From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Judan (十段)—which can be translated as "10 dan"—is a Go competition in Japan. It is one of the seven major professional titles.
[edit] Biography
The Judan is a Go competition used by the Japanese Nihon-Kiin and Kansai-Kiin. It was started by the Sankei Shimbun newspaper in 1962. The format is similar to the other big titles in Japan. There is a preliminary tournament that decides the challenger. Although, there is something different about the preliminary tournament. Instead of single knockout, it is a double knockout tournament. There is a losers' section where if a player loses in the preliminary, they go to the losers' section. The winner of the losers' section plays the winner of the winners' section which ultimately decides the challenger for the title. The challenger then plays against the holder in a best of 5 match.
Like the other titles in Japan, players can be promoted to higher ranks for doing a certain task. In the Judan competition, if a player wins the challenger section, they are promoted to 7 dan. Winning the title gives the player a promotion to 8 dan. If that player defends the title the next year, they are promoted to 9 dan.
[edit] Past winners
Player |
Years Held |
Hashimoto Utaro |
1962, 1971 |
Handa Dogen |
1963 |
Fujisawa Hosai |
1964 |
Takagawa Kaku |
1965 |
Sakata Eio |
1966 - 1968, 1972, 1973 |
Otake Hideo |
1969, 1980, 1981, 1993, 1994 |
Hashimoto Shoji |
1974 |
Rin Kaiho |
1975 |
Kato Masao |
1976 - 1979, 1983, 1987, 1997 |
Cho Chikun |
1982, 1988, 1989, 2005 - 2007 |
Kobayashi Koichi |
1984 - 1986, 1999, 2000 |
Takemiya Masaki |
1990 - 1992 |
Yoda Norimoto |
1995, 1996 |
Hikosaka Naoto |
1998 |
O Rissei |
2001 - 2004 |
Takao Shinji |
2008 |
[edit] Trivia
- The losers' section winner playing the winners' section winner to find the challenger for the Judan title was thought up by Fujisawa Hosai.
[edit] See also