本因坊秀策
Hon’inbō Shūsaku (1829–1862) was a leading late-Edo Go player born on Innoshima under the childhood name Torajirō. He studied in the Hon’inbō house and became Shūwa’s designated successor. His nineteen wins in castle games and the game records preserved after his death place him within both an institution and a continuing tradition of study.
Designated successor was an institutional position; he did not become head of the house.
His nineteen consecutive wins refer to castle games, rather than every game he played.
A game record documents moves; the stories attached to a game are another kind of evidence.
The memorial museum describes Torajirō learning Go from his mother and attracting the attention of the Onomichi merchant Hashimoto and local patrons. He went to Edo as a child to study in the Hon’inbō house, moving from local instruction into the life of an established Go institution.
The Hon’inbō, Inoue, Yasui and Hayashi houses organized teaching, succession and professional standing within Edo-period Go. Their relationships with shogunal offices and formal matches shaped a player’s opportunities. They belong to that institutional setting, rather than to a modern league structure.
The Nihon Ki-in dates Shūsaku’s appointment as Shūwa’s designated successor, or atome, to 1848. Shūsaku died before Shūwa and never took over the house. This position explains his place in the Hon’inbō lineage without treating him as a reigning head.
Castle games were formal matches associated with the shogunate and held at Edo Castle. Shūsaku won all nineteen of his appearances in this setting. The record describes a remarkable institutional achievement, while his wider body of games includes other results.
Castle games, 1849–1861: 19 games, 19 wins. The record concerns castle games, rather than his entire career.
Shūsaku’s 1846 game with Inoue Gen’an Inseki became famous for move 127, known as the ear-reddening move. The Nihon Ki-in’s account gives the final result as a three-point win for Shūsaku. The move number, board position and result provide concrete subjects for game study.
The familiar account says that Inseki’s ears reddened when Shūsaku’s move disturbed his confidence. The story gives the move a memorable human response. The game record itself preserves the sequence and location of stones, rather than the opponent’s ear color or thoughts.
Fuseki is the early arrangement of stones across the board. The Nihon Ki-in describes later study of the Shūsaku opening from late Meiji into Taishō, particularly in games without komi. Komi awards White points to compensate for Black’s first move; a change in this rule alters the setting in which an opening is evaluated.
The National Diet Library presents an 1861 game against Murase Shūho, dated to the third day of the ninth month in the old calendar. Shūsaku held White and lost by one point after play continued overnight. The library also records Shūho’s admiration for the care of White’s opening, showing why the game remained a subject of study.
Shūsaku died during the cholera epidemic of 1862, before succeeding to the leadership of the house. Game records and the testimony of people around him became central to the later study of his play. They also supply material for local commemoration.
The library’s 1861 White game comes from Hōen Shinpo: Uchi-go Jōseki, published in 1882. The date of play and the date of the printed record are different. Printing made a particular encounter available as a sequence that later readers could replay on a board.
Ishigaya Kōsaku compiled Kōgyoku Yoin to mark 35 years since Shūsaku’s death. Published in 1897, it contains one hundred of his games, including the 1846 encounter with Inseki. Collecting and publishing records gave the games a continuing audience.
The memorial museum introduces a board used by Shūsaku and his mother, writing on its underside and works connected with Ishigaya. Such objects bring the player’s life into view alongside the moves. Shūsaku entered the Nihon Ki-in’s Go Hall of Fame in 2004, while exhibitions and game study continue other forms of remembrance.
He was Shūwa’s designated successor, but died before becoming head of the Hon’inbō house.
His castle-game appearances, rather than every game in his career.
No. It records moves and positions; the ear-reddening account is a story associated with the game.
It preserves a specific sequence and an appreciative assessment of White’s opening, offering more to study than the result alone.
Ishigaya gathered and published one hundred Shūsaku games, helping transmit them to later readers.
Collection objects and documentary photographs are identified by their particular object, period and use.