Yuki Satoshi

[John Fairbairn]

One thing that has long intrigued me is why we cleave to certain players. Not just in go. Often the explanation is obvious - you meet a certain pro, he looks you in the eye as he shakes your hand, and you're a fan for life. If a player is from your hometown, you are more likely to follow his career. If he is, or is in line to be, the world's best that's a good reason to follow him.

But go, for us in the west, is rather different from soccer or baseball. The pros are "over there" - we don't often meet them, we are highly unlikely to share a hometown, and we don't normally get snippets of gossip that make one guy seem more interesting than the next. So how do we choose players for our fandom?

I don't know exactly why, but for some reason I've always had a soft spot for Yuki Satoshi, the recent Tengen winner. I'm an underdog fan normally, and he is from the Kansai Ki-in. Having once heard Nihon Ki-in officials badmouth Kansai Ki-in players, I suspect I instinctively decided to support a KK player in retaliation.

But I feel vindicated today! I've just read an interview with Yuki and some of the details there made me warm to him even more. For one thing, he's got a very young family and claims that he's always tired when he has to play games locally - the kids wake him too early. He get's up at 6 and plays with them!!! Getting out of bed at 6 makes him close to Superman in my opinion, but being able to function enough to cope with toddlers at that hour - well, Lois Lane chose the wrong guy.

But more endearingly, it turns out he's a railway fanatic. He switches from the express and takes the slow train so that he can see all the local stations. I have absolutely no interest in railways and tend to regard people who do as nutters, but I've had three close friends who were just like Yuki, and somehow I've already transferred my liking for them to him!

Another thing I liked about him was that he didn't get uptight or defensive when asked about Japan's dismal showing in world events. He simply remarked that it was quite clear that there was no reason that Japan couldn't compete, and that careful preparation was the key. He was certain that opportunities would come.

I'm not sure it's rational, but I infer that other people latch on to pros for equally obscure reasons. At GoGoD we've had quite a few people over the years who've expressed an interest in games of particular players who, with the best will in the world, you can't say have any obvious charisma. But they've excited someone somehow.

What weird reasons have made you a fan of a particular go pro?

[Bill Spight]

What weird reasons for being a fan?

Hmmm. Well, except for Go Seigen, most of the pros I am a fan of are dead.

(I refrain from making a pun about rooting for dead players.)

[LovroKlc]

can you, please, give us the link to the interview?

[logan]

One of our club members became attached to Hiramoto Yasei, though I have no idea why other than one game he showed up a long time ago.

He was sad to not find any games by him in GoGod, but maybe that changed...

[snorri]

What weird reasons have made you a fan of a particular go pro?

Well, at the risk of sounding sycophantic, the GoGoD folks get a lot of credit for any opinions I might have of pros, since most of the interesting stories elsewhere are written in languages I can't read, and most of the games I've studied I've seen there first.

Often I just like a pro's games, and sometimes my interest can be caught even by one game. For some time I've been following the career of Mok Chin-seok, but it was mostly because I saw an unusual opening he played a few times. Later I saw more "normal" games that he played and I really liked his attacking style. I found I could guess his moves better that I could the moves of other pros. The few ancedotes I've seen about him indicate that he's a nice, if quirky, person, but this is mostly imagination on my part since I don't know much. I would like to know more. I like Xie He's games, too, but I don't know his story at all.

I can be a fan of a pro's games without being a fan of the person. I like Nie Weiping's games but after reading "Nie Weiping on Go" I realized that this is a person whose experiences are far removed from my own and it might be hard to relate. I still like his games, though.

I greatly appreciate and admire all of the pros who teach in the West that I've met. I think it's a wonderful thing that they are doing, so I can't say that it is weird that I admire them.

[TMark]

One of our club members became attached to Hiramoto Yasei, though I have no idea why other than one game he showed up a long time ago.

He was sad to not find any games by him in GoGod, but maybe that changed...

He changed his name from Hata Hidefumi a while back and there are a couple of games under that name in the database.

Best wishes.

[Biondy]

I like Yuki Satoshi as well. Mainly for his unusual opening choice.

[Dusk Eagle]

I personally have never been able to get too attached to any pro player for any long amount of time. If I've just read a book by or about some player, then I might like them for a short while.

[Oroth]

I've always felt an irrational attachment to Park Yeounghun for no other reason than he was the born the same year as me ('85 I believe). I imagine in some alternative universe a superior go playing version of myself enjoying a similar level of success. He's also interesting for other reasons; for example, I understand, he took an unusual route to becoming a professional - playing in independent amateur competitions rather than progressing in an insei school.

