getting spolied today, since I have already posted the shortest counted game in another thread. This game has already appeared in NewInGo and in the book “The Go Companion” from Slate and Shell, but there is no harm in showcasing it again. It was played in the Nihon Ki-in Oteai in 1930 and ended with an unusual number of sekis on the board. I had bought about 100 copies of the Oteai weekly bulletins from the 1920s to the 1940s at a bookshop in Tokyo on one of my visits to Japan and this game was one that stood out. At the time, the Oteai was the only regular tournament that all the pros would play in, so it was important on that count as well as giving them a chance of promotion.

Best wishes.

[pwaldron]

As a matter of interest, are these old Kido yearbooks difficult to find in used bookstores? Do you have to go scrimping and scraping or was the circulation at the time sufficient to allow large numbers to survive?

I imagine it must be quite a thing for the store owner to go home and night and report that some white guy walked in and bought a hundred copies of nearly hundred-year old go magazines.

[TMark]

I only know of one second-hand bookshop in Japan that specialises in Go and Shogi. I have seen (in Korea as well) second hand Go books on sale in other stores but the Tokyo bookshop stands out. They obviously buy job lots of books from collectors (or the families of deceased collectors) and I do remember quite a few Kido Yearbooks on their shelves. I didn't find any copies earlier than my existing collection. As I mentioned elswhere, I once walked into the store to find a group of US Shogi players raiding the stores, so I think the shop is rather used to lunatic gaijin wandering in and buying up lots of old books.

Best wishes.