October 1974
By
Keith Arnold
Posted: 2024-10-27T06:00:00Z
In honor of the 50th anniversary of the Nihon Ki'in, the complete games of the final hereditary Hon'inbo, Shūsai, were published in six traditionally bound volumes. The Shūsai Zenshu was limited to 2000 copies.
The Meijin Title reached its conclusion. Challenger Hon'inbo Ishida entered the month 2-2 in his challenge of Rin Meijin. He went ahead on October 3-4, but Rin evened the match on October 15-16 setting up a decisive Game Seven. October 23-24 saw the birth of Ishida, Meijin-Hon'inbo, the third to achieve this feat in the tournament era, after Sakata and Rin. (Game records: Game Five, Game Six, Game Seven.)
Jon Diamond won a trip to Japan thanks to his victory in the British Championship. He and Derek Hunter arrived on October 14. The following day they met James Kerwin and learned the news that he had been accepted as an insei (live-in student) at the Nihon Ki'in. They also met the assistant editor of Go Review, John Power. Two weeks later they visited Richard Bozulich's Ishi Press offices, amused by their 20' by 5' dimensions.
On October 17, Kobayashi Kōichi 7d won the 18th Prime Minister's Cup final, over Tozawa Akinobu 7d. (Game record here.)
Game records courtesy SmartGoOne, photos from Kido Yearbook and Keith Arnold