Calligraphy in Go tournament in Berlin
30th of November and the 1st of December, a Go tournament was held in Berlin. I was given an opportunity to make a calligraphy demonstration on these days. It was placed in Humboldt University. It was my first time to enter the university and was surprised by how modern the building was. The outside was old historical construction but inside, there was a transparent elevators and some doors were automatic. I didn´t have any elevators in my university as far as I remember.
I was placed in the cafeteria where all the participants would come for some snacks or to have a chat with other participants.
For this tournament, people came from not only inside Germany but also the neighbour countries such as Poland, Czech or Liechtenstein. This was the last round of the last day. Still there were many people left for the games.
I was there to write “Your name in Japanese” and yes, some came for it. This is a guy, Maxim. I was surprised by the fact that quite many spoke Japanese. A woman came to sit in front of me just to have a little chat in Japanese. She was quite happy that she remembered Japanese, which she lived and spoke regularly 10 years ago. Go players are little different.
Most of the people had their own favourite words or phrases, many related to Go philosophy. Since it was new to me, it was all interesting. This is “Meisou (瞑想/meditation)”. It was for a man whose girlfriend is a Yoga teacher.
Then I wrote the Ten cautions about the game of Go (囲碁十訣/ Igo jikketsu).
Left to right.
囲碁十訣 (Igo Jikketsu) – 10 cautions about the game of Go
不得貧勝 (Futoku Hinshou) – To be greedy brings you a defeat.
入界宜緩 (Nyukai Gikan)- To protect your territory, don´t jump into the enemy side.
攻彼顧我 (Kouhi Koga) – Keep the distance between you and the opponent and attack by covering your weak points.
棄子争先 (Kishi Sousen) – Throw the stone and take a lead. (This phrase I made a mistake that I realised later)
捨小就大 (Shashou Shudai) – If you can take time and see the difference between a big hand and a small hand, you are calm.
遇危須棄 (Guki Suki) – Similar to the fourth one. Don´t be scared to throw the stones. It can lead you to win.
慎勿軽速 (Shinbutsu Keisoku) – Don´t play carelessly. Each hand is important.
動須相応 (Dousu Souou) – When your opponent moves soft, you move soft. When the opponent makes a quick attack, you confront it.
彼強自保 (Hikyou Jiho) – When the opponent´s stones are firm, it´s better not to challenge but rather protect your territory.
勢孤取和 (Seiko Shuwa) – The stone that is isolated should avoid the battle but stay as it is.
I´d found these 10 phrases as the Go cautions. There may be different versions and I´m open to any advice since I´m new to Go world.
4 replies on “Calligraphy in Go tournament in Berlin”
Akhtar
Hi. I would like to participate in ur calligraphy programme. I m professional Calligrapher (English, Hindi, Arabic) and graphic designer.
If there is any opprtunity for me to show my work than let me know pls.
Juju Kurihara
Hi, thank you for your interest. You are very welcome to join our class. The detail is on my site “courses”. Actually today is the last day for this year. If you can´t come today, we´ll be back on the 8th of January.
Mark Van Stone
Omedetoo, Juju!
Wouldn’t it be great if typographers and calligraphers were invited to ALL culturally-linked events like this… It is certainly a part of every nation’s cultural heritage, ne?
Juju
Thank you Mark san and I´m sorry for my very late reply.
I agree. Both calligraphy and typography are such a beautiful skill. I just hope that we have more opportunity to be exposed in many cultural events and be able to attract more people to hand writing.