The Teacher's Test

15 November 1851. Edo, Japan. Honinbo Shusaku, 24 years old and 6-dan, faced his teacher Honinbo Shuwa, 8-dan and head of the Honinbo house, in the first game of a celebrated series between pupil and master. Shusaku took Black. After 227 moves he won by four points. The game would become famous twice: once in go history, and again in popular culture as the model for the first match between Akira Toya and Fujiwara-no-Sai in Hikaru no Go.

Pupil and Master

Shusaku possessed an unusual modesty for one so strong. Even after reaching 7-dan he refused to take White against Shuwa out of respect for his teacher, a handicap that makes their overall record difficult to interpret as a pure strength comparison. In 1851, however, he was Black, and he played with the territorial directness that characterised his style with the first-move advantage.

The Shusaku Diagonal

Shusaku opened with a komoku (3-4 point) in one corner and extended with a 4-5 point in the diagonal corner, a fuseki pattern that bears his name to this day. In the no-komi era, Black's approach emphasised secure territory rather than vast frameworks. Shuwa answered with the flexible, amashi-influenced play that had made him one of the Four Sages. The game developed into a classical middle-game struggle: Black consolidating gains, White seeking complications.

Result and Legacy

Shusaku's reading proved sound. He held his territorial lead through the yose and won by four points. The series continued through late 1851 and into 1852; Shuwa took White in every game. Sensei's Library confirms that the manga and anime adaptation uses this specific kifu (1851-11-15, B+4, not the two-point margin sometimes misquoted) for Hikaru and Akira's first encounter.

For students of go, the game remains a textbook example of classical Black play in the Edo period: the Shusaku diagonal, patient strengthening of groups, and a steady conversion of advantage into victory against one of the era's greatest masters.

Primary sources for this account include the CWI Amsterdam Shusaku archive (RE[B+4], 227 moves), Sensei's Library (Hikaru no Go/Games), John Power's Invincible, and Wikipedia's biography of Honinbo Shuwa.