＜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:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49) on X
I previously wrote an article about Nakamura Sumire, the Go genius girl, but in February 2018, Go player Iyama Yuta (1989- ) was awarded the People’s Honor Award, and the world of Go has been full of topics in recent years.
By the way, there are many interesting words in Japanese that originated from the game of Go.
1. Dame：駄目 (No Good)
“Dame” is a commonly used word to describe something that should not be done, something that cannot be done, or a bad situation.
In Go, “dame” refers to a place (eye) on the border between two players that is not owned by either player and is not worth playing. A “eye” is a place to place a Go stone, the intersection of a vertical or horizontal line.
By the way, filling a “dame” with a Go stone (any Go stone will do) just to be sure, making the positions of both players clearer, is called “dameoshi” (a complete overrun). This word is also used in everyday terms to mean “checking again just to be sure,” or in sports matches to mean “scoring more points or making an attack to secure victory even when the outcome is almost certain.”
2. Okame Hachimoku：岡目八目
“Okame Hachimoku” means that a third party watching from the sidelines can more accurately judge the state of things, the pros and cons of things, the situation, and the pros and cons of the game than a party directly involved in the matter.
When watching a game of Go from the sidelines, one can think more rationally than the person actually playing, and can therefore predict the game to the point where there is a difference of eight points in skill (or can foresee moves eight points into the future). This phrase comes from the idea that “Okame” means watching what others are doing from the sidelines.
“Okame(「岡目」)” can also be written as “Side view（「傍目」）.”
As an aside, other words that contain “oka” include “okabore（「岡惚（ぼ）れ」）,” “okayaki（「岡焼き」）,” and “oka hyogi（「岡評議」）.” Okabore is when you secretly fall in love with someone from the sidelines, and Okayaki is when you are jealous of someone’s close relationship from the sidelines, even though it has no direct bearing on you. Oka hyogi refers to pointless and wasteful discussions between outsiders. It is also called “oka ginmi(「岡吟味」).”
3.Ichimoku oku：一目置く（いちもくおく）（ To be respected）
“To respectfully place one stone” means to acknowledge that your opponent is superior to you and show them respect. Sometimes, to emphasize this, one can say “to respectfully place both one stone and two stones.”
In Go, if there is a difference in skill between players, the weaker player may place stones on the board beforehand as a handicap. This is a handicap game called “oki-go.”
In Go, black usually plays first, but in oki-go, white plays first. Since simply placing one stone is no different from regular Go, in oki-go, the weaker player places two or more stones before the match begins.
In shogi, there are also handicap games called “ni-mai-ochi,” in which the skilled player removes their major pieces, the rook and bishop, or “bishop-ochi,” in which only the bishop is removed.
4. Shiro-kuro tsukeru：白黒つける（しろくろつける）（Settling the White and the White）
“To settle” means “to decide whether something is right or wrong, good or bad, true or false, or to reach a conclusion.” It can also be said as “to settle black and white.”
This phrase comes from the game of Go, where the winner is decided by using white and black stones.
5. Fuseki wo uttsu：布石を打つ（ふせきをうつ）（Making a move )
“Making a move” means “to prepare in advance for the future.”
In Go, “fuseki” refers to the placement of stones at key points in the early stages of a game.
This term has come to mean “preparing for the future,” as it refers to laying the foundation for how the game will proceed.
6. Suteishi：捨て石（すていし）（Sacrificing a stone )
A “sacrifice stone” is “doing something that may seem useless in the moment for the sake of the future or a greater goal,” “something that is abandoned in order to achieve a greater goal,” or “deliberately sacrificing something for the future.”
In the game of Go, a “sacrifice stone” is “a stone that is deliberately placed in a way that allows the opponent to take it in order to put the situation in your favor.”
When I was a university student, I read “Volume 2: Listen to the Voices of the Sea（「第2集 きけわだつみのこえ」）,” published by Kobunsha. The overall tone of the book, as I recall, was not one that directly criticized war, but rather contained stories of regret and resignation from being forced to go to war halfway through one’s studies, a tragic determination to become a “sacrifice stone” for the sake of peace, and philosophical content that reflected on one’s inner self.
7. Mokuromi：目論見（もくろみ）（Intentions）
“Planning” means “thinking through plans to do something.”
In Go, “counting your own and your opponent’s territory and assessing the situation during a game” is called “mokusan.” “Planning” means “making a plan.”
8.Katsuro：活路（かつろ）（ Ways to Live)
“Katsuro” means “a way to survive a difficult situation.”
In Go, “katsuro” refers to “the path for stones to survive.”
9. Shikatsumondai：死活問題（しかつもんだい）（Life and Death Issues)
A “life-and-death issue” refers to a “serious matter of life or death.”
In Go, “stones that can never be captured by the opponent” and “stones that, even if captured, can be replaced with new stones that cannot be captured” are called “living stones,” while “stones that can be captured by the opponent other than these” are called “dead stones,” and together these are called “life and death.”
10. Yaocho：八百長（やおちょう）（Match-fixing）
“Yaocho” means “appearing to be a serious contest, but in fact ending the match as agreed upon beforehand.”
However, this term “yaocho” does not originate from the game of Go itself.
“Yaocho” comes from Chobei, a greengrocer’s owner in the Meiji period. Chobei, commonly known as “Yaocho,” was a Go partner of Iseumi Godayu, a sumo elder.
Chobei was a superior Go player, but for business reasons, he would deliberately lose matches to skillfully adjust the outcome and curry favor with Iseumi Godayu.
From this story, the term “yaocho” came to be used in the sumo world to describe deliberate losses by adjusting the outcome. Eventually, it came to refer more broadly to matches that were agreed upon in advance, and the term came to be used to refer to competitions other than sumo as well.
11.Kurouto・Shirouto：玄人（くろうと）・素人（しろうと） (Experts and Amateurs)
“Kurouto” means “a person who specializes in a certain field,” while “Shirouto” means “someone who lacks specialized knowledge or skills.”
It’s unclear whether these words originally originated from the game of Go.
In amateur Go, where players like us can’t even be called “amateur,” stronger players have white stones and weaker players have black stones, so it seems like a bit of a contradiction.
However, while in modern times higher-ranked players have white stones and lower-ranked players have black stones, it seems that in the past higher-ranked players had black stones.
There is also the following theory about the origin of the words “amateur” and “gennin.”
In the Heian period, “artists who only wore white makeup and had no talent” were called “shirohito” (white person), and this changed to “shirauto” in the Muromachi period and to “shirouto” in the Edo period.
It is not clear why the kanji for “shirohito” changed to “amateur,” but the character “素” (so) can mean “as is” as well as “ordinary” or “shabby,” so it is possible that it comes from that.
The antonym of “Shirouto” (short for amateur), “Kurouto” (professional) is a word that arose in opposition to “white person” and was originally called “kurohito” (black person). “Kurohito” underwent a phonetic change to become “kurouto.”
“Gen” also means “black.” It is said that “gen” has a deeper and more difficult connotation than “kuro” (black), and therefore came to be written as “玄人（くろうと）.”