Life In 19x19

Folks here like to see go equipment purchases, so who am I to deny such a guilty pleasure? I purchased this 5.8-sun (17.5cm) Japanese floor goban from a furniture/antiquities importer here in the US; the wood was not specified, but the appearance (and the scent!) seem to indicate true Kaya. The grain is a bit wide (so I wouldn't insist on Hygu-kaya) but I love its beautiful flowing Tenchimasa cut and its clear, straight surface grain, with no color irregularities. Despite being used, the goban has nary a scratch or dent, and I am currently keeping it in its shipping box while I seek a five-sided acrylic cube to store within so as to keep it pristine (and away from harm by children and cats). I am truly in awe of this board, and have yet to put stone to wood--I may wait until I have shell and slate stone set worthy of its grandeur. I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to purchase such a lovely item, and I am particularly humbled and honored by the price, which was an order of magnitude less than what one would expect if purchasing a similar board from a manufacturer like Kuroki Goishiten (and that is before factoring in shipping). But enough non-essential details--I'll let the pictures carry the show. I have attached three shots here and in the following two posts (as I find I cannot include more than three images per posting--I am such a newbie!!). Hope you enjoy this little dose of "go porn"

schwartzseer wrote:I cannot include more than three images per posting

But you can continue to add new posts to the same thread, like this one.

Next time please follow EdLee's advice and just put multiple posts into a single topic. I merged your three separate threads into a single thread.

<turning green with envy>

Congratulation on your lucky purchase of such a temple for the Go game.


Greetz, Tom

From "The Go Player's Almanac 2001" published by Kiseido.
Page 145 of chapter 13 "A Survey of the Best in Go Equipment"

The grain is probably the single most important property of a good board. With the very best board, some connoisseurs will even consider the number of grain lines across the top - 200 is the minimum but over 300 can be found on some boards.

tchan001 wrote:From "The Go Player's Almanac 2001" published by Kiseido.
Page 145 of chapter 13 "A Survey of the Best in Go Equipment"

The grain is probably the single most important property of a good board. With the very best board, some connoisseurs will even consider the number of grain lines across the top - 200 is the minimum but over 300 can be found on some boards.

Does this mean that the pictured Goban is of inferior quality since it only has ~70 lines and thus way less than the “minimum”?

Schwartzseer, if now you feel the need to rid yourself of that ugly Goban I might be be able to do you a favour

What a beautiful goban! Great find!

Beautiful. Now for the stones....

Totally love it.

If you don't approve of the number of grain lines, I will be most happy to depart you from this goban

I am no wood or goban expert, but that grain looks a lot like my shin-kaya tabletop board.

It's gorgeous!

joellercoaster wrote:I am no wood or goban expert, but that grain looks a lot like my shin-kaya tabletop board.

It's gorgeous!

I suspect it may be spruce as well, but it's still a lovely board I may be a bit jealous over .

Beautiful Board! Grats!