The blood-vomiting game () is a famous game of Go of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

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, played on June 27, 1835, between

Hon'inbō Jōwa Honinbo Jowa (本因坊丈和, original name Todani Matsunosuke, 1787–1847) served as 12th Hon'inbō from 1827 and Meijin Godokoro from 1831 until 1839, when he was forced into retirement. Jōwa was born in Nagano, Japan, in 1787. It was said ...

(white) and Akaboshi Intetsu (black). It is noted for the premature death of the go

prodigy Prodigy, Prodigies or The Prodigy may refer to: * Child prodigy, a child who produces meaningful output to the level of an adult expert performer ** Chess prodigy, a child who can beat experienced adult players at chess Arts, entertainment, and m ...

Akaboshi Intetsu who coughed up blood after the game and died a few months later. Selected moves of the game are shown in diagrams. After continually struggling to gain the post of

Meijin is one of the eight titles in Japanese professional shogi player, professional shogi, and is the most prestigious title, along with Ryūō. The word ( "excellent, artful", "person") refers to a highly skilled master of a certain field (the ...

, Hon'inbō Jōwa had won the title over rival

Inoue Gennan Inseki was a Japanese professional go player, and head of the Inoue house from 1824–1846. He proposed a changed numbering that made him the eleventh head (rather than tenth), by including Doseki at the head of the list. At various times he was k ...

. The rivalry between Jōwa and Inseki began when a game scheduled between the two was cancelled. The game, scheduled for February 18, 1828, was to be played due to Inseki's recent promotion to 8 dan. The game was cancelled by Jōwa's side, who claimed that Inseki did not deserve his promotion but had gained it through intrigue. This led Inseki to attempt to remove Jōwa from his post. Failing to keep to an agreement, Jōwa refused to give up his post to Inseki after six years (1834). Inseki then sent his pupil, Akaboshi Intetsu, expected to become Meijin after Jōwa, to play Jōwa in a match. The match lasted for four days without any adjournments. Jōwa won the match, and while kneeling over the board Akaboshi coughed or vomited up blood. He died within a few months. As Akaboshi was only 25 years old at the time, it is often suggested that pre-existing

gastrointestinal bleeding Gastrointestinal bleeding (GI bleed), also called gastrointestinal hemorrhage (GIB), is all forms of bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract, from the mouth to the rectum. When there is significant blood loss over a short time, symptoms may includ ...

pulmonary disease Respiratory diseases, or lung diseases, are pathological conditions affecting the organs and tissues that make gas exchange difficult in air-breathing animals. They include conditions of the respiratory tract including the trachea, bronchi, bron ...

had weakened his health, and it is possible that Akaboshi was sick for months with these diseases already.

The game

The secret Inoue house move

The secret move used by Akaboshi in the match was developed by Gennan Inseki and others in the Inoue house as a

taisha Taisha may refer to: * Japanese topics: ** Cultural features: *** Taisha (shrine) A kind of Shinto shrine *** Taisha-zukuri, type of Shinto architecture *** Taisha jōseki, Taisha joseki, joseki maneuver in game of Go ** Japanese geography: *** Tai ...

variation. The move, shown in the diagram, gave Akaboshi a lead by attacking the white stones in the center and being able to capture two stones later on in the game.

Jōwa's Three ''Myoshu'' (三妙手)

Jōwa played three brilliant moves, or ''myoshu'' (Japanese: 妙手

in the game, eventually leading to Jōwa winning by resignation. The first two brilliant moves, white 2 and 4 in the diagram below, allowed white to ignore black's move at 1 in order to play another move at 6 due to the Go_terms#Aji, aji of "a". The third brilliant move was an example of bad shape but good move. Although forming an

empty triangle In the game of Go, the empty triangle is the most fundamental example of the concept of bad shape. Three stones of one color form an empty triangle when they are placed in a triangle arrangement that fits in a 2×2 square, and when one intersect ...

shape is normally avoided because it is inefficient, the move allowed Jōwa to launch a splitting attack that would lead to his victory.

End of the game

Notes

External links

Sensei's Library article on the "Blood Vomiting Game"
* Move-by-move play (10 minutes).
3D visualization of Blood-vomiting game
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blood-Vomiting Game Go games 1835 in Japan 1835 in go June 1835