History of Go - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The game of Go
Go (board game)
Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...

(Chinese: 圍棋, Pinyin: Weiqi) originated in China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

in ancient times; by the 4th century BC it was a worthy pastime for a gentleman, as described in the Analects of Confucius
Analects of Confucius
The Analects, or Lunyu , also known as the Analects of Confucius, are considered a record of the words and acts of the central Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius and his disciples, as well as the discussions they held....

. It reached Korea

Korea

Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

by the 5th century, in the 7th century it had reached Japan. The game was described by Thomas Hyde

Thomas Hyde

Thomas Hyde was an English orientalist. The first use of the word dualism is attributed to him, in 1700.-Life:He was born at Billingsley, near Bridgnorth in Shropshire, on 29 June 1636...

in 1694, but it did not become popular in the West until the late 19th century.

According to legend, the game was created as a teaching tool after the ancient Chinese Emperor Yao 堯 (2337 - 2258 BC) designed it for his son, Danzhu

Danzhu

Danzhu was the son of Emperor Yao . His mother was a concubine San Yi.He was described as vicious and a playboy, and his father Yao is said to have invented the game of Weiqi to favorably influence him. Various stories have him either banished, executed, or attempting to kill his...

丹朱, to learn discipline, concentration, and balance. Another suggested genesis for the game is that Chinese

Han Chinese

Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...

warlords

Warlords

Warlords may refer to:* The plural of warlord, a name for a figure who has military authority but not legal authority over a subnational region.* "WARLORDS", the call sign of a United States Navy Helicopter squadron based in Ayase city, Japan....

and generals used pieces of stone to map attacking positions. Other plausible theories relate Go equipment to divination

Divination

Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...

or flood control.

Origin in China

Go's early history is debated, but there are myths about its existence, one of which assuming that Go was an ancient fortune telling device used by Chinese astrologers to simulate the universe's relationship to an individual.

The earliest written reference of the game is usually taken to be the historical annal Zuo Zhuan
Zuo Zhuan
The Zuo Zhuan , sometimes translated as the Chronicle of Zuo or the Commentary of Zuo, is among the earliest Chinese works of narrative history and covers the period from 722 BCE to 468 BCE. It is one of the most important sources for understanding the history of the Spring and Autumn Period...

(c. 4th century BC), referring to a historical event of 548 BC. It is also mentioned in Book XVII of the Analects of Confucius
Analects of Confucius
The Analects, or Lunyu , also known as the Analects of Confucius, are considered a record of the words and acts of the central Chinese thinker and philosopher Confucius and his disciples, as well as the discussions they held....

and in two of the books of Mencius

Mencius

Mencius was a Chinese philosopher who was arguably the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself.-Life:Mencius, also known by his birth name Meng Ke or Ko, was born in the State of Zou, now forming the territory of the county-level city of Zoucheng , Shandong province, only thirty kilometres ...

(c. 3rd century BC). In all of these works, the game is referred to as .

In ancient China

China

, Go was often seen as the refined pastime of the scholars, while Xiangqi

Xiangqi

Xiangqi is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in China...

was the game of the masses. Go was one of the four cultivated arts

Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar

The Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar, otherwise known as siyi , is a term used to describe four main accomplishments required of the Chinese scholar gentleman...

of the Chinese scholar gentleman

Junzi

Junzi or nobleman, was a term used by Confucius , to describe his ideal human. To Confucius, the functions of government and social stratification were facts of life to be sustained by ethical values; thus his ideal human was the junzi...

, along with calligraphy, painting

Chinese painting

Chinese painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. The earliest paintings were not representational but ornamental; they consisted of patterns or designs rather than pictures. Early pottery was painted with spirals, zigzags, dots, or animals...

and playing the musical instrument guqin

Guqin

The guqin is the modern name for a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family...

, and examinations of skill in those arts was used to qualify candidates for service in the bureaucracy

Bureaucracy

A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...

.

Chinese archaeologists have discovered a broken piece of a pottery go board

Go (board game)

Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...

from the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD) in Shaanxi Province. This is the earliest discovery of an existing board unearthed in China. A picture can be found here (third picture down).