[oso]

I instantly took a liking to Kang Changbae when I saw a few of his games against strong 9dan professionals. He's a relative newcomer to the scene, having just been promoted to 2dan professional in the korean pro association, and he went on to win the BC cup undefeated, which was pretty cool.

[gowan]

I like Yuki and have followed his career for a long time, dating from his "rivalry" with Yoda. However, for someone I'm a fan of for a weird reason, how about Yamashita Keigo? I like him because of the motto he chose for his souvenir fan: 天楽

[clemi]

I confess i indeed cheer for some go players although i don't know their style of play, but rather for the print they left in history like Sakata Eio and his legendary rivalry with Fujisawa Shuko !

[youngjae]

I like Yuki and have followed his career for a long time, dating from his "rivalry" with Yoda. However, for someone I'm a fan of for a weird reason, how about Yamashita Keigo? I like him because of the motto he chose for his souvenir fan: 天楽

Just a quick correction, sorry if this seems blunt or rude but I wanted to clarify in case anyone is curious about the motto gowan mentioned. The motto on Yamashita Keigo's fan is 楽天 (rakuten) meaning 'optimism' not 天楽 (Kagura) which is a Japanese girl's name. I would find it amusing if the motto on his fan was in fact Kagura though.

As for favourite professionals, mine is An Yeong-Kil. I have met him and he is such a kind and modest person. His Go is very interesting too! He is very strong at turning around games where he is behind.

[John Fairbairn]

Just a quick correction, sorry if this seems blunt or rude but I wanted to clarify in case anyone is curious about the motto gowan mentioned. The motto on Yamashita Keigo's fan is 楽天 (rakuten) meaning 'optimism' not 天楽 (Kagura) which is a Japanese girl's name. I would find it amusing if the motto on his fan was in fact Kagura though.

Actually it seems to be both. I haven't seen it confirmed by the man himself, but it seems possible Yamashita was playing a word game. the phrase would normally be read Tenraku (Heavenly Joy), as fans are normally read right to left, but that is not a standard phrase, and there has been a suggestion that Yamashita was being deliberately different. When he signed this fan he was going into the 28th Meijin match with holder Yoda Norimoto. He needed to be optimistic. But if he won, the fan could be easily read the usual way to show his new feelings. He did, so it's now read Tenraku. It wouldn't be the only example of irregular readings of mottoes by go's freemasons. There is also Kitani's jinfu instead of jinpu.

There may even be a hint at Yamashita's love of tengen (i.e. treating the phrase as a portmanteau abbreviation of something like tengen no etsuraku.

BTW I'm not convinced that Kagura is a proper girl's name, although obviously it could be in the modern fashion. It sounds more like a name made up for a manga, and if so is possibly derived from the association of etenraku and kagura.

[youngjae]

Just a quick correction, sorry if this seems blunt or rude but I wanted to clarify in case anyone is curious about the motto gowan mentioned. The motto on Yamashita Keigo's fan is 楽天 (rakuten) meaning 'optimism' not 天楽 (Kagura) which is a Japanese girl's name. I would find it amusing if the motto on his fan was in fact Kagura though.

Actually it seems to be both. I haven't seen it confirmed by the man himself, but it seems possible Yamashita was playing a word game. the phrase would normally be read Tenraku (Heavenly Joy), as fans are normally read right to left, but that is not a standard phrase, and there has been a suggestion that Yamashita was being deliberately different. When he signed this fan he was going into the 28th Meijin match with holder Yoda Norimoto. He needed to be optimistic. But if he won, the fan could be easily read the usual way to show his new feelings. He did, so it's now read Tenraku. It wouldn't be the only example of irregular readings of mottoes by go's freemasons. There is also Kitani's jinfu instead of jinpu.

There may even be a hint at Yamashita's love of tengen (i.e. treating the phrase as a portmanteau abbreviation of something like tengen no etsuraku.

BTW I'm not convinced that Kagura is a proper girl's name, although obviously it could be in the modern fashion. It sounds more like a name made up for a manga, and if so is possibly derived from the association of etenraku and kagura.

Wow, I learn something new every day . Thank you for the explanation John and sorry to gowan for the unnecessary (and perhaps incorrect) correction. It seems I posted without proper consideration. I have Yamashita sensei's fan, so I just glanced at the kanji and it made sense left-to-right but I did not really think about the traditional direction of reading.

I think it is pretty clever that Yamashita sensei's fan reads in both directions though.