The old (Yomiuri) Meijin title

This page gives the initial tournament and the title games for the Old Meijin (名人) title sponsored by the Yomiuri newspaper in 1962-1975. For results from the league, see the subpages linked to below. For the later Meijin title supported by the Asahi newspaper, see the index page.

Old Meijin title results

Each year except the first, the title match is held between last year's title holder and the challenger, the winner of the League. The first year a large tournament was held, see below.

Nr	Year	Winner	Opponent	Score	Games
1	1962	Fujisawa Hideyuki
2	1963	Sakata Eio	Fujisawa Hideyuki	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3	1964	Sakata Eio	Fujisawa Hideyuki	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
4	1965	Rin Kaiho	Sakata Eio	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
5	1966	Rin Kaiho	Sakata Eio	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
6	1967	Rin Kaiho	Sakata Eio	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
7	1968	Takagawa Kaku	Rin Kaiho	4-1	1 2 3 4 5
8	1969	Rin Kaiho	Takagawa Kaku	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
9	1970	Fujisawa Hideyuki	Rin Kaiho	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
10	1971	Rin Kaiho	Fujisawa Hideyuki	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
11	1972	Rin Kaiho	Fujisawa Hideyuki	4-2	1 2 3 4 5 6
12	1973	Rin Kaiho	Ishida Yoshio	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
13	1974	Ishida Yoshio	Rin Kaiho	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7
14	1975	Otake Hideo	Ishida Yoshio	4-3	1 2 3 4 5 6 7

In 1976 sponsoring was taken over by the Asahi newspaper, and a new numbering started. See the index page.

First Meijin tournament

In 1962 the Meijin tournament, sponsored by the Yomiuri newspaper, started with a full 13-player tournament, 78 games. It was won by Fujisawa Hideyuki (a.k.a. Fujisawa Shuko).

Results (in the first column the white player, on the top row the black player):

#	player	result	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13
1.	Fujisawa Shuko	9				B+R	B+R	B+1		W+R			W+R		W+R
2.	Go Seigen	9−	B+R		W+0				B+7		W+R	B+4		W+7
3.	Sakata Eio	8	B+R					B+3		W+R	W+R	W+6	W+R
4.	Hashimoto Shoji	7		B+9	B+R				B+R		B+3			W+R	W+1
5.	Kitani Minoru	7		B+R	W+2	B+6			W+8					W+R	B+2
6.	Handa Dogen	7		B+R		B+R	W+6		B+7					B+R	W+R
7.	Fujisawa Hosai	6	B+2		B+R						B+R	B+R	B+5	W+7
8.	Miyashita Shuyo	5		B+R		W+1	W+1	W+R	B+R						B+R
9.	Sugiuchi Masao	5	B+R				B+R	B+R		B+1		B+R	W+2
10.	Shimamura Toshihiro	5	B+3			B+3	B+3	B+1		W+R			B+1
11.	Iwata Tatsuaki	4		B+R		B+2	B+4	B+R		W+5					W+R
12.	Hashimoto Utaro	3	B+7		B+R					B+1	B+7	B+3	W+2
13.	Takagawa Shukaku	3		B+R	B+R				B+R		B+R	W+R		B+R

The tournament rules made jigo a win for white, but one that counted less heavily than a full win. And so it happened that Fujisawa Shuko won the tournament when the final game between Go Seigen and Sakata Eio ended in jigo. Any other outcome of that game would have made a playoff between numbers 1 and 2 necessary.