Honinbō Retsugen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Honinbō Retsugen
Full name Honinbo Retsugen
Kanji 本因坊烈元
Date of birth 1750
Place of birth Flag of Japan, Japan
Date of death 1808
Place of death Flag of Japan, Japan

Honinbo Retsugen (本因坊烈元, 1750-1808) was a Japanese professional go player, and tenth head of the Honinbo house.

[edit] Biography

The period of the second half of the eighteenth century, as far as the game of go in Japan is concerned, is lacking in distinguishing features. It is short on both technical innovation and outstanding individuals. Some authors, for example John Fairbairn, have suggested that in this era the levels in China and in Japan were quite close, though since Japan was strictly closed this can only be argued on comparison of existing game records in very different styles.

Retsugen was on the receiving end of the brilliance of the one player of the era who still has a high reputation, Yasui Senchi. Senchi was a pioneer of the kind of centrally-oriented play later revived and refined as shinfuseki in the 1930s.

Preceded by
Honinbo Satsugen
Honinbo
17881808
Succeeded by
Honinbo Genjo
Languages