The Master of Go

Jan 02, 2012 Riku Sayuj rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviews

How Kawabata combines a journalistic narrative voice with such a rich literary tradition baffles me more than the intricate game of Go and it's complex representation of the structural game in society the novel is supposed to explore, and what a beautiful structure Kawabata takes us through, peeling such thin layers of meaning with each inflection and each crafty Go move between the classic master and the iconoclast challenger.

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Mar 07, 2011 notgettingenough rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: games, japanese, modern-lit

With no such intention in mind, I rather fell out of the frying pan on this one. I had to get away from Yourcenar and a glance at the shelves made me think nothing could be further from Hadrian than a book about Go.

My very first Go move, and it’s a mistake. There I was, reading yet another book where the author has taken a true story and turned it into a novel. Yet another book where admiring fans talk of how real the novel is. I'm a historian, so the whole idea of the biopic, or bionovel, or no...more

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Mar 11, 2009 Evan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009-reads, asia, sports, kawabata

Short review: The Master of Go, go nowhere fast...

Long:
An account of a legendary game of 'go," an ultra-complex Japanese strategy board game that has been compared to chess but which, evidently, is infinitely more complex. The game occured between a sort of an old grand master and a younger, less-rated opponent for half a year in 1938. A break for illness by the old man in the fall foreshadowed his own loss of the game and his death soon thereafter. None of this is a spoiler because Kawabata tel...more Short review: The Master of Go, go nowhere fast...

Long:
An account of a legendary game of 'go," an ultra-complex Japanese strategy board game that has been compared to chess but which, evidently, is infinitely more complex. The game occured between a sort of an old grand master and a younger, less-rated opponent for half a year in 1938. A break for illness by the old man in the fall foreshadowed his own loss of the game and his death soon thereafter. None of this is a spoiler because Kawabata tells us this in the opening chapter and then relates from hindsight. I have an acclaimed 1980's Japanese movie on tape called "The Go Masters" which is based on this book and which I still have not watched. I'm sure I will do that now. Cracking the first pages of the book, the feel is more straightforward and reportage in tone, though I suspect the poetic reflection present throughout "The Lake" (which I just read) and the author's other books will eventually come through. Reading with interest...

Well, a quarter of the way in and, even though the setting and the game and rituals and concentration and so on are interesting, I'm finding it a tad dullish, and it has to compete for my attentions with Marquez's "Love in the Time of Cholera" which operates at a much higher plane on all counts... It's just not, so far, as emotionally rich as "The Lake," which blew me away. This one has a more ascetic tone. Still reading... Provisional three-star rating for introducing me to cultural facts I was not aware of.

The book is a bit repetitive, but it's repetition in the form of variation. The author's admiration for the master and his ethereal qualities are re-expressed. Perhaps it's in the spirit of the game of go. The master is repeatedly admired for the way he loses himself in the game. To him it's not merely a game or a competition, but an art.

Wouldn't it be great if those who lord it over bombs and armies were forced to sit face to face at a go board, to square off for months in silent battle, and leave the rest of us alone?

So, still in limbo on this book... I'm wondering what requires more patience: Being a master of Go, or finishing this book about Go?

I mean, Kawabata is a Nobel laureate, but this is about the weakest material I've seen from someone of that stature.
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Dec 05, 2012 umberto rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, japan

Reading this novel by Kawabata is, I think, a bit different from reading his other three, namely, "Snow Country", "Thousand Cranes", and "The Sound of the Mountain". One of the reasons is that it primarily focuses on the ultimate Go competition between the Master (Shusai) and the challenger (Otake) of the Seventh Rank from June 26, 1938 in Tokyo to December 4 in Ito (p. 4). The match was amazingly tactical, highly professional and horribly fierce to the extent that, due to his age, health and fr...more Reading this novel by Kawabata is, I think, a bit different from reading his other three, namely, "Snow Country", "Thousand Cranes", and "The Sound of the Mountain". One of the reasons is that it primarily focuses on the ultimate Go competition between the Master (Shusai) and the challenger (Otake) of the Seventh Rank from June 26, 1938 in Tokyo to December 4 in Ito (p. 4). The match was amazingly tactical, highly professional and horribly fierce to the extent that, due to his age, health and frailty, he finally gave in for Black 237, the last play by his opponent. (p. 6, diagram p. 177)

