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. |