＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
<2023/2/6 postscript> Sumire Nakamura won the Women’s Kisei title at the youngest age in history! Congratulations!
On the 6th, Sumire Nakamura 3-dan, 13, a junior high school Go player, won the 3rd game of the 26th Women’s Kisei Tournament in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, by 250 moves against Asami Ueno, 21, making her the youngest player ever to win the title at 13 years and 11 months.
The previous record was 15 years and 9 months old when Rina Fujisawa Women’s Honinbo (24) won the Aizu Central Hospital Cup in 2014, making this the first time a junior high school student has won the title.
Congratulations, Sumire Nakamura! We are rooting for you and hope you continue to do well.
1. Sota Fujii 7-dan, the “youngest professional Shogi player
In 2017-2018, Shogi’s “youngest professional player” Sota Fujii 7-dan (2002- ) made headlines for his “speedy rise” (breaking the record for the youngest 7-dan promotion: 15 years and 9 months) and “winning streak record” (breaking the all-time record: 29 consecutive wins). On January 8, 2019, he achieved a record of 18 consecutive wins in ranked tournaments since his debut, a record equal to that of the 16th Meijin, Makoto Nakahara.
２. National Honor Prize” for Shogi player Yoshiharu Habu and Go player Yuta Iyama
Yoshiharu Habu (since 1970) and Yuta Iyama (Go) were awarded the “National Medal of Honor”. In addition, Mr. Hifumi Kato (1940- ), nicknamed “Hifumin” for his unique and witty character, made a comment about Mr. Sota Fujii, which became a topic of conversation, and the chess world became very lively as he was often seen on variety TV programs.
3. Sumiret Nakamura, the “Girl Genius of Go
In the midst of all this, a girl prodigy who will breathe new life into the world of Go has appeared like a comet. Miss. Sumire Nakamura (since 2009) is currently a 9-year-old fourth grader. She will become a professional Go player this spring at the age of 10.
She is not a regular “professional Go player recruitment examination” but the first “gifted special recommendation player” newly established by the Nihon Ki-in.
Her father is a professional Go player, Mr. Shinya Nakamura 9-dan, and her mother is an amateur Go instructor. In such an environment, she learned to play Go at the age of 3, became familiar with the game naturally, and became strong in it.
From the age of 7, she and her family moved to Korea, an “advanced Go country,” for training, and continued to live back and forth between Japan and Korea in order to complete her compulsory education in Japan. She quickly learned Korean and became an interpreter for her parents.
４．Rules of Go
The rules of Go are very simple and consist of the following five points.
(1) Black and white take turns playing, (2) the player who surrounds more territory than his or her opponent wins, (3) stones can be taken if they are surrounded, (4) there are places where stones cannot be played, and (5) the “ko” rule.
In the case of Shogi, it is necessary to memorize the different places and ranges where the pieces can move depending on the type of piece.
However, Go is a very deep game, and simply knowing the rules is not enough to win the game. It is necessary to learn “joseki” and then develop various strategies.
I am not strong at all. In Go, the difference between a strong player and a weak player is as big as the difference between heaven and earth. It is called “Aigo Seimoku（「相碁井目」）.
However, with the appearance of a lovely prodigy girl like Ai Fukuhara, a ping-pong player, I think there will be a “Go boom” this year.