I've known vaguely about this famous Japanese Go since years ago with admiration because, as far as I know, those playing well deserve respects for their wisdom in planning that includes tactics in his defending as well as attacking. However, I'm not a Go player and I wonder which needs higher skills between playing Go or chess, and again, what kind of chess. Then, in this context, we'd be content with the country, that is, Japan since, I think, it's not fair or sensible to compare between a master of Japanese Go and a master of, say, Thai chess.

Therefore, I read this book as a Go-illiterate outsider curious of such "a faithful chronicle-novel" (p. v) and found his writing style surprising due to its 41 chapters of various length. Moreover, this chronicle depicts an unthinkable Go competition in its presumably national scale as waged by fate dictating the two Go warriors who use the Go board as their battlefield till 2.42 p.m. on December 4, 1938. (p. 6) So we merely read their fighting moves, for each having different time intervals as controled by the judges, the youth keeping the records and witnessed by the funtionaries. Moreover, there're two sets of small numbered stones: Black 1, Black 3, Black, 3 ... Black 237 for Otake vs. White 2, White 4, White 6 ... White 236 for the Master. We can see how they start the decisive match on the chess-lke Go board denoted by lines 1-19 (row) and letters A-T (across). There, Otake's started at R-16 while the Master's followed at R-4 (p. 36).

I came across a remark stating that "the first player has seven chances in ten of winning" (p. 57). I think this is a good remark from Go experts that need pondering and applying from both the challenger and the master. It's quite fair to allow more luck/chance for an opponent while a master with his charismatic, godlike stature should be satisfied due to his sublime Go skills. Indeed, I think if the Master could play Go and happily lost, like Sakine, Master of Chess, he could have enjoyed living longer.

This is not a romantic novel like the other three mentioned above, instead it's a pure one of deadly Go competition. I'm sorry I don't understand the description of the diagram on page 177, that is, I can't find Black 201 and 203 (B-13 and C-13). Therefore, I'd appreciate my GR friends' advice/explanation on the matter.

Finally, from Chapter 40, I'm a bit disappointed due to its lack of action/words from the great victor Otake, so I guess he may be humble and speak less in honour of the Master. Certainly, the Master rightly deserves our respects for his heroic final mission. One more thing we need to take care, any serious match can be fatal, taking the middle way or resilience should be the key to our success/satisfaction in our daily lives. Comparatively, Otake's the opponent the Master can see, however, we also have in mind a few too.

I think this is enough, I may write more from what I scribbled here and there in the book. (less)

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Jun 17, 2010 Tyler Jones rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: japanese-literature

One sign of a master writer is the ability to match subject and style. I can think of no better example of this than The Master of Go, by Kawabata. The careful elegance of Kawabata's writing slowly, almost imperceptibly, creates layers and patterns of meaning in a very similar way to how a game of go might develop. To the untutored eye, the first stones placed on the board seem to fall at random, but the master already sees the battle to come and these first stones plant the seeds of the war. So...more

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May 02, 2013 Mohammed تيــــخا rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

إستخدم كاواباتا 41 تقرير صحفى فى تكوين رواية الحق أنى لم أستمتع بها كما يجب ربما لكونى غير مُلم بقواعد لعبة ال " غو " لكنها عمل عبقرى بكل المقاييس
كاواباتا من أنصار التراث من أنصار القديم هو يحب كل ما يتعلق بالماضى والذى يمثله الأستاذ فى هذه الرواية بكل بساطة لم يعد قادرا على مواجهة النظم الجديدة فإنهزم بعد مبارة طويلة أمام أحد ممثليهم وهو يرى فى ذك حال اليابان فى فترة الحرب العالمية حيث أتذكر أنه كان يطلق على الصين واليابان وشرق آسيا إسم رجل آسيا المريض بفعل ذلك لكونهم يميلون إلى العيش فى الماض...more

