The Kisei is a Go competition. The title, meaning go sage in Japanese, was a traditional honorary appellation given to a handful of players down the centuries. The element ki can also apply to shogi

Shogi

, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...

, and there were also recognized kisei in the shogi world.

Background

Kisei is a Go competition organised by the Japanese Nihon Ki-in

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...

. The competition began in 1976 by the Yomiuri Shimbun

Yomiuri Shimbun

The is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five national newspapers in Japan; the other four are the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and the Sankei Shimbun...

newspaper and is currently the highest paying competition in Japanese professional Go

Go players

This page gives an overview of well-known players of the game of Go throughout the ages. The page has been divided into sections based on the era in which the Go players played and the country in which they played. As this was not necessarily their country of birth, a flag of that country precedes...

, paying ¥

Japanese yen

The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third most traded currency in the foreign exchange market after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a reserve currency after the U.S. dollar, the euro and the pound sterling...

45,000,000 (approximately $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

557,000 as of 29 June 2011) is the payoff for the winner. The word Kisei is 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...

 for "Go Saint", which is why before the Kisei tournament began, the only players who were given the title "Kisei" were Dōsaku

Honinbo Dosaku

Hon'inbō Dōsaku was a professional go player.- Biography :Dōsaku was one of the greatest go players in history. He was born in the Iwami province of Japan and studied Go in the Hon'inbō school, becoming Meijin at a very young age....

 and Hon′inbō Shūsaku

Honinbo Shusaku

Honinbo Shusaku was a professional Go player and is considered by many to be the greatest player of the golden age of Go in the mid-19th century.- Biography :He was nicknamed "Invincible" after he earned a perfect score for 19 straight wins in the annual castle...

.

The holder is challenged by whoever wins the round robin league. Players can get into the round robin league by going through many preliminary

Preliminary

Preliminary may refer to:*Preliminary internships*Preliminary English Test*Preliminary examination*Preliminary finals*Preliminary hearing*Preliminary Multistate Bar Review*Preliminary Notice...

 tournaments. Once there is a challenger to compete against the holder, the winner is decided through a best of seven match. The games are played over two days and each player is given eight hours of thinking time. If a player qualifies for the Kisei league, they are automatically promoted to 7 dan

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...

. If that same player wins the league, a promotion to 8 dan is given. If that same player goes on to winning the title, they are promoted to 9 dan, the highest rank.

