Page:Smith - The game of go.djvu/39

Rh of the Shogun in his palace at Tokio. Inseki again lost by four stones. In all these contests Inseki as the challenger had the first move, and he finally became convinced of his inability to win from the scion of the Honinbo family, and abandoned his life-long desire, and it is related that thereupon the houses of Honinbo and Inouye became more friendly than ever. In the first half of the nineteenth century Go had a period of great development. This occurred according to the Japanese calendar in the periods called Bun Kwa (1804–1818), Bun Sei (1818–1829), and Tempo (1830–1844). The collection of specimen games of that time are to-day regarded as models, and the methods of play and of opening the game then in use are still studied, although they have been somewhat superseded. The best games were played by the Honinbos Dosaku and Jowa and Yasui Sanchi. On the fall of the Shogunate in the year 1868 the Go Academy came to an end, and with it the regulation of the game by the State. A few years later the daimios were dispossessed, and they did not feel an obligation as private individuals to retain the services of the Go players who had been in attendance at their courts. Thereupon ensued a sad time for the masters of the game, who had theretofore for the most part lived by the practice of their art, and to make things still worse, the Japanese people lost their interest in Go. Upon the opening of the country the people turned with enthusiasm to the foreigners. Foreign things were more prized than native things, and among the things of native origin the game of Go was neglected.

About the year 1880, however, a reaction set in; interest in the old national game was revived, and at the present