Insei Curriculum

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chef
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Insei Curriculum

Post by chef »

Does anyone know how the training is structured for insei? I've never had anything in the way of a guide or a teacher and so I'm curious if there's such a curriculum or course.
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moyoaji
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Re: Insei Curriculum

Post by moyoaji »

Here is Sorin Gerhman's account of being a Japanese insei for 18 months: http://361points.com/inseidetails/

Apparently the students would actually study go on their own, or with other insei, a lot. It sounds like they also had professionals that they would study with (which makes since given that you need a professional to sponsor you to become an insei) and Sorin recommends reading "Hikaru no Go" if you want to better understand life as an insei - apparently it's pretty accurate.

It sounds like the weekend games against other insei are the most significant part - which is what Hikaru no Go also suggests.
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Re: Insei Curriculum

Post by walpurgis »

If you're interested in a more detailed view of insei life in genereal, you should also check out Antti Törmänen's blog at http://gooften.net/. He's covered his life as an insei with a lot of detail. You may want to start with his 2011 entries, which is when he first became an insei (currently it's his second time over).
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Re: Insei Curriculum

Post by Hushfield »

As previously pointed out by moyoaji, the main part of an insei's "official" training consists of their weekend games (they play 6 games every weekend), and having these games reviewed by professionals who act as insei teachers. I stayed in Tokyo and went to the Nihon Kiin for the English classes Antti mentions in his blog during his first stay in 2011-2012, and from what he told me back then some of the insei also attend go schools and study groups, but there's not quite as much emphasis on lectures or theory as one might think. It's mainly playing games, doing tsumego and having your mistakes pointed out to you one at a time.
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