1971 Honinbo book

[Ferran]

A silly "community history" query. Do we know why the 1971 Honinbo got an English book? There seem to be many other tournaments that were more significant than that one but have been left out. Not ignored, mind you: they appear in online videos, articles, chapters... But only in bits and pieces.
And yet, that Honinbo had its own book on the shelves months after the game.

What happened?

Take care

[John Fairbairn]

A silly "community history" query. Do we know why the 1971 Honinbo got an English book? There seem to be many other tournaments that were more significant than that one but have been left out. Not ignored, mind you: they appear in online videos, articles, chapters... But only in bits and pieces.
And yet, that Honinbo had its own book on the shelves months after the game.

I have no idea what a scratch book is but 1971 was special because Ishida became the youngest ever title winner, at age 22. That fact that it was a 7-game cliff-hanger that ended with a half-point victory also added to its memorability.

But it's not quite true that it's the only Honinbo book in English. I have produced the "Honinbo Tournament - The Early Years" as a SmartGo e-book. This gives commentaries of 32 title games up to Term 6. The fact that it has sold about 9 copies might explain why later years have not been covered. The 1971 book had similar problems, I think, being produced as a hardback.

[gowan]

The 1971 Honinbo book was originally translated for and published by Ishi Press, a major source of high level go books in English. Publishing translations requires permission from the copyright holder of the original. I think that many copyright holders of Japanese books often require a substantial payment before any translation can be published and books sold, so possibly Ishi Press had some connection with Iwamoto that made it possible. I think it is worth noting that Iwamoto was very interested in spreading go internationally.

[HKA]

The 1971 Honinbo book was originally translated for and published by Ishi Press, a major source of high level go books in English. Publishing translations requires permission from the copyright holder of the original. I think that many copyright holders of Japanese books often require a substantial payment before any translation can be published and books sold, so possibly Ishi Press had some connection with Iwamoto that made it possible. I think it is worth noting that Iwamoto was very interested in spreading go internationally.

The above does not seem to be accurate, I would not call this a translation. Certainly the introduction to the book suggests it is an original work, not translated. James Davies says it was an original idea from Richard Bozulich, who tasked Mr. Davies to make it happen.

Davies studied the games, and reviewed accounts in newspapers and magazines and then "Every Sunday afternoon (Davies) repaired to the go salon, where he would go over the games with Iwamoto 9 dan. Makari 8 dan, Fukui 5 dan and Noguchi 4 dan, all professional pupils of Iwamoto, also assisted from the to time. Thus the routine work on and the writing of the text of the book was done by Davies, while the expertise that has gone into it is professional" As described, it was an original work.

This was "Championship Go, Vol. 1" no doubt with youthful enthusiasm meant to be the first of many, but excitement wears off, and no doubt dampened by Mr. Fairbairn's remarks on sales figures.

[justtysen]

I remember reading something about it potentially being related to the contemporaneous chess craze involving Bobby Fischer. This is mentioned on the Sensei's Library page but I think I read a more specific conjecture. I'm not that familiar with it though so I'll leave this as a speculative loose-end.

[Ferran]

I have no idea what a scratch book is but 1971 was special because Ishida became the youngest ever title winner, at age 22. That fact that it was a 7-game cliff-hanger that ended with a half-point victory also added to its memorability.

Sorry, I don't know what happened. It was supposed to say 1971 Honinbo. I'd have sworn it DID say it.

Thanks to everyone who answered. Take care

[CDavis7M]

I noticed that Kiseido has this book listed. They say it was out of print for 20 years.

What's funny is that I ordered this book from Kiseido in 2009 and never received it (or I somehow lost it in my home immediately). Though I didn't notice that it was missing until later. Then when I started playing Go again in 2020 I remembered that I had ordered 1971 Honinbo Tournament and I looked all over for it, only to re-remembered that I noticed this book was missing back in 2011 or so.

Just a lament for my lost 1971 Honinbo Tournament.

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Luckily I still have the others.

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