Coronavirus - Nihon Ki-in's response
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2020 11:59 am
The Japanese government announced a state of emergency on 7 April 2020, as a result of which all games at the Nihon Ki-in from 9 April onwards will be postponed until at least 6 May. This means the various Nihon Ki-in centres in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya are closed. Ordinary go clubs are also closed, of course.
The Nihon Ki-in actually started taking action at the end of February and postponed various events then. Apart from some amateur events it hosts, these include the Nihon Ki-in's World Go Championship. It also closed its own branches early in March. Overseas trips are also banned. This affects the Nongshim Cup in particular, but also the Chunlan and Mlily Cups.
The Kansai Ki-in has acted similarly.
So far, the various events are postponed rather than cancelled. There have been no moves to use the internet for these.
Obviously, internet go is being played, but with new events. One was a series of exhibition games organised by Iyama Yuta. He funds an Iyama Study Group which has the aim of making top players strong enough to challenge the Chinese and Koreans again. Most of the top players have joined. At the other end of the scale, little Sumire is naturally out of action (stuck on 5-7 so far this year) but a major exhibition game with Takemiya is planned for early May.
Some other go activities have continued in truncated form. For example, a ceremony to award Honorary Tengen to Iyama went ahead, but only officials and press were present, no fans. In the group "wedding" shots, no-one was two yards apart - but maybe six inches more than usual! All mask-free. From a British/European/American point of view, I'm not convinced they are actually taking it seriously enough yet. Many ordinary people are, though. The post about a new soundtrack candidate for Hikaru no Go posted here by Ferran was an example of someone creating combating lockdown. The guitarist there wrote a song to the rhythm of stones being played (allegedly) by various pros.
As with so many other aspects of life, unanswerable questions also crop up about the long-term impact. Will people stop going to go clubs, will economically hit organisations keep sponsoring go, etc, etc. But it is just a game.
The Nihon Ki-in actually started taking action at the end of February and postponed various events then. Apart from some amateur events it hosts, these include the Nihon Ki-in's World Go Championship. It also closed its own branches early in March. Overseas trips are also banned. This affects the Nongshim Cup in particular, but also the Chunlan and Mlily Cups.
The Kansai Ki-in has acted similarly.
So far, the various events are postponed rather than cancelled. There have been no moves to use the internet for these.
Obviously, internet go is being played, but with new events. One was a series of exhibition games organised by Iyama Yuta. He funds an Iyama Study Group which has the aim of making top players strong enough to challenge the Chinese and Koreans again. Most of the top players have joined. At the other end of the scale, little Sumire is naturally out of action (stuck on 5-7 so far this year) but a major exhibition game with Takemiya is planned for early May.
Some other go activities have continued in truncated form. For example, a ceremony to award Honorary Tengen to Iyama went ahead, but only officials and press were present, no fans. In the group "wedding" shots, no-one was two yards apart - but maybe six inches more than usual! All mask-free. From a British/European/American point of view, I'm not convinced they are actually taking it seriously enough yet. Many ordinary people are, though. The post about a new soundtrack candidate for Hikaru no Go posted here by Ferran was an example of someone creating combating lockdown. The guitarist there wrote a song to the rhythm of stones being played (allegedly) by various pros.
As with so many other aspects of life, unanswerable questions also crop up about the long-term impact. Will people stop going to go clubs, will economically hit organisations keep sponsoring go, etc, etc. But it is just a game.