The board was found in the ruins of a watchtower at the tombs of Emperor Jingdi of the Western Han Dynasty, and his empress. The broken fragment of the board measures 5.7 cm to 28.5 cm long, 17 cm to 19.7 cm wide and 3.6 cm thick.

Li Gang, a research fellow with the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute, said that this board might have been made from a floor tile, and that it did not belong to the royal family since the carvings are too rough. Li said the board could have been made by the tomb guards who played go to pass the time. "That proves that go was being played not only by nobles, but also by ordinary people like tomb guards, more than 2,000 years ago," Li noted.

In 1954 a complete Go board made out of stone was found in a tomb dating to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) in Wangdu County

Wangdu County

Wangdu County is a county under the jurisdiction of Baoding prefecture-level city, Hebei, China.-Administrative Divisions:Towns:*Wangdu Town , Gudian Townships:...

, Hebei Province. This board has a 17 × 17 grid, which confirms the statement by the 3rd century author Handan Chun in the Classic of Arts
Classic of Arts
The Classic of Arts was a 3rd century Chinese book written by Handan Chun on the various cultivated arts of ancient China. The book also briefly discussed some basics of the game of go, and it was the first to state the 9 Pin Zhi, a system for Go ranks and ratings...

that Go was at this time played on a 17 × 17 grid:

The go board has 17 lines along its length and breadth, making 289 points in all. The black and white stones each number 150.

The earliest board with a 19 × 19 grid to have been found is a ceramic

Ceramic

A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

board dating to the Sui Dynasty

Sui Dynasty

The Sui Dynasty was a powerful, but short-lived Imperial Chinese dynasty. Preceded by the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it ended nearly four centuries of division between rival regimes. It was followed by the Tang Dynasty....

(581-618) that was excavated from Anyang

Anyang

Anyang is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, People's Republic of China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively....

in Henan Province, so sometime between the 3rd and 6th centuries a change in grid size must have taken place. However, the 17 × 17 board has survived in the version of Go played in Tibet.

Growth in east Asia

Go is believed to have been introduced to Japan by Kibi Makibi

Kibi Makibi

was a Japanese scholar and noble during the Nara period. Also known as Kibi Daijin . Born in Bitchu Province as Shimotsumichi Asomi, he came from a line of local elites. Kibi was the name of the town or area he came from.In 716, he traveled to China to study. He stayed in China for 17 years...

who had studied in Tang

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...

China at the beginning of the eighth century. But the Taihō Code

Taiho Code

The was an administrative reorganization enacted in 701 in Japan, at the end of the Asuka period. It was historically one of the . It was compiled at the direction of Prince Osakabe, Fujiwara no Fuhito and Awata no Mahito...

, enacted in 701, has a description of Go and therefore the game may have been introduced a little earlier. After it was introduced from China, Go came to be actively played during the Nara period

Nara period

The of the history of Japan covers the years from AD 710 to 794. Empress Gemmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō . Except for 5 years , when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the capital of Japanese civilization until Emperor Kammu established a new capital, Nagaoka-kyō, in 784...

(710-794), and during the following Heian period

Heian period

The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...

(794-1185) Go was a favourite aristocratic pastime, as is described in typical literary works of this period such as The Pillow Book
The Pillow Book
is a book of observations and musings recorded by Sei Shōnagon during her time as court lady to Empress Consort Teishi during the 990s and early 11th century in Heian Japan. The book was completed in the year 1002....

and The Tale of Genji
The Tale of Genji
is a classic work of Japanese literature attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early 11th century, around the peak of the Heian period. It is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel, the first psychological novel or the first novel still to be...

.

During the Muromachi period

Muromachi period

The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate, which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, two years after the brief Kemmu restoration of imperial...

(1336–1573), potentates employed semi-professional Go players, called Go-uchi (碁打ち) or Uwate (上手) who competed against other clans. At the end of the 16th century, Nikkai (Honinbo Sansa

Honinbo Sansa

Honinbō Sansa was the assumed name of Kanō Yosaburō , one of the strongest Japanese Go players of the Edo period , and founder of the house of Honinbō, first among the four great schools of Go in Japan...

) served Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga

was the initiator of the unification of Japan under the shogunate in the late 16th century, which ruled Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was also a major daimyo during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. His opus was continued, completed and finalized by his successors Toyotomi...

, Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...

and Tokugawa Ieyasu

Tokugawa Ieyasu

was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...

as a Go teacher, and in 1578 was recognized as the first Meijin
Meijin
Meijin , literally translated, means "Brilliant Man." It is the name of the second most prestigious Japanese Go Tournament. It also refers to a traditional Japanese title given to the strongest player of the day during the Edo period.- The tournament :...

of Go by Oda Nobunaga; he also became the first Honinbō

Honinbo

Honinbō was the name of one of the four major schools of Go in Japan. Easily the strongest school of Go for most of its existence, it was established in 1612 and survived until 1940....

.

In 1612, at the beginning of the Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

(1603–1868), the Tokugawa Shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

established Four hereditary "houses"

Four go houses

In the history of go in Japan, the Four go houses were the four academies of Go instituted, supported, and controlled by the state, at the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate. At roughly the same time shogi was organised into three houses. Here 'house' implies institution run on the recognised...

to teach the game of Go: , , and . These four houses (Iemoto

Iemoto

Iemoto is a Japanese term used to refer to the founder or current head master of a certain school of traditional Japanese art...

) competed with each other throughout the 300 years of the Edo period.

The wave of Westernization and modernization accompanying the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

in 1868 caused the dissolution of the official iemoto

Iemoto

Iemoto is a Japanese term used to refer to the founder or current head master of a certain school of traditional Japanese art...

Go system and a wane in general popularity for the game. In the wake of this upheaval, the Honinbo

Honinbo

Honinbō was the name of one of the four major schools of Go in Japan. Easily the strongest school of Go for most of its existence, it was established in 1612 and survived until 1940....

title was transformed into a tournament title.

Development in the West

Despite its widespread popularity in East Asia, Go has been slow to spread to the rest of the world, unlike other games of ancient Asian origin, such as chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

. Schadler speculates that chess has more widespread appeal because culturally congruent game pieces can be created in chess (e.g. Queen

Queen (chess)

The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...

and Bishop

Bishop (chess)

A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...

in Western Chess

Chess

, Advisor and Elephant in Chinese Chess), while Go is totally abstract. Also, there is no climactic ending in Go (such as checkmate

Checkmate

Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...

in chess). New players often have trouble figuring out when a game of Go is over. Other theories center around the existence of fundamental differences in the level and type of thinking required by Go players as opposed to chess players. While pure analytical thought and the ability to plan many moves in advance are advantageous in chess, in Go a more intuitive approach based on pattern recognition and experience is stressed. A purely analytical approach, due to the sheer number of moves available for consideration, can be paralyzing.

The first detailed description of Go in a European language, De Circumveniendi Ludo Chinensium (About the Chinese encircling game), was written in Latin by Thomas Hyde

Thomas Hyde

Thomas Hyde was an English orientalist. The first use of the word dualism is attributed to him, in 1700.-Life:He was born at Billingsley, near Bridgnorth in Shropshire, on 29 June 1636...

, and included in his 1694 treatise on Oriental board games, De Ludis Orientalibus (About Oriental games); Oscar Korschelt, a German engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

, is credited with being the first person to try to popularize Go outside of Asia. He learned about the game from Honinbo Shuho

Honinbo Shuho

, known also as Murase Shūho , was the first Japanese professional go player to have a reputation in the Western world.-Biography:A disciple in the Honinbo house, he founded the Hoensha institution and taught the game of Go to a German visitor by the name of Oskar Korschelt. Korschelt later was the...

(Murase Shuho) when he worked in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

from 1878 to 1886. Korschelt published a detailed article on Go in 1880. A few years later he published a book based on this article. He brought the game to Europe, especially to Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

and Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, and thus became the first person to systematically describe Go in a Western language. Since he learned Go in Japan, the terms of Go in Western languages come from Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

, not Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

.

