Background
Kaoru Iwamoto was born on the 5th of February, 1902 in Masuda, Shimane, Japan. During his childhood, he spent several years in Busan, Korea from 1905 to 1913, where he learned Go from his father.
岩本薫
Kaoru Iwamoto was born on the 5th of February, 1902 in Masuda, Shimane, Japan. During his childhood, he spent several years in Busan, Korea from 1905 to 1913, where he learned Go from his father.
Kaoru Iwamoto studied Go. Later, he moved to Tokyo, and became a disciple of Hirose Heijiro 6-dan of Hoensha in 1913.
Kaoru Iwamoto achieved 1-dan of Go in 1917 and swiftly rose through the ranks. In 1924, when Nihon Ki-in was established, Iwamoto joined it and achieved 6-dan. He retired as a professional Go player and emigrated to Brazil as a coffee farmer in 1929. However, he came back to Japan and resumed his career of Go after the failure of this venture in 1931. He challenged the third Honinbo match against Hashimoto Utaro in 1945. The match was continued after the war but ended in a 3-3 draw. He assumed the name Honinbo Kunwa.
Iwamoto defeated Hashimotof 9-dan at the 3rd Honinbo championships to be crowned as the Honinbo Kunwa, and he received the master grade of Honinbo. He later lost the Honinbo title to Hashimoto Utaro in 1950. Iwamoto traveled extensively throughout the West with the aim of spreading Go to Western people. He spent 18 months in 1961-1962 in New York, teaching and promoting Go. Iwamoto retired in 1983.
In his later years, Kaoru Iwamoto was the main benefactor to several European and American Go centers in London, Sao Paulo, New York, Seattle and Amsterdam, largely through setting up the Iwamoto Foundation in 1986, with an initial contribution of 530 million yen. He is the author of three books in English, Go for Beginners and The 1971 Honinbo Tournament in 1972, and Keshi and Uchikomi: Reducation and Invasion in Go in 2000.