is a Renju title in Japan. The Meijin title tournament, formally called the , is played every year in Japan since 1962. The Meijin-sen tournament is one of the most important Renju tournaments in Japan.
History and Rule The first Meijin-sen tournament is organized by the Japanese Renju Federation in 1962. Since then, the tournament is played every year except for 1974. During every year with the Meijin title match, two rounds of qualification tournaments are held in parallel in different regions of Japan. The A-class league is made up of 10 players, which are composed of winners of different qualification tournaments, together with three seeds from the last tournament. A round-robin tournament is held among the A-class league, and the winner of the A-class league becomes the challenger of that year. Then a 5-round match is held between the challenger and current title holder. If the challenger gets at least 3 points from 5 games, he wins the match and gains the Meijin title. Otherwise, the current holder keeps the title.
Past winners +No.YearWinnerResult(Win-Draw-Loss)Opponent11962Toshinori Yamakita2-2-0Masao Mitsumori21963Toshio Nishimura3-1-1Toshinori Yamakita31964Toshio Nishimura (2)1-3-1Taizan Isobe41965Taizan Isobe3-0-2Toshio Nishimura51966Taizan Isobe (2)3-0-2Toshio Nishimura61967Taizan Isobe (3)3-0-0Toshio Nishimura71968Toshio Nishimura (3)3-0-2Taizan Isobe81969Taizan Isobe (4)3-0-0Toshio Nishimura91970Taizan Isobe (5)3-0-0Toshio Nishimura101971Taizan Isobe (6)1-3-1Toshio Nishimura111972Taizan Isobe (7)1-3-0Toshio Nishimura121973Taizan Isobe (8)2-1-1Toshio Nishimura131975Shigeru Nakamura3-1-0Taizan Isobe141976Toshio Nishimura (4)3-0-0Shigeru Nakamura151977Shigeru Nakamura (2)3-0-2Toshio Nishimura161978Shigeru Nakamura (3)2-1-1Toshio Nishimura171979Shigeru Nakamura (4)2-1-0Hisashi Takahashi181980Atsushi Nishiyama3-0-2Shigeru Nakamura191981Shigeru Nakamura (5)3-1-1Atsushi Nisiyama201982Shigeru Nakamura (6)2-1-0Atsushi Nisiyama211983Shigeru Nakamura (7)3-0-2Shigeru Tomimori221984Shigeru Nakamura (8)2-2-0Shigeru Tomimori231985Shigeru Nakamura (9)2-1-0Takashi Sagara241986Shigeru Nakamura (10)2-2-1Takashi Sagara251987Shigeru Nakamura (11)2-1-1Norihiko Kawamura261988Shigeru Nakamura (12)3-0-0Kazuto Hasegawa271989Shigeru Nakamura (13)2-1-1Kazuto Hasegawa281990Shigeru Nakamura (14)2-1-1Kazuto Hasegawa291991Shigeru Nakamura (15)3-0-0Norihiko Kawamura301992Shigeru Nakamura (16)2-1-1Kazuto Hasegawa311993Shigeru Nakamura (17)3-0-1Norihiko Kawamura321994Norihiko Kawamura3-0-2Shigeru Nakamura331995Norihiko Kawamura (2)3-0-0Kazuto Hasegawa341996Kazuto Hasegawa2-2-1Norihiko Kawamura351997Shigeru Nakamura (18)3-0-0Kazuto Hasegawa361998Shigeru Nakamura (19)2-1-0Norio Nishizono371999Shigeru Nakamura (20)2-1-0Norihiko Kawamura382000Shigeru Nakamura (21)2-1-0Kazuto Hasegawa392001Shigeru Nakamura (22)2-1-0Kazuto Hasegawa402002Makoto Yamaguchi3-0-1Kazuto Hasegawa412003Makoto Yamaguchi (2)3-0-2Kazuto Hasegawa422004Norihiko Kawamura (3)3-1-0Makoto Yamaguchi432005Kazuto Hasegawa (2)3-1-1Norihiko Kawamura442006Kazuto Hasegawa (3)2-1-0Norihiko Kawamura452007Kazuto Hasegawa (4)2-1-0Yusui Yamaguchi462008Kazuto Hasegawa (5)2-1-0Hiroshi Okabe472009Kazuto Hasegawa (6)2-1-1Norihiko Kawamura482010Yuuki Oosumi3-1-1Kazuto Hasegawa492011Yuuki Oosumi (2)2-1-1Yusui Yamaguchi502012Shigeru Nakamura (23)2-2-1Yuuki Oosumi512013Shigeru Nakamura (24)2-2-0Yuuki Oosumi522014Shigeru Nakamura (25)1-3-1Yuuki Oosumi532015Shigeru Nakamura (26)3-0-0Kazuto Hasegawa542016Shigeru Nakamura (27)2-1-0Shunsuke Kamiya552017Tomoharu Nakayama2-2-0Shigeru Nakamura562018Shigeru Nakamura (28)2-2-0Tomoharu Nakayama572019Shigeru Nakamura (29)2-1-1Shunsuke Kamiya582020Shigeru Nakamura (30)2-1-1Tomoharu Nakayama592021Shunsuke Kamiya1-4-0Tomoharu Nakayama602022Shunsuke Kamiya (2)2-1-0Tomoharu Nakayama612023Shunsuke Kamiya (3)3-0-0Hiroshi Okabe622024Shunsuke Kamiya (4)1-3-0Hiroshi Okabe632025Shunsuke Kamiya (5)3-0-0Wang Qingqing
Lifetime Meijin
Lifetime Meijin is a lifetime honorable title which is given to Japanese Renju players. Before the Meijin-sen tournaments were launched in 1962, the title of Lifetime Meijin was awarded to the players who had made outstanding contributions to the development of Renju. Since 1962, the title is awarded to the players who have outstanding performance in the Meijin-sen tournaments.
Before 1962 Before the Meijin-sen tournaments were started, there were five Japanese players who were awarded the title of Lifetime Meijin.
1st: Goraku Takayama (Kuroiwa Ruikō) 2nd: Yūseki Mikami 3rd: Rakuzan Takagi 4th: Hōrō Yamakabe 5th: Gozui Sakata
After 1962 After 1962, the title of Lifetime Meijin is awarded to the outstanding players who have won the Meijin title for at least 7 times in total, or 5 times in a row. A player who meets the above conditions can get this title when he is at least 60 years old.
Up to 2023, there are three players who have won this title is this way:
6th: Taizan Isobe 7th: Shigeru Nakamura 8th: Kazuto Hasegawa
In addition, there is also one player who has been qualified for this title, but not yet 60 years old.
Shunsuke Kamiya (5 times in a row)
See also Renju Gomoku World Championships in Renju
References