I was thinking about Jowa today and I could swear I read a story about him somewhere. It was something along the lines that while traveling he encountered a ghost or spirit of some kind. They played a game. At some point it became an issue that Jowa didn't have a great sense of what the count was, like as in he wasn't estimating the score well during the game. I seem to remember that the ghost kind of mocked him for this. As a result of this he improved in this area of the game and made a significant gain in strength.
I could have sworn I read this in the gogod materials (I have the summer 2010 edition) but I have been searching there and can't find it. I have done some google searches and some searches in these forums and on sensei's library. I have the distinct impression that it is John Fairbairn retold story but it is possible that is wrong. For some reason I really want to find the source for this story. If anyone could help me out I would appreciate it.

Here maybe?

I've heard a similar story by word of mouth about Shuei, who famously became remarkably strong late in life.

Probably just a confusion with the Jowa story, but there you go for what it's worth.

Neat story. I was trying to look up the story of Wang the Firewood Collector from that post but I had no luck. Though somehow I stumbled upon this Go related art in my search.
https://art.seattleartmuseum.org/object ... lishments;

Nice art.

See these links for the story of Wang the Firewood Collector:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranka_(legend)
- https://senseis.xmp.net/?Ranka

Oh!! He was a spectator of the famous "Rotten Axe Handle" Game. This game is in "Wizardry from the Stone Chamber". Apparently there's a different game by this name in "Carefree & Innocent Pastime". Thanks.

Thanks! That is the story I was remembering. Not sure if that is where I saw it but it's great to have it confirmed.





It's interesting that you say that. I thought it was possible that I had gotten Jowa confused with Shuei because I remember that Shuei went wandering and seemed to improve in that time. I also thought it was possible that the story about Jowa was in the Shuei book by Fairbairn. Unfortunately the go books app on ios doesn't have a search function. I checked some likely chapters but couldn't find it.

I've read Meijin of Meijins and there is a part in there that is mysterious but I don't remember any ghosts. Shuei goes to visit his Korean friend who is in Japan seeking political asylum and ends up sequestered on a remote island. Shuei plays Go with his friend but also spends a lot of time just playing by himself, or just staring at a few stones on the board. I don't think there was any suggestion that he was actually playing a spirit or anything. Anyway, this "vacation" was when Shuei supposedly studied 10,000 fusekis.

Or, was there some other story about Shuei? He did run off several times.