Nowadays, everyone often hears the words "Honinbo" and "Celebrity" in the news about Go games. This is the title of the Go champion. Whoever wins the championship can be called Honinbo. Or celebrities. In other words, the title is a specific title for the champion of certain competitions. So where did these two titles come from? We have to go back in history:

There are four great masters in the history of Japanese Go, namely: Honinbo, Yasui, Inoue, and Hayashi, which are often referred to as the "Four Go Schools". Among them, the Honinbo discipline is particularly eye-catching. The first Honinbo Susaku, the fourth Honinbo Doze and Honinbo Hidesaku are all iconic figures in the history of Japanese Go. Honinbo Sanza (1559-1623) was an eminent monk of Jakkoji Temple in Kyoto. He was the originator of Go in modern Japan and the founder of the Honinbo family. He is famous for playing the first "Tenran Go" in 1603. Honinbo Doze (1645-1702) was a Go master in the early Edo period and was known as "the invincible". It was he who integrated the rank system, cultivated many outstanding disciples, and was revered as the "Sage of Chess". Honinbo Shusaku (1829-1862), who is also known as the "Sage of Chess", established the layout of the "Shusaku style" and laid the foundation for the modern layout.

The origins of the names Honinbo, celebrity, and chess institute are directly related to the sand counting of Honinbo. It’s a long story:

Honinbo was originally the name of a temple. Japan's first Honinbo, whose common name was Kano Yosaburo, was born in the Jiajing period (around 1557), which was the famous "Warring States Period" in the history of the Japanese island country. In order to escape the dust of the Warring States Period, his father sent him to Jingguang Temple to become a monk, with the Buddhist name Rihai. The little monk Rihai is extremely smart and has great chess talent. While he was chanting sutras and chanting Buddha's name, he was also very interested in Go. At that time, Nobu Oda, a famous hero in the history of the Japanese island country, was also a chess fan and often invited Sunami to play games with him. Oda Nobunaga was quite conceited about his chess prowess. Unexpectedly, Hinami gave him five pieces and he was still able to do it with ease. Oda was extremely impressed by Hinami's chess skills. After Hinami made a good move, he praised him: "You are really a celebrity." Oda Nobunaga opened his mouth. This is the origin of Go celebrity. At that time, in the Tensho 6th year of Emperor Ohimachi's reign (1578), Hinami was only twenty-two years old.

In the tenth year of Tensho (1582), Oda Nobunaga held a chess banquet and invited Hikkai and another famous master Shikano Toshiken to play chess. He and his generals sat quietly and watched the game. As a result, there was a rare three calamities without a winner, and the two sides had to reach an agreement to treat it as a draw with no winners. At midnight that night, the general Akechi Mitsuhide rebelled, and Oda Nobunaga and his son Nobutada died in the fire of random arrows. This is the famous Honnoji Incident in the history of the Japanese island country. Therefore, to this day, there is still a saying in the Japanese chess world that the three calamities are unlucky.

Rikai was a very loyal person. When the rebels were still gaining momentum, he publicly summoned monks to build a water and land dojo for Oda and his son, and prayed for Nobunaga and his son's blessings with great fanfare. Everyone at the time thought that Rikai's move was dangerous, but Rikai never looked back. His courage is indeed worthy of admiration. Soon after, Toyotomi Hideyoshi returned to his army to quell the rebellion of Akechi Mitsuhide. He heard about Hikkai's righteous deeds and admired him very much. Toyotomi Hideyoshi also loved playing chess and believed that the theory of chess was connected with the art of war, so he strongly advocated it. With the help of Hideyoshi, Nikami expanded and renovated Jakkoji Temple, and renamed it Honinbo and Sanzasa himself. This is the origin of the Honinbo sect.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi also established a "chess institute" for Nikkai. As the honor of the first national player, a subsidy of 300 shilumi was allocated every year, and the state paid for the support of the chess players. It is now the "National Chess Academy".

At that time, the ranking examination was extremely strict. In addition to strength, it also required years of examination. It was very different from today's high-level chess players flying all over the world. In addition to strength, rank also represents status in the chess world. At that time, fifth-dan was considered a master player, and seventh-dan was called "advanced", which meant that one had entered the ranks of first-class masters. It was very remarkable to obtain seventh-dan before the age of 30. It's over. Eight-dan is a quasi-celebrity, and there are at most two or three in the same generation. Jiuduan is the highest rank, but there can only be one person, that is, a "celebrity", and there can only be one celebrity at the same time. Once promoted to ninth dan, it means that you will be appointed as the "chess office" at any time, so the two can be regarded as synonymous.

The Honinbo family is the most prosperous of the four and has made the greatest contribution to the development of Japanese Go skills. Among the 10 celebrities in the history of Japanese Go (Kudan, Gosho), Honinbo alone accounts for 7 of them.

Today, although the ancient shogi family sect system no longer exists, the name "Honinbo" is still the same as the "celebrity", as one of the championship titles of Japan's highest level chess competition. , becoming the target of competition among top chess players.

The history of Go in Japan seems like a novel to us today, which is very interesting. But back then, it was a battlefield where chess players' lives were at stake. If you know this history, watching "Soul of Chess" will be more interesting.

The only titles that currently exist in China are Tianyuan, Celebrity, Chess Saint and Rookie King. The Chess Championship has been held before, but only once. In several other competitions, the champion does not have a special honorary title, that is, he does not have a title.