Career
Sanetsu was the second Honinbo. A minor at the time of Honinbo Sansa"s death, he inherited a difficult situation since he could not receive the official allowance for the house. Sansa had asked Nakamura Doseki to act as Sanetsu"s guardian, and through Doseki"s good offices an annual 30 koku of rice was negotiated.
During his minority the position of head of the Honinbo house was in abeyance, so that the house notionally did not exist.
He played in an international match, giving Peichin Tsuhanoko of the Ryukyu Kingdom a two-stone handicap, when the latter came to Japan with a Ryukyuan embassy in 1634. The high point of his professional career came in a challenge match against Yasui Sanchi.
From 1645 to 1653 they played six games of oshirogo, but the result was 3-3. Neither player therefore made the step up from 8 dan to Meijin.