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May 02, 2013 Mohammed تيــــخا rated it 3 of 5 stars

إستخدم كاواباتا 41 تقرير صحفى فى تكوين رواية الحق أنى لم أستمتع بها كما يجب ربما لكونى غير مُلم بقواعد لعبة ال " غو " لكنها عمل عبقرى بكل المقاييس
كاواباتا من أنصار التراث من أنصار القديم هو يحب كل ما يتعلق بالماضى والذى يمثله الأستاذ فى هذه الرواية بكل بساطة لم يعد قادرا على مواجهة النظم الجديدة فإنهزم بعد مبارة طويلة أمام أحد ممثليهم وهو يرى فى ذك حال اليابان فى فترة الحرب العالمية حيث أتذكر أنه كان يطلق على الصين واليابان وشرق آسيا إسم رجل آسيا المريض بفعل ذلك لكونهم يميلون إلى العيش فى الما...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Suhrob rated it 4 of 5 stars

Interesting book at the cross-road of a novel and journalistic piece about a final match of the old Go Master and the young challenger.

The style of the book, for somebody like me with little experience with japanese literature, is slightly unusual, but quite enjoyable, with a strange, low-key melancholy about it. The translation is very careful and high quality.

The reviews are mentioning "onslaught of the twentieth century", "destruction of traditional Japanese society", "fierce opponent" etc.,...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Rocktopus rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: own-it

If I could give different technical and artistic ratings, I would give this book nearly a 5 for technical, and maybe a 3 for artistic. It's one of those books that I appreciated because it is so beautifully precise and it has a very sad and profound message, but I didn't have the warm affection for it that I like to have. I guess maybe this would actually call for a third different category of rating - the affection category. In which case this book would rate nearly a 5 for artistic and technic...more

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May 28, 2012 Jose rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fantastica recriação literária da última partida do mestre de Go Shusai, com levada jornalística porém de alcance literário. Observações minuciosas de um grupo restrito de participantes ao redor dos dois jogadores, grande precisão de termos japoneses - muitas notas especificando termos idiossincráticos - o ritmo tateando para o final do livro - a morte do mestre - que remete para seu começo como nas grandes obras.

O jogo de Go emerge como um grande espelho onde se projetam sentimentos, emoções, p...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Jeanne Thornton rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is a good test case to explain why authors are encouraged to show rather than tell. I understand that it's largely an adapted piece of journalism and that the demands of nonfiction require a little more exegesis and a little less text, but so much of this book revolves around Kawabata gushing over the Meiji elegance of the Master and frowning on the neurotic modernity of his opponent. When the book isn't hammering home the opposition between the Good Old Imperial Days and the Corrupt W...more

