I had a beautiful, bright yellow hiba board twenty years ago and I let it go for a song during a depressive non-go-playing phase. I hope whoever got it enjoys it still. For several years I’ve been looking for a replacement and my patience has paid off.

Saw this piece a few months ago on the eBay and thought it had been sold to a lucky player. But it turned up again at a lower price. Took me three seconds to push the “buy now” button.

This go board is thirty to forty years old and is a rare 2-1/4” (5.5cm) thick, single piece of what appears to me to be Japanese kaya. Lovely grain. There are a few dings and tiny cracks which, for me, add tremendously to the character of a well used but well cared for go board. I don’t know how well it is going to hold up here in the Idaho desert but it’s a fine example of older go equipment which is getting more and more difficult to find. No one is importing these items at prices many of us can or wish to afford.

I think this is the last piece of go equipment I need. But I’ve said that before.

Anyone translate the characters on the box lid for me?

_________________
David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

Sorry about the giant photo!

_________________
David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

If this was the set you sold over rec.games.go in 1998, I do indeed enjoy it still!

It was a different time. It's hard to imagine that I sent off a check for hundreds of dollars to a random Usenet member without even seeing a photo. But my trust was rewarded. I still use the board and stones regularly with great pleasure. I am glad that you have finally found a suitable replacement for it.

You are welcome

But perhaps the forum should change the way it handles pics. (Let us choose a size/scale for our pics.)

So very glad to see you again, as you might say, so randomly. If I recall correctly, there was a nice set of shell stones, lovely bowls (quince?), a bunch of books, and was there not also a weird floor board in that box? It was a different time. Indeed!

By the way, I acquired that beautiful set from Neal, our 1d here in Boise, who had lost his wife to cancer, an event that altered his priorities. I enjoyed hauling the set to club but none of the newbies — and they were all newbies —appreciated fine equipment or understood what our imaginations can attach to it.

_________________
David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.

Very nice stones and cherrywood bowls I still use with the board, and indeed also a weird floor board also still in my possession. No books, but a Paulonia box for the bowls that I still have not figured out exactly how to fasten idiomatically...

Thanks for the additional history; it's nice to know the set's peregrinations.

The lid reads 博御碁盤.

碁盤 is "go board" -- ごばん -- "goban".

博御 seems to be a name - perhaps "Hiroshi" - as those two characters together do not appear in any Japanese dictionary I have access to.

In any case, your board is Japanese.

御 is honorific.

御碁盤 = most honorable go board

博 I don't know. Maybe a brand name?

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

The Hide tags and various free photo editor apps could be useful.御 in Chinese means imperial, as in 御用.
After it went to Japan, I don't know the etymology.

To translate:
( 御箸 o-hashi; お寿司 o-sushi, おにぎり o-nigiri ) as
( most honorable chopticks, most honorable sushi, most honorable rice ball )
seems a bit overkilled to me.

Maybe ( o-goban ) = ( Go board! ).
The circled (博) -- that's my guess, too.

Well I'll be... 4 years of Japanese way back when in school and I never bothered to learn (or have long since forgotten) the kanji for お in お寿司. Goodness.

As in "御用 You are under arrest."
From https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/en/御用/#je-27273

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

A little divergence after ~1,500 years...

Thanks everyone for the translations and educated guesses,

I'm going with "Go board, top class, from Timmy's Go Board Company".

_________________
David Bogie, Boise ID
I play go, I ride a recumbent, of course I use Macintosh.