Kitani's oldest pupil dies

[John Fairbairn]

I found it strangely affecting to read that Kitani Minoru's first pupil has just died at the age of 94. It was Takehisa Seishi. He didn't add anything to the dan count of Kitani's school, but he was a local 7-dan professional, which may give you an idea of the strength of so-called local professionals, if you've ever wondered.

That would seem to make Matsumoto Tokuji the oldest surviving pupil. Matsumoto did not reach 9-dan. The first to do that was Iwata Tatsuaki, also still with us at 85 and not even retired yet. He became the oldest player to score 800 career wins in 2004.