What is Go? Go is a board game that..

About Go

Go is a board game that two people compete to win or lose each other like Shogi.
And two players create their territory on the Go board.
They take territory on each other and compare the size of the final territories.
Once placed, a Go stone cannot be removed or moved unless it is completely surrounded by the opponent’s stone.
The area surrounded by your stone becomes the territory, and the player with the more territory wins.
Although the roots of Go are not clear, Go started in China from BC.

The history of Go in Japan

The roots of Go is unknown, but there is a description in the early 7th century books that “People prefer Go.” Go board and Go stone are also left in Shosoin Repository in Nara prefecture.

During the Heian period, Go was preferred by the noble people.
It is said that Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon, famous author, were very good at Go.

During the Kamakura period, it spread to samurai and buddhist monk as well.
During the Azuchi Momoyama period, the buddhist monk named Honinbo Sanza was famous as master and served to three General(Shogun), Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, and Ieyasu Tokugawa.
Honinbo was assigned the official position of Go by Hideyoshi, and by Ieyasu, he was appointed as a master go player (general director of Japan’s Go).

After being introduced to Japan, Go tools and rules developed their own way.

In 1612, 8 Go famous player were served by the Edo feudal government and became more popular among the people.
After that, “Oshiro Go”, which was played in front of the General (Shogun), began.

The rules of Go

The players are divided into black stone and white stone, and alternately play one by one.
The game starts from an empty board and first move is from black stone player.
The place where you play the Go stone is at the intersection of the lines, and you make your own way to expand your territory.

Once placed, Go stone cannot be removed or moved unless it is completely surrounded by the opponent’s stone.
The area surrounded by your stone becomes your territory, and the player with the more territory wins.

The tools of Go

Go board

In the Go board, horizontal and vertical lines are drawn at equal intervals, and Go stone is put at the intersection of these lines.
The Go board name “19 Go ban” with 19 vertical and horizontal lines (the number of intersections is 361) is a go board that is often used.
Kaya, Katsura, Hinoki, (Tree type) etc. are mainly used for the Go board material.

Go stone

Two types of round stones, black and white, are used.
Since white stone looks and feels bigger, Black stones have the characteristic of being made more larger than white stone.