American Go E-Journal » Go Spotting

A couple of AGA members have recently told us about references to games with stones in science fiction novels. Could these folks be playing Go?

Peter Freedman points out that in the science fiction trilogy Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne by Brian Staveley, the warriors play “a game of stones” with black and white stones. Unfortunately, we have no more information about this.

Meanwhile, Mike Goerss points out that in Machineries of Empire by Yoon Ha Lee, another science fiction trilogy, the characters play a game called “pattern stones” that seems like it could possibly be Go. Few details about this game are provided, but there is a reference to a three-stone handicap, and also the line, “Brezan placed a black stone – naturally he was the weaker player.” (These references appear on pages 152-154 of Raven Stratagem, the second book in the series.)

If you find more clues about what game these characters are playing, or if you spot references to Go in other popular literature, please let us know by dropping us a line at journal@usgo.org.

Former AGA President Allan Abramson spotted games of go in two scenes currently on display in the East wing of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Horses and Grooms in the Stable

Muromachi period, early 1500s
pair of six-panel screens; ink, color, and gold on paper

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Edward L. Whittemore Fund

“Fine horses were treasured assets for military commanders, who built elaborate stables to house them. A Portuguese priest who visited Japan during the Edo period noted that such stables were spotlessly clean, elaborate structures where members of the elite could entertain, as shown here. Guests sit on tatami mats and play the board games go or shogi (similar to chess) while falconers watch over their hawks and grooms attend to the spirited horses. Monkeys, thought to draw illness away from horses, appear in the panels to the right of the go or shogi players.”

The Cleveland Museum of Art has a high-res version of the entire scene.

Warrior Minamoto Raiko and the Earth Spider

Utagawa Kuniyoshi
1798 – 1861

Edo period, 1843
triptych, woodblock print
Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
The Joan Elizabeth Tanney Bequest

The Earth or Dirt Spider

“Families that rebelled against the emperor were disparaged as ‘dirt spiders’ (tsuchigumo) in some ancient Japanese texts. In the popular imagination, the term was taken literally to refer to a giant, ground-dwelling arachnid. In Kuniyoshi’s print, the Earth Spider tries to ensnare in its web a famous but ailing warrior, Minamoto Raiko (948 – 1021), whose four bodyguards sip sake and play board games. The artist used the story to satirize the harshness of the government in his own day. When the print was issued in 1843, viewers understood that the sick Raiko was a stand-in for the unpopular current shogun, and the horde of demons symbolized the down-trodden townspeople.

“In Yoshitsuya’s version of the story, Raiko’s bodyguards or generals lower themselves in baskets into the cave of the Earth Spider and its serpent companion. The monster glares at the intruders with its green, bulging eyes, while countless small spiders crawl over its body. Despite the odds against them, the bodyguards ultimately slay the Earth Spider. Their victory inspired a centuries-old Noh play, Tsuchigumo, that was adapted for Kabuki theater.”

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has a high-quality version of the triptych here.

-edited by Nate Eagle

“Yanko Design considers itself an online magazine of modern and industrial product design,” writes AGA member Morgan Faas. On Yanko Design’s website he found a go board design that, in his words, “upgrades the go board into the modern era of technology.”

Indeed, this post by James Hoare asks, “Don’t you think that it’s about time that one of the oldest known board games is due a refresh?” The post goes on to describe a go board with embedded multi-color lights. It seems like each player has one stone that they tap on a point on the board to indicate where they wish to play. Then the point lights up in color. The article doesn’t give some details that might be of interest to go players, such as how captures work, or scoring for that matter. However, this could be an interesting concept for those who might think the game of go needs a technological update.

This 21st century go board is designed by Joonho Sung. It appears to be an idea and not an actual product at this point.

-edited by Roger Schrag

Go is now among the themes available for classes on Google Classroom, reports Alicia Seifrid. First launched in 2014, Google Classroom is an all-in-one platform for teachers, giving them online tools to post lesson material, distribute, collect and grade assignments, and communicate with students. When creating a new class (something any user with a Google account can do), you can apply a graphic theme to your class pages. For the Go graphic, under the “Other” category, look for the “Game Night” theme.
– edited by Brian Olive

The official trailer for the upcoming Lionsgate film “Knives Out” includes a quick sequence of a go stone being placed on a go board about 52 seconds in from the start. The shot is so close up that we can’t see the full board position. Look for this dark comedy / whodunnit film in theaters this coming November. Thank you Daniel Chou and Michael Goerss for sharing this with us.

“There is a great show — The Life of Animals in Japanese Art — at the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC,” reports Gurujeet Khalsa. “It includes several depictions of go including this detail from an 1843 triptych by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.” The show runs until August 18 and is highly recommended if you are in DC this summer. “While you are here stop by the National Go Center and play some go,” says Khalsa.