Maeda Tsumego excerpt

[Cassandra]

Dear John,

Thank you very much indeed for your very detailled reply.
It was not at all my intention to offend anybody, perhaps there was a kind of misunderstanding, due to my low level of understanding English. And the much more lower level of understanding Japanese.

You are right that 高段 ("high Dan") is also used in several Tsume-Go books.

However, the usual distinction in ranks, given in the various series (e.g. in the book's titles) that I have in mind, is

-- 初級
-- 中級
-- 上級
-- 初段
-- 有段

In my opinion, this makes sense, only in the case that "beginner Dan" is NOT included in what "owns a Dan(-rank)". This implies that the problems in the latter books cannot be designed primarily for "beginner Dan", e.g. "shodan", "nidan", but for stronger Dan.

[John Fairbairn]

In my opinion, this makes sense, only in the case that "beginner Dan" is NOT included in what "owns a Dan(-rank)". This implies that the problems in the latter books cannot be designed primarily for "beginner Dan", e.g. "shôdan", "nidan", but for stronger Dan.

I've seen things like that, but what I think you'll find if you read the prefaces and so on is that shodan is to be taken as aspirational, and that your actual strength is expected to be 1 or 2 kyu. You are doing the problems in order to cross the dan threshold. Similarly for other grades. You are not meant to think like an adult buying a pair of trousers where the waist is a snug fit. You are meant to be like the mother buying a pair for her little boy who she knows will grow.

BTW shodan has a short o.

[Cassandra]

I've seen things like that, but what I think you'll find if you read the prefaces and so on ...

Sorry, usually contains too much prosaicness for me.

BTW shodan has a short o.

Thanks.

[gowan]

Segoe once wrote that an amateur shodan would take 4 stones from a pro.

In that case what was the highest amateur dan rank? I had assumed it was at least 6, is this wrong? Or were ranks not one handicap stone apart?

I think that 30 or 40 years ago the highest amateur rank was 5-dan. Players who won national tournaments multiple times might be awarded 6-dan, but they were functionally pro strength anyhow.