Go is a game of strategy in which two players attempt to surround each other's black or white stones. Simple in its fundamentals, infinitely complex in its execution, it is an essential expression of the Japanese sensibility. And in his fictional chronicle of a match played between a revered and invincible Master and a younger, more progressive challenger, Yasunari Kawabata captured the moment in which the immutable traditions of imperial Japan met the onslaught of the twentieth century. The competition between the Master of Go and his opponent, Otak ', is waged over several months and layered in ceremony. But beneath the game's decorum lie tensions that consume not only the players themselves but their families and friends - tensions that turn this particular contest into a duel that can only end in one man's death. Luminous in its detail, both suspenseful and serene, The Master of Go is an elegy for an entire society, written with the poetic economy and psychological acumen that brought Kawabata the Nobel Prize for Literature.
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Editorial Reviews
Language Notes
Text: English, Japanese (translation)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Yasunari Kawabata, winner of the 1968 Nobel Prize for Literature, was one of Japan's most distinguished novelists. Born in Osaka in 1899, he published his first stories while he was still in high school. Among his major novels published across the world are Snow Country (1956), Thousand Cranes (1959), The Sound of the Mountain (1972), and Beauty and Sadness (1975). Kawabata was found dead, by his own hand, in 1972.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Japanese Culture à Go-go,
By Robert S. Newman "Bob Newman" (Marblehead, Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: The Master of Go (Paperback)
In 1938, a go match was played over six months in 14 sessions at several different locations in Japan. The opponents were the grand master, Shusai, and Otake, a younger professional challenger. Kawabata, then 39 years old, was the newspaper reporter who covered the match for Tokyo and Osaka newspapers. After the war, he turned his reportage into a novel which still retains much of the feeling of reports. If you don't know the game of `go', played with white and black stones on a board, or if you are not at all familiar with Japanese culture, then this book is probably not a good place to begin. However, if that is not the case, then Kawabata's subtle depiction of many themes in Japanese culture and in human life, may give you pleasure. The sick old man versus the young one. Life versus death, even. The author wrote"From the way of Go, the beauty of Japan and the Orient had fled. Everything had become science and regulation." (p.52) Players worried about points, not elegance or dignity. Otake represents the new, the ambitious, the unrefined; the old master all that was vanishing, all that Kawabata mourned. As a novel about an arcane contest which still can bring out all these important, even universal, themes, THE MASTER OF GO is an amazing feat. If this sounds interesting, give it a try. You definitely won't find another novel like it ! Kawabata certainly deserved the Nobel Prize.
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Black Stones and White Stones,
By
This review is from: The Master of Go (Paperback)
I have read five of Kawabata's books now and I do believe that this on is my favorite which is pretty amazing since this book basically centers around two people playing a game of Go.Although the back of the book says that it is fiction, that is not altogether true. Yasunari Kawabata actually did write a series of articles for Tokyo and Osaka newspapers about the Master of Go and his last game against a much younger opponent. Although the opponent's real name was Kitani not Otake. Kawabata, however, did add abit of fiction to it. He changed his name and made the Master of Go a much nicer person. Why is this book a good read? That is hard to say, but the Go match seemed to me to be just as tense as the last game of the world series. It has been pointed out before, but I must say again that the underlying story is actually moe important than the actual story. It is true that the story is about a young man defeating the Invincible master, but it is also a book of change. As the reader reads through the pages he or she sees how Kawabata made this story of a Go match something much more. He shows us how the old Japanese order was slowly fadeing and something new was coming to take its place. Good Book.
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Record of a single game of Go,
This review is from: The Master of Go (Paperback)
If another writer has written "The Master of Go", a true story about the competition between the "invincible" Master of Go and a much-younger opponent in the Master's retirement match, and intense single game that lasted for more than six-months, perhaps they could have used the game to launch a sweeping metaphor of the fading Meji-era of Japan giving way to the modern era, or a struggle of youth and age or something of the sort. The game itself might have taken second seat to whatever greater picture the author painted.Instead, because this is Kawabata, we have an intimate portrait of three people, the two players and the author himself, basic and alive and honest human beings. Of course, there is a bit of metaphor and conclusions can be drawn, but ultimately the three people do not require any grandeur beyond there immediate status as human beings. It is enough. The Master of Go himself, the highest available rank in the official Go association, is a portrait of obsession and dedication. He is only comfortable playing games, and even amidst his failing health and the demands of his retirement challenge, he ensnares anyone around him in any game possible, be in Mah Jong or Billiards. His opponent, a young yet high ranking challenger, has fought his way through a year-long tournament for the honor of being the opponent in the Master's final match. High strung, and with health issues of his own, he brings everything he has to defeat the Master in his last game. The author, a newspaper reporter assigned to cover the match which is being sponsored by his paper, unable to penetrate the minds of the two players, lays open his own feelings and interpretations while retaining a newspaperman's eye for reporting facts rather than speculation. Kawabata, being the real-life newspaper reporter who covered the real-life game, uses his simple writing style and honest narrative to bring to life this competition in a more riveting manner than any metaphor. Charts of the games progress are used to explain the moves, details are brought forth regarding the health of the players, and the history of the match. In amazement, he manages to maintain tension in the story even though the outcome of the match is told in the first few paragraphs. The chapters are tiny, making the book as unable to put down as a bag of potato chips, as there always seems to be room for one more. Knowledge of Go is not necessary for this book, although a basic understanding of the rules will help put things into perspective. The translation is good, but I don't like Seidensticker translates Japanese games like Shogi as Chess, even though they are not the same game. The notes at the end are very insightful however, and help fill in some of the gaps of Go-knowledge.
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