By the early 20th century, Go had spread throughout the German

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

and Austro-Hungarian

Austria-Hungary

Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...

empires. In 1905, Edward Lasker

Edward Lasker

Edward Lasker was a leading German-American chess and Go player. He was awarded the title of International Master of chess by FIDE. Lasker was an engineer by profession, and an author.-Background:...

learned the game while in Berlin. When he moved to New York, Lasker founded the New York Go Club together with (amongst others) Arthur Smith, who had learned of the game while touring the East and had published the book The Game of Go in 1908. Lasker's book Go and Go-moku (1934) helped spread the game throughout the US, and in 1935, the American Go Association

American Go Association

The American Go Association was founded in 1935 to promote the board game of Go in the United States. Founded by chess master Edward Lasker and some friends at Chumley's restaurant in New York City, the AGA is one of the oldest Western Go associations...

was formed. Two years later, in 1937, the German Go Association was founded. World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

put a stop to most Go activity, but after the war, Go continued to spread.

Western players' interest increased in the 1950s. In 1978, Manfred Wimmer became the first Westerner to receive a professional player's certificate from an Asian professional Go association. It was not until 2000 that a Westerner, Michael Redmond, achieved a professional 9 dan rating, the top rank awarded by Asian Go associations.

For most of the 20th century, the Japan Go Association

Nihon Ki-in

The Nihon Ki-in , also known as the Japan Go Association, is the main organizational body for Go in Japan, overseeing Japan's professional system and issuing diplomas for amateur dan rankings. It is based in Tokyo. The other major Go association in Japan is Kansai Ki-in.Nihon Ki-in was established...

played a leading role in spreading Go outside East Asia, publishing the English-language magazine Go Review in the 1960s

1960s

The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

, establishing Go centers

Go centers

As part of the effort to spread the game of Go throughout the world, several Go centers were founded in the US, Europe and South American. A large part of the required funds was contributed by the Iwamoto Foundation...

in the US, Europe and South America, and often sending professional teachers on tour to Western nations.
By 2005, the European Go Federation had a total of 35 member countries.

In 1996, NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

astronaut Daniel Barry

Daniel T. Barry

Daniel Thomas Barry is an American engineer, scientist, and a retired NASA astronaut. He was a contestant on the CBS reality television program Survivor: Panama-Exile Island...

and Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata

Koichi Wakata

is a Japanese engineer and a JAXA astronaut. Wakata is a veteran of four NASA Space Shuttle missions and a long-duration stay on the International Space Station. During a nearly two decade career in spaceflight he has logged five months in space. Wakata is currently assigned to the Soyuz...

became the first people to play Go in space, using a special Go set designed by Wai-Cheung Willson Chow. Both astronauts were awarded honorary dan rank

Dan rank

The ranking system is a Japanese mark of level, which is used in modern fine arts and martial arts. Originally invented in a Go school in the Edo period, this system was applied to martial arts by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo and later introduced to other East Asia countries.In the modern...

s by the Nihon Kiin.

Trivia

Maybe the first game of Go in Europe was played in 1872 between Kido Takayoshi

Kido Takayoshi

, also referred as Kido Kōin was a Japanese statesman during the Late Tokugawa shogunate and the Meiji Restoration. He used the alias when he worked against the Shogun.-Early life:...

and Ōkubo Toshimichi

Okubo Toshimichi

, was a Japanese statesman, a samurai of Satsuma, and one of the three great nobles who led the Meiji Restoration. He is regarded as one of the main founders of modern Japan.-Early life:...

. Both were vice ambassadors of the Iwakura Mission

Iwakura mission

The Iwakura Mission or Iwakura Embassy was a Japanese diplomatic journey around the world, initiated in 1871 by the oligarchs of the Meiji period. Although it was not the only such "mission", it is the most well-known and possibly most important for the modernization of Japan after a long period...

, which traveled to the United States and Europe between 1871 and 1873. Kido was an enthusiastic go player, as can be seen from his diary (translated by Sidney DeVere Brown and Akiko Hirota as The Diary of Kido Takayoshi, Vol. I-III, Tokyo, The University of Tokyo Press, 1983–1986). During his journey, after arriving at Birmingham on 1 November 1872 and staying at the Queen's Hotel in Room No. 10, Kido notes two days later in his diary (Vol. II, p. 243):

3 November 1872 [Meiji 5/10/3] Fair, then rain. I stayed in my room all day to recuperate from my illness, and had a special diet. I played go with Ōkubo.
(Note) Sunday.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Origin in China

Growth in east Asia

Development in the West

Trivia

See also

External links