Past winners

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up
1977 1st Kisei The 1st Kisei was the birth of a new Go tournament. Since this was the first year of the tournament, there was no set challenger or holder. From the 2nd edition on, there has been a playoff between challengers. At the time, it was the highest paying tournament there had ever been, and would be up...	Hideyuki Fujisawa Hideyuki Fujisawa , also known as Shuko Fujisawa, was a Japanese professional Go player.- Biography :Hideyuki Fujisawa was born in Yokohama, Japan. He was one of the best players during his era. One of the "Three Crows" along with Yamabe Toshiro and Keizo Suzuki...	4–1	Utaro Hashimoto Utaro Hashimoto was a professional Go player.- Biography :Hashimoto became a pro in 1922 when he was 15. He would win the Honinbō 3 times before finally reaching 9p in 1954. He founded the Kansai Ki-in in 1950.- Titles and runner-ups:...
1978 2nd Kisei The 2nd Kisei was the 2nd edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Fujisawa Hideyuki won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would...	Hideyuki Fujisawa	4–3	Masao Kato Masao Kato - Titles and runners-up :Ranks #4 in total amount of titles in Japan.-Books:*Kato's Attack and Kill ISBN 4-87187-027-2*The Chinese Opening ISBN 4-906574-33-5-External links:...
1979 3rd Kisei The 3rd Kisei was the 3rd edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Fujisawa Hideyuki won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would...	Hideyuki Fujisawa	4–1	Yoshio Ishida Yoshio Ishida is a professional Go player.- Biography :By the time he was 8, Ishida started learning Go. He was a student at the legendary Kitani Minoru go school. Famous along with his fellow students Cho Chikun, Kobayashi Koichi, Kato Masao, and Takemiya Masaki. Alike his fellow students, he joined the dojo at...
1980 4th Kisei The 4th Kisei was the 4th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Fujisawa Hideyuki won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would...	Hideyuki Fujisawa	4–1	Rin Kaiho Rin Kaiho Rin Kaiho is a professional Go player.-Biography:Rin Kaiho was born in Shanghai, China. He was a student of Go Seigen when Go brought him to Japan in 1952. He was a promising player who won his first title at the age of 23, the Meijin. He is also part of the 1200 win group...
1981 5th Kisei The 5th Kisei was a Go competition, the 5th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Fujisawa Hideyuki won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to...	Hideyuki Fujisawa	4–0	Hideo Otake Hideo Otake is a Japanese Go player.- Biography :Otake was born in Kitakyūshū City, Japan. He joined the legendary Kitani Minoru school when he was 9, and quickly rose up the ranks to turn professional in 1956, when he was 14. He progressed swiftly, achieving 9 dan in 1970...
1982 6th Kisei The 6th Kisei was the 6th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Fujisawa Hideyuki won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would...	Hideyuki Fujisawa	4–3	Rin Kaiho
1983 7th Kisei The 7th Kisei was the 7th edition of the Kisei Go tournament, played in 1983. Since Fujisawa Hideyuki won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match...	Cho Chikun Cho Chikun Cho Chihun 25th Honinbo Honorary Meijin is a professional Go player. His total title tally of 71 titles is the most in the history of the Japanese Nihon Ki-in. Cho is the only player to hold the top three titles—Kisei, Meijin, and Honinbo—simultaneously which he did for 3 years in a row...	4–3	Hideyuki Fujisawa
1984 8th Kisei The 8th Kisei was the 8th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Cho Chikun won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Cho...	Cho Chikun	4–2	Rin Kaiho
1985 9th Kisei The 9th Kisei was the 9th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Cho Chikun won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eight players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face Cho...	Cho Chikun	4–3	Masaki Takemiya Masaki Takemiya is a professional Go player.- Biography :Masaki Takemiya was born in Japan. He became one of the many disciples of the Minoru Kitani school. His rise to fame began when he was only 15 years old. By the time he was 15, he was already 5 dan. He earned the nickname "9 dan killer" because he won...
1986 10th Kisei The 10th Kisei was the 10th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Cho Chikun won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Twelve players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who would face...	Koichi Kobayashi Koichi Kobayashi is a Go player.- Biography :Koichi Kobayashi was born in Asahikawa, Japan. He was one of the more famous disciples of the legendary Minoru Kitani; he studied along with Cho Chikun, Masao Kato, Yoshio Ishida, and Masaki Takemiya. He would go on and marry the daughter of his teacher, Reiko Kitani , a...	4–2	Cho Chikun
1987 11th Kisei The 11th Kisei was the 11th edition of the Kisei tournament. Since Koichi Kobayashi won the previous year, he is given an automatic place in the final. Eleven players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3 match to decide who...	Koichi Kobayashi	4–1	Masaki Takemiya
1988 12th Kisei The 12th Kisei was the 12th edition of the Kisei tournament for the game of Go. Since Koichi Kobayashi won the previous year, he was given an automatic place in the final. Eleven players battled in a knockout tournament to decide the final two. Those two would then play each other in a best-of-3...	Koichi Kobayashi	4–1	Masao Kato
1989 13th Kisei The 13th Kisei was a Go competition that took place in 1989. Koichi Kobayashi won the title 4 games to 1 over Masaki Takemiya.-Tournament:-Challenger finals:-Finals:...	Koichi Kobayashi	4–1	Masaki Takemiya
1990 14th Kisei The 14th Kisei was a Go competition that took place in 1990. Koichi Kobayashi won the title 4 games to 1 over Hideo Otake.-Tournament:-Challenger finals:-Finals:...	Koichi Kobayashi	4–1	Hideo Otake
1991 15th Kisei The 15th Kisei 15th iteration of the Kisei tournament, a tournament in the board game go. It was won by Kobayashi Koichi, the defending champion, and held in Japan in 1991. Kobayashi won 4 games to 3 over Kato Masao in the final.-Tournament:...	Koichi Kobayashi	4–3	Masao Kato
