Dribbling down southwards from the toe of Japan, the long line of land lumps that form the Okinawan archipelago and the other Ryukyu islands hardly seems robust enough to support a thriving go community. Yet they too have had their moment of glory.
Four hundred miles to the west, across uninterrupted ocean, lies another great neighbour, China. There was a time, beginning in the early 15th century, when through their strategic location the Ryukyuans monopolised trade in South-east Asia. Domestic conditions also inhibited their principal neighbours from direct trade, but the Ryukyuans were willing and able go-betweens. They prospered and a king emerged - the King of Chuzan, the central province that eventually subjugated its northern and southern counterparts.
The Ryukyuans plied their trade even further afield, sending a major mission almost every year to countries as far away as Java and Malacca. And they were astute enough to pay tribute to their giant neighbour, China, for protection.
But like flies to the honeypot, rival traders flocked to the area. It was in part the first Europeans that dented the Ryukyuan monopoly, though it was Japanese merchants - then as now - who proved to be the most successful and aggressive interlopers. They established Japanese communities (called Nihonmachi) near several south-east Asian ports, notably in the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Macao, Vietnam and Cambodia. They were cut off from mainland Japan when the Tokugawa government enforced its national seclusion policy around 1630, and gradually lost their Japanese identity.
Before the portcullis came down, however, Lord Shimazu, the daimyo of Satsuma (modern Kagoshima in Kyushu), conquered the Ryukyu islands and set himself up as their overlord. This relationship was concealed from the Chinese to protect the lucrative trade there, and tributary missions to the Chinese court continued - with the result that ownership of the islands was not settled until the Shimonoseki Treaty after the Sino-Japanese war in 1894-95.
The gradual Japanification of the islands, and the trading wealth to support a leisured aristocracy, meant that go became a desirable accomplishment. Despite the Japanese domination, and the fact that linguistically and ethnographically the Ryukyuans are related to the Japanese, it seems that go first reached them from China. There are references from about the 15th century to "togu" or Chinese go, and also to "togu chomuti" or Chinese go manuals.
Nevertheless, Japanese influence predominated and by the turn of the 17th century go was one of the standard "four accomplishments", along with music, calligraphy and painting, among the royal family, high officials and the priesthood. The go experts naturally were anxious to try their skill against the best of the Japanese. There is an old book (Kyuyo) that says that in the reign of a Ryukyuan king who reigned from 1621 to 1640 a person called Matsuchiyo Jana (all Ryukyuan names are in their Japanese form here) defeated one Bokuseki who boasted of his skill in Kyoto.
In 1634, according to Ryukyuan sources, one of their most famous sons, Tsuhako Genju, as part of a mission to Edo, is said to have lost a game (not extant) to the second Honinbo, San'etsu, in Kyoto. He requested further instruction and eventually returned home with a 3-dan diploma.
Tsuhako, whose date of birth is not known, had the Chinese name Jiang Shide and the rank of a "peichin" or "pekumi". Peichin was something like our squire, whilst pekumi, read with exactly the same characters, was a somewhat higher level. Tsuhako's fame was as a litterateur rather than a go player, and although he visited Edo again in 1653 and 1671 he was no longer mentioned in the context of go.
The first mention that is normally quoted in Japan is the tribute mission that made the 800-mile trip to Edo in 1682. In the retinue was the Peichin of Hamahiga (one of the tiny Sakishima chain of islands). He arrived at a time when the great 4th Honinbo, Dosaku (1645-1702), had reached the height of his powers - he had just been appointed as Meijin-Godokoro (the supreme position in Japanese go) in 1678.
For the story we now turn, at some length, to the account in the huge cornucopia of Japanese go history, the Zain Danso [Go Discourses], published by the journalist Ando Toyoji in 1910 and ever since a bottomless quarry for go historians.
"Dosaku's fame quickly spread, and naturally, within Japan, even the King of Ryukyu heard about it. In the second year of the era Tenna [1682], when he was about to despatch a tributary mission, he allowed the most famous player in his lands, the Peichin of Hamahiga, to go with it. Furthermore, he sent a letter to Mitsuhisa, the Lord Shimazu, begging for a game with Dosaku.
As the unsurpassable Godokoro, Dosaku was of course unable to allow just anyone to play him, but the Shogunate authorities gave special approval to the request from the Shimazu family. Dosaku thereupon took with him four or five pupils and, on the 17th day of the fourth month of that year (1682-05-24), attended the Shimazu mansion. In the Lord's presence he allowed Hamahiga to place four stones and the result of the game was that he won by 14 points. [Click here for the game in sgf format]
This game came after the Tokugawa rulers had set up the Godokoro, and although it rebounded to Dosaku's credit, if he had somehow lost as Meijin-Godokoro it would not only have shamed the Honinbo family, but unavoidably it would have brought shame on the Emperor's lands. Not only did Dosaku have to play prudently, but he had to attend also to the matter of the handicap. However, by giving Hamahiga four stones and defeating him, Dosaku showed truly extraordinary skill.
Hamahiga regretted losing the first game so easily, and desperately wanted to play a second game. Dosaku therefore played him again, losing by 2 points [or 3 - records vary; click here for the game], so that honours were then even. Afterwards, while he remained in Japan, Hamahiga repeatedly studied Dosaku's games and became increasingly astonished at the Meijin's extraordinary talent. He himself also made some progress, and he wished to obtain a diploma from the Meijin-Godokoro as a souvenir when he returned home. Eventually he applied for this to the Godokoro through Mitsuhisa. Dosaku also greatly appreciated his intentions, and granted him a diploma which specified that he should take a handicap of two stones to a 7-dan.
The diploma was written entirely in Chinese, and was specially approved by Kikuchi Doin, a pupil at the Imperial University founded by Hayashi Razan in Kyoto. The full text is as follows:
Herewith: In the summer of the 59th year of the cycle [1682], you did, as Envoy, accompany your royal prince's mission to the court and did stay in the government capital of Edo. The Lord Mitushisa of Satsuma, Middle Commander of the Left, bade me play against you and to observe your go. I deeply admired your rare talent. The Lord Mitsuhisa commanded me to assess the degree of your accomplishments in go. In view of the profundity of your thoughts and the breadth of your plans, I authorise that while you are in the land of Japan, the handicapping arrangement shall be such as not to exceed two go stones against a person of the rank of 7-dan. Hereafter, Sir, if you plumb yet further depths in your thoughts on our Way of Go, your skill will advance further and your accomplishments will be yet more refined. Please, Sir, be diligent.
So Hamahiga received his diploma and was obviously overjoyed. The Lord of Satsuma was also immensely satisfied, and honoured Dosaku with 70 pieces of silver, 12 painted scrolls and two barrels of rice brandy, whilst from Hamahiga he separately received 10 pieces of silver."
After Hamahiga returned home, having obtained his diploma from Dosaku, go in the Ryukyu islands gradually began to improve, and the King of Chuzan also encouraged this. When he sent a tribute mission to the Japanese court in the 7th year of the Hoei era (1710), he had the go player Yara Satonushi attached to it, and forwarded a request to Lord Shimazu that, as on the previous occasion, he should play a game with a member of the Honinbo family.
