Your Guide to the Japanese Women’s Go Li League

Collage of five Go league team logos including Fukuoka, Wakagoi, Igo & Shogi Channel, Senko Group, and Nagoya

Do you want to get into watching professional Go, but have no idea where to start? Then consider this a sign. Come along and learn everything you need to know to start being a fan of the Japanese Women’s Go League.

What is the Li League?

Last year, the Japanese Women’s Go League began. This was the first official team league to exclusively feature top female players. After a successful pilot season last year, it has been renamed the Li League, and the Nihon Ki-in is investing more resources into the league this year. This makes it the perfect time to get acquainted with the league before you miss out on some historic games. The season is set to start on Friday, January 9, 2026!

Structure

The league has 5 teams, each with 4 players and a coach. At each match, the teams will select 3 players to compete. Whichever team wins 2 out of 3 games wins the match. Wins are marked with a red circle on the schedule.

The first time each team plays, they will play with 1 hour + 30 seconds of bonus time. This means that after each move they make, they get an extra 30 seconds added to their time. However, in the second round the games get more rapid, players only have 5 minutes + 15 seconds in bonus time.

After playing each team twice, the two with the best record will move on to the finals where they compete for a 6 million yen prize. All matches are streamed and uploaded to YouTube with professional commentary and evaluation bars to help the viewers. View all the rules and stipulations on the Nihon ki-in website.

The Finals

The biggest change to the league this year is the new way of scoring the finals. Instead of playing a 3 person match, the finals will now be a 4 person match. This will allow all the players to participate. The only issue with this is that there can now be ties. 2-2 ties are settled by first looking at which team had more points in the season, then the team with more points wins if either the captain or vice captain wins. The second-place team will win if both the captain and vice captain win.

The Draft

The draft procedures have also been adapted going into the second season. This year, each team is able to protect one player that they want to keep, then the other three players are up for grabs again. Teams also have the option to not protect a player, and instead take priority when drafting players later. This year, the draft took place on November 7th, and you can see the new team formations below.

Who are the teams?

Team Go & Shogi Channel

Last year, Team Igo & Shogi Channel won the league. This team is led by coach Shinji Suzuki 8 Dan, who, of course, protected his star player Rina Fujisawa, the Women’s Honimbo. They also managed to redraft 1 Dan Nonoka Takayama. However, the excitement this year is in the two new players they picked up, 7 Dan Xie Yimin and 3 Dan Arisa Moro.

It’s hard to predict how this team is going to do. On one hand, Rina Fujisawa and Xie Yimin are a powerful duo to have on the same team. They have 53 titles between the two of them, and last year Xie Yimin was a captain, which practically makes this a double captain team.

However, Xie Yimin had an underwhelming season last year. She had 1 win and 6 losses. This is probably the reason Fukuoka decided not to protect her in the draft. So if you ask me, this team’s season will be decided by whether Xie can play at her best or not.

You can get updates from the team via their twitter.

Go league player card labeled “Rina Fujisawa,” showing rank 7 Dan, territorial style, and season results

Go league player card labeled “Arisa Moro,” showing rank 3 Dan, territorial style, and preferred openings

Go league player card labeled “Nonoka Takayama,” showing rank 1 Dan, moyo style, and season results

Team Senko Group

Team Senko is coached by 6 Dan Yukari Yoshihara. Last year, they came in second. Though it’s worth noting that they had the most total wins in the league before they were upset in the finals.

This year the team has kept their captain, the Women’s Meijin Asami Ueno. They also managed to redraft 5 Dan Akino Izawa. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 6 Dan Chiaki Mukai and 3 Dan Hana Tsuji round out the team.

You can get updates from the team via their twitter.

Go league player card labeled “Asami Ueno,” showing rank 6 Dan, fighting style, and favorite Chinese Fuseki opening

Go league player card labeled “Chiaki Mukai,” showing rank 6 Dan, territorial style, and opening preferences

Fukuoka

Fukuoka is named after a city in Kyushu, Japan. They are coached by 8 Dan Atsushi Tsuruyama. They are the only team to not protect their captain from last year, Xie Yimin. As mentioned before, the seasoned 7 Dan didn’t do very well last season, so this year Fukuoka is totally switching it up.

Instead of their captain, they protected 2 Dan Saki Yanagihara. They also drafted 4 Dan Shiho Hoshigo, 2 Dan Xu Wenyan, and 3 Dan Natsuo Kibe.

