Life In 19x19

Takemiya Masaki has today (2021-01-14) become the 10th player in Japanese history to record 1200 career wins. His record is now 1200-764-2-0 (W-L-Jigo-Void), a W-L winning rate of 61.1%, which is on the low end of the scale for lifetime win rates.

Top W-L among those who achieved 1200 wins belongs to the Kansai Ki-in's Yuki Satoshi (70.3%), who was also fastest to 1200 wins - 33 years 3 months - and youngest - 45 years 3 months).

Within the Nihon Ki-in, the top "oldies" are currently as follows (ranked by number of wins):

Cho Chikun 1557-870-3-4 = 64.2%
Rin Kaiho 1433-940-1-2 = 60.4%
Kobayashi Koichi 1424-765-2-0 = 65.1%
Otake Hideo 1311-837-5-1 = 61.0%
Kato Masao 1254-701-2-1 = 65.4%
Hane Yasumasa 1254-701-5-0 = 64.1%
Yamashiro Hiroshi 1251-672-7-0 = 65.1%
O Rissei 1219-700-1-1 = 63.5%
Takemiya Masaki 1200-764-2-0 = 61.1%
Kobayashi Satoru 1164-634-1-0 = 64.7%
Yoda Norimoto = 1152-617-2-2 = 65.1%
Ishida Yoshio 1119-710-0-1 = 61.2%

I'm sort of suprised not to see Sakata on that list, considering all his title wins.

Not as many games a year back then?

When Sakata was winning major titles (1961-1970), there were only 4 major go titles.

Only from 1977 onwards, there are 7 major go titles.

See History of major title winners.

Sakata would have been next on the list. His tally was 1117-654-16-0, so about 63%. He lost some time through conscription and through defection to Igo Shinsha.

gennan wrote:When Sakata was winning major titles (1961-1970), there were only 4 major go titles.

Only from 1977 onwards, there are 7 major go titles.

See History of major title winners.

This statement, and the linked page, is incomplete. There were many more titles over the years. See Obsolete Titles. Notice that Sakata won the Nihon Ki-in Championship 12 times before it was replaced by the Tengen in 1977.