The NHK yournament is still played on a floor board. What you see is not a table board, but rather a floor board that has been placed through an opening on the table surface.

The photo below clearly shows one of the legs (circled part).

Fascinating! That's as much of a surprise to me as those Ing tournament tables. Thanks for posting that

Wow! Why bother with going to that much trouble if you just want to have the playing surface look like a table-top board? Do the players want to sit in chairs?

What I know in other places like in Korea, go clubs and at other businesses, they always play on table boards.

You see floor boards mostly in homes with families.

I personally prefer floor boards with detachable legs, works for both if you know what I mean.

It can happen only in Japan!
Galation

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Agreed! I am amused at the relevation of the NHK floor board 'in' table set up. However it helped understand what happened at the end of this week's game between Ichiriki and Cho U. When the players were rearranging the stones for counting at the end of the game, Ichiriki dropped one of the black stones and it fell off the table. Both players took turns looking underneath but they could not find it (no doubt due to all the lumber under the table )! Cho handed over another black stone instead.

PS: Ichiriki won and will play either Iyama or Ida in the final two weeks from now.

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Dave Sigaty
"Short-lived are both the praiser and the praised, and rememberer and the remembered..."
- Marcus Aurelius; Meditations, VIII 21

There are comfortable ways of playing on a floor board if you do not want to kill your knees sitting on the floor. You can use meditation benches. Here's an example; it feels no different than sitting on a wooden chair.

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