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Dec 08, 2011 R. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Ce livre relate le dernier tournoi d'un grand maître du jeu de Go. Le jeu de Go est un jeu peu connu en Occident mais très populaire dans les pays asiatiques, principalement au Japon en Chine et en Corée. Il est articulé autour de règles très simples mais paradoxalement extrêmement complexes à maîtriser. Pour illustrer cela, on peut évoquer les programmes informatiques joueurs. S'ils sont capables de surpasser aux échecs les plus grands maîtres - on se rappelle de Deep Blue -, ils ne parviennent...more Ce livre relate le dernier tournoi d'un grand maître du jeu de Go. Le jeu de Go est un jeu peu connu en Occident mais très populaire dans les pays asiatiques, principalement au Japon en Chine et en Corée. Il est articulé autour de règles très simples mais paradoxalement extrêmement complexes à maîtriser. Pour illustrer cela, on peut évoquer les programmes informatiques joueurs. S'ils sont capables de surpasser aux échecs les plus grands maîtres - on se rappelle de Deep Blue -, ils ne parviennent, au jeu de Go, qu'à donner la réplique aux meilleurs amateurs, les professionnels ne font qu'une bouchée de leurs rivaux numériques — ils sont capables de rivaliser en bénéficiant de handicap et en utilisant plus de temps. Ce phénomène s'explique notamment par la très grande combinatoire de coups possibles. Même un ordinateur, dont la qualité première est d'être capable de réaliser de nombreux calculs, est dépassé. Au Go, il faut jouer à l'instinct, avoir une vision et, dans ce domaine, les programmes informatiques sont encore bien loin des humains.
Mais je suis en pleine digression, il faut que je me ressaisisse pour revenir au livre. Nous suivons donc une partie de Go racontée par un journaliste spécialisé dépêché sur place pour suivre un affrontement historique qui durera plus de six mois. Il oppose un vieux maître à un jeune professionnel du Go — la tradition contre la modernité. La narration est originale car le récit n'est pas organisé selon un ordre chronologique, le journaliste nous promène dans la partie en faisant preuve de professionnalisme mais surtout de beaucoup d'empathie envers le maître.
N'étant pas un connaisseur de Go, je me suis un peu ennuyé à suivre ce récit qui n'est pourtant, même en marge du jeu, pas dénué d'intérêt. Ce qui paraît logique lorsque l'on sait qu'il a été écrit par Yasunari Kawabata auteur japonais ayant reçu le prix Nobel de littérature. Kawabata était un connaisseur, grand amateur de Go il jouait lui-même et suivait les tournois. Je n'ai certainement pas su capter toute la profondeur du récit et tout ce qui est véhiculé par ce jeu très encré dans la culture du Japon. J'avais pris plus de plaisir à lire d'autres livres dont le thème central est le jeu: Le joueur d'échecs — c'est un livre génial —, Un combat ou L'homme des jeux dont j'ai parlé ici. http://www.aubonroman.com/2011/12/le-...

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Jul 13, 2011 max rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: borrowed

This novel was a true surprise and unlike any I have read with respect to its structure. Kawabata's narrator is a Go reporter for Tokyo's Nichinichi newspaper, which has put up a large purse for Japan's greatest Go master to play a final sunset game against the best challenger drawn from a tournament of top players.

The game itself is no fiction, and is a historical match played by only lightly fictionalized participants. The "color commentary" Kawabata invents for the newspaper man is wide-rangi...more

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May 19, 2010 Irfan Ali rated it 5 of 5 stars

Its just a game; get over it! Apparently not when the game is Go and the Master of the game, a figure revered by the author as if a prophet (the episode about the single strand of hair on the Master's eyebrow treads on the hilarious, though), is playing his last fateful game against an upstart Otake. The author uses the backdrop of this single game to depict the lifestyle of a passing era in Japan. An era when a game was more than atheistically calculated 150 odd moves on a 19-by-19 matrix board...more Its just a game; get over it! Apparently not when the game is Go and the Master of the game, a figure revered by the author as if a prophet (the episode about the single strand of hair on the Master's eyebrow treads on the hilarious, though), is playing his last fateful game against an upstart Otake. The author uses the backdrop of this single game to depict the lifestyle of a passing era in Japan. An era when a game was more than atheistically calculated 150 odd moves on a 19-by-19 matrix board. An era when a single game would last more than 6 months with close to 50 hours of combined play with a single move taking more than three hours and the game bearing so heavy on the players minds that they would suffer serious health problems to the extent of being hospitalized. When sublime qualities like elegance and composure at play and harmony of the moves were given more importance than the mere counting of points. Perhaps it captures not only the passage of time for a game like go, but of other sports such as cricket (and a friend who plays golf also could relate this to his game), where in past one would spend days watching a batsman at the crease for multitude of hours, nay days, and remark on his style and elegance of line his shoulders made as he brought the bat in line with his pads to snub a good-length ball, as opposed to the counting of runs he made to defeat the opposing team.

This story of a single game of Go played in 1938 captures the change of tradition form an old ailing mast to a young brilliant player. A letting go, not a straight forward one, when a young player sticks to his guns to ensure that the Master is not able to get away with abuse of his power, prestige and guile, but instead unsettles the Master and defeat him but canny use of the new rules. The progress of the game is depicted by several figures spread over the novel, but the book is so much more than the game - a careful and nuanced depiction of character of the two key players, depiction their private lifes and their families, the procedure of mild and careful intervention by officials to nudge the game along without unruffling the egos of either of the players, and so much more. Rather than rushing to acquire the game of Go, I am inclined to acquire further works by this great Japanese author and loose myself for a few hours in the imaginary world painted by him.(less)

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Mar 27, 2010 Larry rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Master of Go, by Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata, is probably a richer literary experience for older Japanese readers than Western readers. The book is a fictionalized account of a six-month Go match between a physically failing, elderly Go master and a young upstart with visions of becoming Master. Set in 1938, the match seems to illustrate a shifting in Japanese culture, with the Master, schooled in the old ways, being discomforted by the style and attitude of the younger challenger.

