Yukari Yoshihara: Go’s Greatest Ambassador  

Explore the life of Yukari Yoshihara (previously Umezawa). A Japanese professional 6 Dan and lifelong promoter of Go. 

Childhood

Yoshihara first began playing Go when she was six and her father signed her up for lessons. Like many children, she didn’t initially enjoy the game, but as time went on her competitive side came out and she found that she really enjoyed the challenge of solving tsumego. 

Yoshihara began to receive a lot of praise from the older Go players around her. This encouraged her to keep playing and she quickly climbed the ladder. One day when she was 13 someone introduced her to Kato Masao who asked if she wanted to study under him to become a pro. Yoshihara began studying with Kato and his other students every day after school and on weekends. “It was an environment that I couldn’t have been more blessed with.”

Kato Masao was an accomplished 9 dan player who held 46 titles during his lifetime. He was known as “Killer Kato” due to his aggressive style of play. Fortunately for Yoshihara, she had a similar style which meant she absorbed his lessons easily. “I was grateful to have been nurtured by my teacher, who also had an offensive style of play. He gave me advice that suited me.”

Professional Journey

The path to become a professional player is not an easy one, even with the help of a 9 dan teacher. Only 6 players can go pro each year, and all the players are competing under incredible pressure. Yoshihara spent years trying to pass the test without being able to. Many times she came close, only to be faced with disappointment. Eventually the fear of losing consumed her and she quit Go altogether, instead taking time to enjoy her college life. But after a year without Go she found herself coming back to the game. In December of 1995, at the age of 22, she finally passed the exam. She quickly climbed the ranks from there:

• 2 dan in 1998
• 3 dan in 1999
• 4 dan in 2000
• 5 dan in 2002
• 6 dan in 2013

In 2007, Yoshihara took her first title, the women’s Kisei, and defended the title for another two years. Let’s take a look at the match that won Yoshihara that first title. 

10th Japanese Female Kisei

This match was played between Kana Mannami (Black) and Yukari (Umezawa) Yoshihara (White). They had each won 1 game already so the winner of this game would take the title. 

You can see Yoshihara’s aggressive style from the very beginning of this game. At move 20 she happily kicks and pincers her opponent. 

Then, with move 32 she attaches to her opponent’s enclosure and fearlessly runs her three baseless groups towards the middle. Yoshihara is setting up the type of game she excels at. This pays off much later. A series of forceful exchanges starting with 104 forces Mannami to sacrifice 4 stones in the center. This gives Yoshihara a 5 point lead entering the end game. 

This endgame is a complicated one, and it really shows the elegant reading that Yoshihara is capable of. Take for example move 224 where she cuts, confidently starting a ko fight that is taken back and forth 15 times before she finally wins it. Thanks to this strong end game, Yoshihara wins by 12.5 points to obtain her first title. 

Hikaru no Go

I want you to think back to the first time you saw Go. You probably had no idea how to play, you just saw a beautiful board, speckled in black and white stones. For me that was in a manga called Hikaru no Go. I still remember picking out the first volume from the library as a kid and rereading it over and over that week despite having no idea how the game was played. 

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Hikaru no Go is manga, turned anime, turned live action tv show about a Japanese boy named Hikaru who gets haunted by the spirit of a great Go player named Sai. With Sai’s help Hikaru learns Go and finds a life in the world of Go. 

As you can probably guess, Yoshihara was involved. She played a major role in supervising the technical aspects of the manga, and recorded a series of short one minute lessons called “Go Go Igo” that would play at the end of each episode of the anime. The manga did a wonderful job of showing not just the beauty of Go, but also the beauty of the community that exists around it. This resonated with many people who read it. So much so that it sparked “the Hikaru no Go boom”. This was the time following its release when a wave of children became interested in the game. All around the world interest in Go spiked as more people read or watched Hikaru and wanted to embark on the same journey. Yoshihara noted this change in the Go world around her, noticing that the size of a summer youth Go tournament had tripled in the decade following the release.

“As Go players, we also have a role to play in spreading the game… I believe that if more and more players were to recognize this and do what they can, the world of Go would definitely change.” – Yukari Yoshihara

Spreading Go

Her promotion of Go did not start or end with Hikaru no Go. In fact, she began promoting the game as soon as she became a pro, believing that it was her responsibility as a professional to share the game with others. To go deep into everything she’s done to promote Go would take an entire book, but to name a few:

• She hosted educational programs on TV which taught people how to play.
• She has given lectures at 3 different Japanese Universities since 2005.
• She is the host of a series of Go Videogames.

• She has authored 6 different books on Go strategy, although unfortunately none of them are available in English yet.
• She took a lead role in creating a mobile app called “Let’s Play Go!” which combines Go lessons with Japanese history.
• She serves as the executive director for a Go website called Igo Amigo. They have many resources for promoting Go including a free magazine called Goteki which is written like a fashion magazine and has the goal of getting more girls into Go.

Japanese Women’s Go League

Recently, Yoshihara’s career has taken her in a new direction. In April of 2024 she announced she would be the manager of Team Senko in the Japanese Women’s Go League. The league was brand new when it started in July later that year. The Senko team also has the well known Asami Ueno 6 dan as their team captain. The first year of the league, the Senko team made it all the way to the finals where they lost 2-1 to ‘Team Igo-Shogi Channel’ led by the Women’s Honinbo, Rina Fujisawa. 

Personally, I’m excited to see what comes out of this league. It seems it will only continue to drive the level of women’s Go up and up. A few years ago, in an interview Yoshihara was asked if she thought there were any women in a position to take some of the major mixed-gender titles she said “I think there’s plenty. Especially since Sumire [Nakamura] is already at that level at just 14 years old.” It seems like now it’s only a matter of time before something makes that historic move. Those interested in following the action of the second season will be able to find the game schedule on the Nihon ki-in website in mid-October, or catch up the first season’s games here. You can also read more about the up and coming go prodigy Sumire Nakamura.

Legacy

Yoshihara has led a wide reaching life. She has done in 30 years as a professional what would have taken others multiple life times to achieve. She was one of the strongest female players of her generation. She worked to bring millions of new players to Go. After a lifetime of different promotional projects, it’s impossible for us to predict what Yoshihara will do next, but you can bet that whatever it is the world of Go will be better off for it.