Founded on October 24, 2014, INAF is dedicated to foster, promulgate, and develop the game and culture of Go in North America according to the vision and wishes of the late Japanese Go master, Iwamoto Kaoru.

Iwamoto Kaoru Biography

Year

    Age    

Events
1902 0 On February 5, 1902, Kaoru Iwamoto was born in Takatsu, Masuda City, Shimane prefecture.
1905 3 Moved to Busan, Korea with his parents.
1911 9 Learned Go from his father.
1913 11 Returned to Japan to become a disciple of Hirose Heijiro 6-dan of Houensha in Tokyo.
1917 15 Achieved 1-dan.
1918 16 Visited China with Hirose Heijiro.
1919 17 Achieved 2-dan.
1920 18 Achieved 3-dan.
1922 20 Achieved 4-dan.
1923 21 Visited Taipei.
1924 22 Nihon Kiiin was established and he joined it.
1925 23 Achieved 5-dan.
1926 24 Achieved 6-dan and visited China.
1927 25 Married Karasawa Kikue.
1929 27 Retired as a professional Go player and emigrated to Brazil.
1931 29 Came back to Japan and resumed his Go career and visited China.
1935 33 Elected to the board of directors of Nihon Ki-in. He won the Oteai, one of the most important tournaments in Japan at the time.
1941 39 Achieved 7-dan, and became a permanent director of Kidouhoukokukai.(棋道報国会)
1945 43 Became a permanent director of Nihon Ki-in.
Nihon Ki-in’s office was burned by bombing from the war, Iwamoto’s home became the temporary site of Nihon Ki-in.
Challenged the third Honinbo match against Utaro Hashimoto in Hiroshima.
This match is famous as “The Atomic Bomb Go Game”. On this time, the match ended in a 3-3 draw.
1946 44 The third Honinbo match was continued after the war and he won two straight games to take the Honinbo title. He assumed the name Honinbo Kunwa.
1947 45 Defended the Honinbo title against Kitani Minoru at the fourth Honinbo match. He was instrumental in finding new headquarters of Nihon Kiin in Takanawa town.
1948 46 Achieved 8-dan and became the president of Nihon Kiin in 1949.
1950 48 Lost the Honinbo title, giving it back to Hashimoto Utaro.
1952 50 Won the All Honinbo all 8-dan match against Kitani Minoru.
1954 52 Became the first director of Nihon Kiin Chuo Kaikan (Nihon Kiin central hall)
1955 53 Won the second NHK Cup.
1959 57 Stayed in US for the 14th Honinbo league.
1961 59 Stayed in US for a year to popularize Go.
1962 60 Visited Europe to popularize Go.
1967 65 Achieved 9-dan. He visited North and South America for 2 months to popularize Go. He was given a medal with a Purple Ribbon.
1970 68 Visited South America and Europe for 2 months to popularize Go.
1972 70 Visited South America and Europe for 2 months to popularize Go.
1973 71 Given the medal of Kun-Santou Shiju Housho.
1974 72 Became the vice chief director of Nihon Kiin.
1975 73 Visited South America for a month to popularize “Go”.
1978 76 His pupil, James Kerwin achieved sho-dan(1-dan), he is the first professional Go player from the West.
1983 81 Retired in April.
1987 85 Set up the Iwamoto Foundation with an initial contribution of 530 million yen and became an honorary citizen of Tokyo.
1989 87 Was the main benefactor of Go centers in Sao Paulo (1989), Amsterdam(1992), Seattle and New York (1995)
1999 97 Nov. 29th died.