T...more

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Feb 15, 2011 Ryan rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book has a distinctly "Japanese-y" feel, which, if you haven't read much Japanese fiction (or seen many Japanese dramatic films) can be off-putting to Westerners. Among other things, the ending (and I've found this to be common in Japanese stories/movies) seems to come rather suddenly and offers little or no resolution. Someone once told me to approach Japanese literature from the perspective that the writer is trying to create a mood or vibe rather than tell a traditional Western-style sto...more This book has a distinctly "Japanese-y" feel, which, if you haven't read much Japanese fiction (or seen many Japanese dramatic films) can be off-putting to Westerners. Among other things, the ending (and I've found this to be common in Japanese stories/movies) seems to come rather suddenly and offers little or no resolution. Someone once told me to approach Japanese literature from the perspective that the writer is trying to create a mood or vibe rather than tell a traditional Western-style story arc--that helps with this book, but ultimately I was unable to really appreciate what the book was going for (which isn't necessarily the author's fault in this case).

I picked this up on a whim with a gift card. I've been trying to read more Japanese Lit. and this one won the Nobel Prize for Literature, so I figured I'd try it out. As my rating suggests, I wasn't blown away. The book was easy to read, and I'm always a fan of short chapters. There were moments of serene description that I found compelling, but in general, I'd be curious to know why The Master of Go won the Nobel Prize. In particular, the book has protracted descriptions of the actual goings-on of the final match and I know very little about the game, which took a lot of the punch out of a significant portion of the book.

I know it seems obvious that a book called The Master of Go should talk a lot about, you know, the game of Go, but I suppose I hoped for descriptions that were more friendly to people not terribly familiar with the game, given it's relative obscurity outside of Asia--granted, there were end notes that helped, but still, at the end of the day, this book relied heavily on descriptions of a game. Had this been called The Master of Chess, it would have been considerably more meaningful to me, but even then, I suspect that protracted descriptions of a board game would lack a certain tension, especially given how little time was spent analyzing the moves. Instead, he often said things along the lines of, "It seemed an obvious choice, even to an amateur such as myself." Why? And if so, what reasoning led the player to NOT make that choice? More discussion of the psychology behind a multi-month-long, 40-hours-per-player match would be interesting, rather than limiting himself to discussion of the physical toll alone.

Anyway, this review is running too long. It was a fine book, and easy enough to read, but a little challenging to remain engaged in.(less)

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May 16, 2010 Alexander rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

All of the subtlety and understated grace one expects from Kawabata, covering subject matter that is at once different and familiar.

One really gets a sense of the old world Japanese mentality, where discipline and self-sacrifice for a higher goal or 'art' garners vast amounts of respect. The Master of Go eventually sacrifices his life to his calling, but this is cast neither as a tragedy or a triumph by Kawabata -- rather it is the natural result of a life devoted to pushing one's limits in a sp...more

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May 12, 2013 Andrada rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Structurally, I thought this book was very interesting. The author’s journalistic background is made very clear and I think the fact he initially wrote articles concerning the game for a newspaper influenced the way he ultimately structured the novel. The chapters are short and well rounded.