Just looking at the rankings of this team, it might look unimpressive compared to the high Dans of the other teams, especially since they gave up a 7 Dan to get it, but Tsuruyama is taking a calculated risk with this line up. Yanagihara may only be 2 Dan, but that’s due to lack of experience, not lack of skill. In 2023, she became the youngest female professional of the Nihon Ki-in, and has performed very well since. The Japanese rating system only allows players to promote one rank per year, so it’s common for newer players to be stronger than their rank suggests.

Nevertheless, putting someone so new to the professional scene in the captain’s position is certainly a risk, but it’s one I’m personally excited to watch.

As for the other players, Shiho Hoshiai was on the winning team last season and will likely bring some expertise as the co-captain. Bunen Jo also came from the winning team last year.

Natsuki Kibe is not just new to the team but new to the league. On November 7th, she live streamed the player draft and reacted with surprise and excitement to being drafted by Fukuoka. “Well I’ve been given a chance to join such a great group, I’ll have to work very hard.”

You can get updates from the team via their twitter.

Wakagoi

Wakagoi, a name that translates to ‘young koi’, is coached by Kentaro Yamamoto 6 Dan. Despite getting 3rd the previous year, Yamamoto has decided to preserve as much of his previous team as possible. This means that their captain continues to be Ueno Risa, the Women’s Kisei. The other two redrafted players are 7 Dan Ayumu Suzuki, and 5 Dan Aya Okuda. They’ve also managed to pick up 7 Dan Izumi Kobayashi. Kobayashi is new to the Li League, but has been playing Go professionally since 1995.

This is the definition of a well rounded team.

You can get updates from the team via their twitter.

Portrait of Ayumi Suzuki, 7 Dan, Wakagoi co-captain with territorial playstyle and last season record 4 wins and 3 losses.

Portrait of Aya Okuda, 5 Dan, Wakagoi player with fighting style, favourite opening Nei Ren Sei, last season 4 wins and 3 losses.

Portrait of Izumi Kobayashi, 7 Dan, Wakagoi player with territorial style, favourite 4x4 and 3x4 openings, new to the league this year.

Nagoya

Team Nagoya are the underdogs this season. Last year, they had the fewest wins of any team. Despite this, they are keeping their captain, 4 Dan Chisho Kato, and 2 Dan Takao Mari. They’ve also drafted 4 Dan Ushi Eiko, and 1 Dan Suzukawa Nanami.

Ushi Eiko is the major get for this team this year. Don’t let her 4 Dan label fool you, she is a force to be reckoned with. She performed very well on Team Senko last year, winning 7 out of 9 of her league games, including two matches against 7 Dan Xie Yimin. Outside the league, she recently beat prodigy Nakamura Sumire to win the Senko Cup.

Their coach, Yohei Shimoshima, is surely going to push his new team to the limit this year, and between Captain Kato and their new star co-captain Eiko, they might just have a chance at an upset.

You can get updates from the team via their twitter.

Portrait of Chie Kato, 4 Dan, Nagoya captain with territorial playstyle and last season record 3 wins and 5 losses.

Portrait of Eiko Nyu, 4 Dan, Nagoya co-captain with flexible playstyle, favourite opening Cross Games, last season 7 wins and 2 losses.

Portrait of Natsumi SuzuKawa, 1 Dan, Nagoya player with territorial style, favourite 4x4 and 3x4 openings, new to the league this year.

Portrait of Mari Takao, 2 Dan, Nagoya player with moyo playstyle who favours peaceful games, last season 1 win and 5 losses.

Which Team is Right for Me?

But who should you root for? We’ve put together a simple chart to help you decide who to stan.

Flowchart showing how to choose a Japanese Go League team based on preferences such as moyo or territory, peaceful or fighting style, and well-rounded team versus star player.

Games to Look Forward to

Asami Ueno v Rina Fujisawa

This is not only a rematch of the two finalists from last year, but also a head to head between the two top rated women in Japan. Ueno is rated #1, and Fujisawa is #2. They have a professional matchup record of 26-23 in favor of Fujisawa.

Ueno v Ueno

This year will likely yield a matchup between the two Ueno sisters. Asami Ueno is the older and higher ranked of the two at 6 dan, and Risa is the younger at 3 dan. When they played last season, the game was incredibly exciting. They had a fight that spanned across the three quarters of the board. Eventually, Asami saw something Risa didn’t and killed 14 of her sister’s stones to take the lead. We can expect to see them play again in one or both of the Senko vs Wakagoi matchups.

Yimin v Eiko

Last year there was an upset when 4 Dan Ushi Eiko beat 7 Dan Xie Yimin, not just once, but twice. This year they will certainly play again since they are both co-captians. So keep an eye out for Team Igo & Shogi Channel vs Team Nagoya.