Kisei (棋聖) is an honorary title and Go competition. The title, meaning Go Sage in Japanese, was a traditional honorary appellation given to a handful of players down the centuries. The element ki can also apply to shogi, and there were also recognized kisei in the shogi world.
Kisei is a Go competition organised by the Japanese Nihon Ki-in. The competition began in 1976 by the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper and is the highest paying competition in Japanese professional Go, paying ¥43,000,000 to the winner since the 47th Kisei in 2023.[1] The word Kisei is Japanese for "Go Sage", which is why before the Kisei tournament began, the only players who were given the title "Kisei" were Dōsaku and Hon′inbō Shūsaku.[2]
The holder is challenged by whoever wins the round robin league. Players can get into the round robin league by going through many preliminary tournaments. Once there is a challenger to compete against the holder, the winner is decided through a best of seven match. The games are played over two days and each player is given eight hours of thinking time. If a player qualifies for the Kisei league, they are automatically promoted to 7 dan. If that same player wins the league, a promotion to 8 dan is given. If that same player goes on to winning the title, they are promoted to 9 dan, the highest rank.[3]
| No. | Year | Winner | Score | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4–1 | Hashimoto Utaro | ||
| 2 | 4–3 | Kato Masao | ||
| 3 | 4–1 | Ishida Yoshio | ||
| 4 | 4–1 | Rin Kaiho | ||
| 5 | 4–0 | Otake Hideo | ||
| 6 | 4–3 | Rin Kaiho | ||
| 7 | 4–3 | Fujisawa Hideyuki | ||
| 8 | 4–2 | Rin Kaiho | ||
| 9 | 4–3 | Takemiya Masaki | ||
| 10 | 4–2 | Cho Chikun | ||
| 11 | 4–1 | |||
| 12 | 4–1 | |||
| 13 | 4–1 | |||
| 14 | 4–1 | |||
| 15 | 4–3 | |||
| 16 | 4–3 | Yamashiro Hiroshi | ||
| 17 | 4–3 | Kato Masao | ||
| 18 | 4–2 | Kobayashi Koichi | ||
| 19 | 4–2 | Cho Chikun | ||
| 20 | 4–3 | Kobayashi Satoru | ||
| 21 | 4–1 | |||
| 22 | 4–2 | Yoda Norimoto | ||
| 23 | 4–2 | Kobayashi Koichi | ||
| 24 | 4–2 | Cho Chikun | ||
| 25 | 4–2 | Cho Sonjin | ||
| 26 | 4–2 | Ryu Shikun | ||
| 27 | 4–1 | O Rissei | ||
| 28 | 4–3 | Yamashita Keigo | ||
| 29 | 4–3 | Yuki Satoshi | ||
| 30 | 4–0 | |||
| 31 | 4–0 | |||
| 32 | 4–3 | Cho Chikun | ||
| 33 | 4–2 | |||
| 34 | 4–1 | |||
| 35 | 4–2 | Iyama Yuta | ||
| 36 | 4–3 | Takao Shinji | ||
| 37 | 4–2 | Cho U | ||
| 38 | 4–2 | |||
| 39 | 4–3 | |||
| 40 | 4–0 | |||
| 41 | 2017 | 4–2 | Kono Rin | |
| 42 | 2018 | 4–0 | Ichiriki Ryo | |
| 43 | 2019 | 4–3 | Yamashita Keigo | |
| 44 | 2020 | 4–2 | Kono Rin | |
| 45 | 2021 | 4–1 | ||
| 46 | 2022 | 4–3 | Iyama Yuta | |
| 47 | 2023 | 4–2 | Shibano Toramaru | |
| 48 | 2023 | 4–3 | Iyama Yuta |
A Go player who has held the title for five consecutive years, or won the title a total of ten times or more, has qualified themselves to become "Honorary Kisei" after retiring or after the age of 60.