Kisei (Go)

Kisei (棋聖) is an honorary title and Go competition. The title, meaning Go Sage in Japanese, was a traditional honorary appellation given to a handful of players down the centuries. The element ki can also apply to shogi, and there were also recognized kisei in the shogi world.

Kisei (Go)
Full name	Kisei
Started	1976
Honorary Winners	Fujisawa Hideyuki Kobayashi Koichi Iyama Yuta
Sponsors	Yomiuri Shimbun
Prize money	¥43 million
Affiliation	Nihon Ki-in

Background

Kisei is a Go competition organised by the Japanese Nihon Ki-in. The competition began in 1976 by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and is the highest paying competition in Japanese professional Go, paying ¥43,000,000 to the winner since the 47th Kisei in 2023.^[1] The word Kisei is Japanese for "Go Sage", which is why before the Kisei tournament began, the only players who were given the title "Kisei" were Dōsaku and Hon′inbō Shūsaku.^[2]

The holder is challenged by whoever wins the round robin league. Players can get into the round robin league by going through many preliminary tournaments. Once there is a challenger to compete against the holder, the winner is decided through a best of seven match. The games are played over two days and each player is given eight hours of thinking time.^[2] If a player qualifies for the Kisei league, they are automatically promoted to 7 dan. If that same player wins the league, a promotion to 8 dan is given. If that same player goes on to winning the title, they are promoted to 9 dan, the highest rank.^[3]

Past winners

No.	Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up
1	1977	Fujisawa Hideyuki	4–1	Hashimoto Utaro
2	1978		4–3	Kato Masao
3	1979		4–1	Ishida Yoshio
4	1980		4–1	Rin Kaiho
5	1981		4–0	Otake Hideo
6	1982		4–3	Rin Kaiho
7	1983	Cho Chikun	4–3	Fujisawa Hideyuki
8	1984		4–2	Rin Kaiho
9	1985		4–3	Takemiya Masaki
10	1986	Kobayashi Koichi	4–2	Cho Chikun
11	1987		4–1	Takemiya Masaki
12	1988		4–1	Kato Masao
13	1989		4–1	Takemiya Masaki
14	1990		4–1	Otake Hideo
15	1991		4–3	Kato Masao
16	1992		4–3	Yamashiro Hiroshi
17	1993		4–3	Kato Masao
18	1994	Cho Chikun	4–2	Kobayashi Koichi
19	1995	Kobayashi Satoru	4–2	Cho Chikun
20	1996	Cho Chikun	4–3	Kobayashi Satoru
21	1997		4–1	Kobayashi Satoru
22	1998		4–2	Yoda Norimoto
23	1999		4–2	Kobayashi Koichi
24	2000	O Rissei	4–2	Cho Chikun
25	2001		4–2	Cho Sonjin
26	2002		4–2	Ryu Shikun
27	2003	Yamashita Keigo	4–1	O Rissei
28	2004	Hane Naoki	4–3	Yamashita Keigo
29	2005		4–3	Yuki Satoshi
30	2006	Yamashita Keigo	4–0	Hane Naoki
31	2007		4–0	Kobayashi Satoru
32	2008		4–3	Cho Chikun
33	2009		4–2	Yoda Norimoto
34	2010	Cho U	4–1	Yamashita Keigo
35	2011		4–2	Iyama Yuta
36	2012		4–3	Takao Shinji
37	2013	Iyama Yuta	4–2	Cho U
38	2014		4–2	Yamashita Keigo
39	2015		4–3	Yamashita Keigo
40	2016		4–0	Yamashita Keigo
41	2017		4–2	Kono Rin
42	2018		4–0	Ichiriki Ryo
43	2019		4–3	Yamashita Keigo
44	2020		4–2	Kono Rin
45	2021		4–1	Kono Rin
46	2022	Ichiriki Ryo	4–3	Iyama Yuta
47	2023		4–2	Shibano Toramaru
48	2024		4–3	Iyama Yuta
49	2025		4–3	Iyama Yuta

Honorary winners

A Go player who has held the title for five consecutive years, or won the title a total of ten times or more, has qualified themselves to become "Honorary Kisei" after retiring or after the age of 60.

• Fujisawa Hideyuki 1977–1982
• Kobayashi Koichi 1986–1993
• Iyama Yuta 2013–2021