1992 16th Kisei -Tournament:...	Koichi Kobayashi	4–3	Hiroshi Yamashiro Hiroshi Yamashiro is a professional Go player.- Biography :Yamashiro grew up with Go, as he became a professional in 1972. He would eventually join the Nagoya branch of the Nihon Ki-in. He has challenged for many of Japan's biggest titles, but he hasn't won any of them. He became a 9 dan in 1985, after winning the...
1993 17th Kisei -Tournament:...	Koichi Kobayashi	4–3	Masao Kato
1994 18th Kisei -Tournament:...	Cho Chikun	4–2	Koichi Kobayashi
1995 19th Kisei The 19th Kisei was the 19th edition of the Kisei tournament of the board game go, in 1995. Since Cho Chikun won the previous year, he was given an automatic place in the final to defend his title. Sixteen players battled in a single elimination tournament to decide the final 2. Those two would...	Satoru Kobayashi Satoru Kobayashi is a professional Go player.- Biography :Satoru Kobayashi is a professional Go player, who plays for the Japanese Nihon Ki-in. His rank is 9 dan, and he is known for his pincer style. He has one brother and sister, who are also professionals - Chizu Kobayashi and Kenji Kobayashi.- Suspension :In...	4–2	Cho Chikun
1996 20th Kisei The 20th Kisei 20th iteration of the Kisei tournament, a tournament in the board game go. It was won by Cho Chikun and held in 1996. The first match was played outside of Japan, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Chikun won 4 games to 3 over Kobayashi Satoru in the final.- Tournament :- Challenger...	Cho Chikun	4–3	Satoru Kobayashi
1997	Cho Chikun	4–1	Satoru Kobayashi
1998 22nd Kisei -Tournament:...	Cho Chikun	4–2	Norimoto Yoda Norimoto Yoda is a professional Go player.-Biography:Yoda is a student of Takeo Ando. He has won 34 titles so far in his career, the sixth highest in Japan. He became a professional in 1980, and reached 9 dan in 1993...
1999 23rd Kisei -Tournament:...	Cho Chikun	4–2	Koichi Kobayashi
2000 24th Kisei -Tournament:...	O Rissei O Rissei Ō Rissei is a professional Go player in Japan.- Biography :Rissei was born in Taiwan and moved to Japan when he was 13 years old; he would become professional the following year. His instructor is Kano Yoshinori.- Titles and runners-up :Ranks #10-t in total amount of titles in Japan.-External...	4–2	Cho Chikun
2001 25th Kisei Kisei is a Go competition used by the Japanese Nihon-Kiin. The 2001 Kisei was the first edition that used the group system. Preliminary tournaments were held to find the twelve players to split into two groups. The players with the most wins advance to the challenger final...	O Rissei	4–2	Cho Sonjin Cho Sonjin Cho Sonjin is a professional Go player.Cho spent 12 years in South Korea before deciding to leave and become a professional in Japan, accomplishing his goal two years later. He was promoted to 9 dan in 1998. In 1999, he defeated Cho Chikun in the Honinbo, ending Chikun's 10 year run with the...
2002 26th Kisei -Group A:-Group B:-Group C:-Group D:-Group A:-Group B:Key:*Green - Winner of group; earns a spot in the challenger final.*Blue - Earns a place in the next edition's group stage....	O Rissei	4–2	Ryu Shikun Ryu Shikun Ryu Shikun in Seoul, South Korea, is a professional Go player.- Biography :Ryu Shikun is a Go player who grew up in Seoul. He did not move to Japan until he was 15, and just 2 years later he turned professional. He was promoted to 9 dan in 2003.- Titles & runners-up :-External Links:**...
2003 27th Kisei -Group A:-Group B:-Group C:-Group D:-Group A:-Group B:Key:*Green - Winner of group; earns a spot in the challenger final.*Blue - Earns a place in the next edition's group stage....	Keigo Yamashita Keigo Yamashita is a professional Go player. Yamashita adopted the name Honinbo Dowa after winning his first Honinbo title in 2010.-Biography:A student of Yasuro Kikuchi, Yamashita turned professional in 1993. He won the 19th Kisei 2 dan division in 1994. Yamashita reached the challenger finals of the Tengen in 1999...	4–1	O Rissei
2004	Naoki Hane Naoki Hane is a professional Japanese 9 dan Go player currently affiliated with the Nihon Ki-in. He is both the son, and student, of Yasumasa Hane, who is also a professional 9 dan of the Nihon Ki-in.- Titles and runners-up :-Promotion record:-Awards:...	4–3	Keigo Yamashita
2005	Naoki Hane	4–3	Satoshi Yuki Satoshi Yuki is a Japanese professional Go player.- Biography :Yuki won the NHK Cup in 2010 for the second time in a row, becoming the third player after Eio Sakata and Norimoto Yoda to do such. He was selected as a representative of the Japanese team at the 16th Asian Games. In 2010, Yuki reached the final of...
2006 30th Kisei The 30th Kisei was held from May 2005 to February 22, 2006. The players to have qualified through preliminary tournaments are Toshiya Imamura, Atsushi Kato, Hideki Komatsu, and Kunihisa Honda. The players to have returned from the previous year are Satoshi Yuki, Norimoto Yoda, Cho U, Tomoyasu...	Keigo Yamashita	4–0	Naoki Hane
2007 31st Kisei The 31st Kisei is being held from May 2006 to March 22, 2007. The following players earned spots through not being eliminated in the group stage: Satoshi Yuki , Tomoyasu Mimura , Kato Atsushi , Kobayashi Satoru , Komatsu Hideki , Norimoto Yoda , and O Rissei...	Keigo Yamashita	4–0	Satoru Kobayashi
2008 32nd Kisei The 32nd Kisei is being held from January 2007 to 2008. The following players earned spots through not being eliminated in the group stage: Naoki Hane , Cho U , Satoru Kobayashi , Atsushi Kato , O Rissei Hideki Komatsu , Norimoto Yoda , and Imamura Toshiya...	Keigo Yamashita	4–3	Cho Chikun
2009	Keigo Yamashita	4–2	Norimoto Yoda
2010	Cho U Cho U Cho U Kisei, Oza is a professional Go player. He currently ranks 6th in the most titles won by a Japanese professional; his NEC Cup win in 2011 put him past his teacher Rin Kaiho and Norimoto Yoda. Cho is the only player in history to have held five of the top seven major titles...	4–1	Keigo Yamashita
2011 35th Kisei The 35th Kisei began league play on 3 June 2010 and concluded with Cho U defending his title in six games over challenger Iyama Yuta on 11 March 2011.-Preliminary tournament:The preliminary tournament started on 17 December 2009...	Cho U	4–2	Yuta Iyama Yuta Iyama is a Japanese professional Go player.-Biography:Born in Osaka, Iyama became the first professional of the Heisei period. He began playing Go at the age of five and reached the rank of 3 dan amateur a year later. It was at this time Kunio Ishii became Iyama's teacher, with the two playing thousands...

External link

• Official Kisei page of Yomiuri Shinbun (in Japanese)