That being said, this is essentially a book about a game of go, following its every turn with detailed descriptions of the moves and their logic and other possible scenarios. I think go players might find it...more

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Nov 15, 2012 Steve Cox rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is a very quiet book, in a good way. The aging Go master plays his retirement match against a young challenger. There is intentionally no suspense as to the outcome. We know early on that the Master narrowly loses. To Western eyes, this novel is a strange hybrid of truth and fiction, as it is based on Kawabata's actual reporting of a real match. The names and a few details are changed, but the match is the match as it actually happened, and we can follow it through the Go diagrams throughou...more This is a very quiet book, in a good way. The aging Go master plays his retirement match against a young challenger. There is intentionally no suspense as to the outcome. We know early on that the Master narrowly loses. To Western eyes, this novel is a strange hybrid of truth and fiction, as it is based on Kawabata's actual reporting of a real match. The names and a few details are changed, but the match is the match as it actually happened, and we can follow it through the Go diagrams throughout the book. I gather from outside reading that this truth-fiction hybridization is a common genre in Japan.

Other points of interest:

1. The relationship between the Master and the challenger, called Otaké here. There is tension about the rules of the final match, which takes place over six months with what seem like absurdly long time constraints. The players take upwards of three hours to make a single move. The game adjourns for weeks at a time as the players deal with health issues (the Master is dying). The immense strain of the match leads each player to threaten to forfeit as schedule changes are demanded by the other. Yet, completely unlike a high-stakes modern chess match, the players chat with each other over the board, and are friendly and social in the off hours. This aspect is subtly (probably much too subtly for a foreigner to fully grasp) inhabiting the Japanese culture of honor, hospitality, and the exalted position of elders. There is certainly some commentary on the changing of the culture, with Kawabata appearing to mourn the loss of the traditional to the ways of modernism.

2. Barely commented on but overshadowing all is the fact that this all takes place at the beginning of World War II, and Kawabata wrote the novel in the early 1950s. So he and we know that while Otaké's modern ways are taking over from the elderly Master, the ordered, mannered worlds of both are about to be overrun by unimaginable catastrophe.

3. Go is presented as an almost impossibly demanding game, which takes an enormous physical toll on the players (it essentially kills the Master). For relaxation in the down times, they frequently play other games (billiards, mah-jong, and shogi) with each other. The Master in particular seems to know of no other way to spend his time than the mental challenges of game play. Yet Go is kept separate. Neither the Master nor Otaké is ever seen playing a casual game of Go. We do see a casual game on a train, between the author/reporter and an American. The American is terrible, but worse than that to Kawabata's eyes is his attitude. He plays quickly and carelessly and does not mind that he loses. This entirely violates the Japanese view of how the game is to be played. At the end of the book, after the final title match, the Master is said to be going somewhat senile. At that point he begins to play casually with his students. He makes elementary errors and all are sad to see it. It is clear that Kawabata is commenting somehow on top-level Go's place in Japanese culture, but again it probably takes more cultural familiarity than I have to fully appreciate the message.

4. A key point in the match is the use of sealed moves at adjournment. This is an entirely noncontroversial element of modern chess. If an unfinished match is breaking for the day, the player who makes the last move would be at a substantial disadvantage, as the other player would have hours and hours of uncharged time to plot his next move. So instead, the final move of the day is sealed in an envelope, unseen by anyone else. It is opened and executed at the start of the next session. Any advantage is neutralized. I gather that Japanese Go up until the 1920s or 1930s was rather biased in favor of the higher level player, who could call adjournments more or less at will. With moves not being sealed at that time, he was thus at a substantial unfair advantage. The Master's retirement match by contrast used sealed moves. A key plot point occurs in the middle of the game, when combat is at its fiercest. Otaké seals a move, and when it is opened, the Master and many of the observers feel that it is somehow an unfair move. It is described as ruining what to that point had been a fine, artful match. After this move, the Master is peeved and makes a hasty reply move that turns out to be the fateful mistake which loses the match. This again is where I fail to comprehend the culture being described. In Go, you can play your stone on any open point, with a few simple exceptions (the stone can't be committing suicide, and it can't result in a board that exactly repeats a previous board). Otaké's move does neither of these things, it is just surprising, as it is far away from the immediate combat zone. But that in itself is not all that unusual; the essence of Go is balance. Safety vs. influence, the local fight vs. the global picture, etc. Why was the sealed move viewed as bad form? One possibility is that it is a move that forces a given response. In that respect it does not function as a true sealed move should, because in knowing what the Master's response would be, Otaké has created a situation which gives him the full adjournment advantage. To modern analytical eyes, this would be a perfectly fair tactic. But perhaps unwritten rules about the way the game is supposed to be played dominate here.

