Ota Yuzo

Background

Ota Yozo was born in 1807 in Japan. His original birth name was Kawahara Unosuke (川原 卯之助). His father was a merchant at the time, and was from Edo.

Education

Ota entered the Yasui family (one of the four Schools of Go which were officially recognized during the Edo period of Japanese history) when he was still young. Thereby Ota became a disciple of Sanchi Yasui and served the Shogunate as a go master.

Career

At the instance of Gorosaku Akai, a Shogunate retainer, Ota challenged Shusaku, the greatest go player of the time, to a 30-game match.The first game Ota played with Shusaku came in June 1842. At the time, Yuzo was 35 years old, and 6 dan. Honinbo Shusaku, was just 13 and already 2 dan. During that summer, they played a total of 11 games. Shusaku won 7, lost 3, and had one jigo.

After Shusaku's successive run of wins against Yuzo, he was brought down back to Earth, with Yuzo having his own run. After having played 23 games with Shusaku, he went to Echigo Province (Niigata Prefecture), where he died of illness. The results of the 23 games were in favor of Shusaku.

Achievements

• Ota was given the rank of 7 dan by the academy, without competing in castle games, or shaving his head. It was the first time anything of its kind was allowed.