Takagawa in Hall of Fame

[John Fairbairn]

Takagawa Kaku is the sole 2021 inductee into the Nihon Ki-in Hall of Fame. A worthy entry.

Nakamura Doseki missed out by one vote for the second year in a row. A travesty. Like Shusaku, Dosaku has been the beneficiary of the Honinbo PR machine. Many of the technical achievements attributed to Dosaku appear to have been due rather to Doseki. But, despite being Sansa's leading pupil, he was shut out of the Honinbo lineage and became the de facto founder of the Inoue school. In the GoGoD database he has about 80 games, all bar one taking White. Despite there being no komi he won nearly half. But not one surviving game is against a Honinbo. Why? It's as if he has been 'cancelled.'