On the other hand, the Master's actual reply does not appear to be forced. In fact it is considered something of a surprising blunder rather than a rote reply. Or is that the point, that the Master is annoyed and consciously refuses to play the best move because Otaké has had the full adjournment to think about his response to it? Or is there some entire other norm that Otaké's move has violated?(less)

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May 07, 2009 Meredith rated it 2 of 5 stars

I thought the Master of Go was a nice book. Nice. I can't say that it thrilled me to pieces, but then, every book doesn't have to be thrilling. My enjoyment may have been hindered by a lack of understanding of the game of Go. I gather it's one of those "minute to learn, lifetime to master" games. But still... I couldn't get over how they were playing chess in order to unwind after the Go match.

The most interesting theme to me was the young-versus-old conflict. This is why I found it to be a sad...more

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Jan 14, 2008 Paul rated it 3 of 5 stars

I likes all the descriptions of the game of Go itself, and some of the moments are compelling, but I think this one might just be a little too subtle and predicated on understanding Japanese culture for me to fully appreciate the nuance. Nice parallel between the development of the epic game between master and challenger and the reflection of their psychological states.

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Jan 11, 2011 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: japanese-literature, nobel-winners

The Master of Go chronicles the progress of a championship Go match, one which spanned nearly half a year. When I picked out this book, I wondered will I need to know anything about the game Go for this book to meaningful to me? As I flipped through the pages I saw illustrations of the placement of the stones on the Go board showing the games progression. This was not encouraging. I was leery. My knowledge of Go would not make a hurdle for even a pygmy amoeba. Furthermore, I do not really like g...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Ana Lukovic ひなたーちゃん rated it 3 of 5 stars

This novel represents the difference between the traditional and the modern Japan, as well as the gap between the older and younger generations at a crucial point in its history. Narrated by the journalist, it follows a single match of go between an old school master and an impatient young challenger. Their different points of view are seen the best when they are playing. For Otake, go is about winning, while for the master it is so much more. This is his life, a continuous struggle to reach per...more

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Jan 24, 2010 Coqueline rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I told my husband that I was reading a book chronicling a Go match that happened over the course of six months, he looked at me with a 'huh' kind of face. If I hadn't heard of this book and somebody told me the same thing, I think I would have had the same reaction.

This book is really slow paced, with almost no plot involved except on how the game itself developed (complete with charts) and the deterioration of the Master's health as the game went along. There was an intriguing contrast, wh...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Tze-Wen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: japan

I cannot help but wonder whether I would have enjoyed the novel more if I had understood Go. Not just know how to play the game, but truly comprehend it as only a Japanese person could. And as this thought passes through my mind, I feel slightly saddened, because I really would have liked to completely lose myself in Kawabata's story. Instead, I flowed along for about two-thirds of it, and then it started wearing me down. In the eyes of a Go-player, the images of the updated game board that are...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Andrew rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is an ultra-short literary novel fictionalising the famous Go match between Honinbou Shuusai and Kitani (renamed "Otake" in this novel), considered by the author (who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968) as his finest work. Go is a game simpler yet far deeper than Chess; as an indication, the eponymous master (Meijin) Shuusai plays Shougi (Japanese Chess) - a game more complex and deeper than Chess - to relax during breaks.

In this version of events, Shuusai is a noble master in decli...more This is an ultra-short literary novel fictionalising the famous Go match between Honinbou Shuusai and Kitani (renamed "Otake" in this novel), considered by the author (who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1968) as his finest work. Go is a game simpler yet far deeper than Chess; as an indication, the eponymous master (Meijin) Shuusai plays Shougi (Japanese Chess) - a game more complex and deeper than Chess - to relax during breaks.

In this version of events, Shuusai is a noble master in decline defeated by the tournament tricks of a competitive upstart; the fictionalised author-narrator reveres the man but I don't know whether those are Kawabata's true feelings, whether the narrator is unreliable, or we are expected to take Shuusai as presented, modified to play up the themes of the novel.

Intentionally or not, the depiction of Shuusai departs from accounts of him abusing tournament tricks to a far greater extent than "Otake"/Kitani is charged with here. Kawabata mentions Shuusai's victory over "Wu" (Go Seigen, perhaps the best player of all time) and some of the controversy around it, but Shuusai gets off lightly in this description: Shuusai adjourned the match repeatedly on his move so as to study it with his students, and in real life Maeda did not deny coming up with the game-winning move. There are other stories that Shuusai avoided finishings games he was losing, despite collecting large game fees.

The novel is extremely lean, focused on the depiction on the players and the game, and my swift read probably misses out on a lot of the subtleties within. There are two significant points of the novel: when Uragami (the fictional version of the narrator) convinces Otake to continue with the game, and when Otake's move 121 is revealed.

The first event sums up the significance of the match in terms of generational change, one expression of the main theme of the work: old against new, tradition against modern rationalism, Go as an Oriental art against Go as an abstract competition. When Uragami plays against the American amateur, the American feels nothing of losing repeatedly - there is no tradition of Go for him, it is an intellectual exercise. This event is also the major action Uragami takes above being a mere chronicler and narrator of what happened.

The second event is a manifestation of these themes: Otake plays a controversial "forcing move". Throughout the game he has been trying to hold the ailing Shuusai to the tournament format and here he is seen to exploit the sealing of moves. Shuusai is incensed and blunders away the game. But it's not that straightforward: Shuusai later considers it a fair move; he was projecting his negative expectations onto Otake. Note that though a forcing move lets you think between sessions without being clocked for it, it's not free - you use up a threat that could have been used for something important.

There is a translation problem in chapter 38: "Wu" is quoted defending move 121, referring to playing E-19 and F-19; many other versions scribe E-19 or F-19. The first is correct from the Japanese and the board position.

I don't know how comprehensible this book would be to those who don't understand Go: it contains game diagrams, brief discussions of moves, and refers to other players and games. However the characters are well sketched and the themes universal.

"Uragami" recalls his friend Sanjugo Naoki: "If one chooses to look upon Go as valueless, then absolutely valueless it is; and if one chooses to look upon it as a thing of value, then a thing of absolute value it is."(less)

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Feb 09, 2009 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Kawabata's novel is a semi-fictionalized account of a Go match that took place in the late 1930s between an undefeated Go master and his challenger. For a non-Go player (like me), the book will be more of an abstract character study of the differences and conflicts between the two players. Kawabata characterizes the tension of the match and parallels that tension with the societal tension of Japan of the time. Meiji/Taisho Japan vs. Showa era; feudal and aristocratic vs. scientific and technolog...more

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Jan 26, 2013 David S rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Master of Go is Edward G. Seidensticker's translation of Yasunari Kawabata's Meijin, a somewhat fictionalized account of the author's experience as a newspaper correspondent covering Honinbo Shusai's retirement match against Kitani Minoru. Through the lens of the Go world, the author explores the ongoing transition between the traditional and the modern in the first half of the 20th century in Japan and the sometimes jarring conflict between the two. At the same time, the story has a very pe...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Raúl Aníbal rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Mm, no actualizo desde ¿junio? Ahora va a ser difícil recordar todos los libros que he leído. Este lo acabo de terminar, no mucho que decir, lo que más me gusta, más allá de la sensación de perdida y ruptura del Japón tradicional hacía el Japón moderno, representados en el maestro de Go y su rival, lo que más me gusta, decía, es la compasión humana que Kawabata muestra por todos los personajes. Tanto el maestro como Otake son bañados de comprensión por la mano del escritor. Es grande la precisió...more

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Jan 21, 2012 Brian Betke rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A wonderful tale that brings to light the passing of the guard from the old era into the new. Through this tale of the Master's last match we see this passing. The game of Go is changing, with new rules, such as the "Sealed play". With these new rules, come new tactics. It is these tactics that win the game for the younger player. The Master sees the game as a piece of art. He is upset by the smearing of the canvass by play 131. He makes the fatal error at play 140.
The story moves slowly, like...more

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