Go population in Japan drops to 1.2 million
A game of Kisei title match between Kisei Ichiriki Ryo (left) and Oza Iyama Yuta (right)
According to the “Leisure White Paper 2024” (edited and published by Japan Productivity Center) released on October 31, the Shogi population in 2023 remained unchanged from the previous year’s 4.6 million. Meanwhile, the Go population slightly decreased from 1.3 million to 1.2 million, showing no signs of stopping its declining trend.
While the Shogi world has seen its player population stabilize due to increased media exposure following Fujii Sota’s achievement of holding eight major titles last autumn, Go might fall below the milestone of 1 million players if this trend continues.
This represents a decrease to nearly one-fourth of the Go population of 4.6 million from 25 years ago when the Go manga “Hikaru no Go” began serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump and triggered a Go boom, indicating an extremely severe situation.
Has the Shogi world recovered from the impact of the “COVID-19 pandemic”?
In recent years, the Shogi world has seen an increase in “watching fans” (those who enjoy watching games and following favorite players but are not counted in official statistics) thanks to the achievements of Fujii Sota (22), who holds seven titles (Ryuo, Meijin, Oi, Oza, Kiou, Osho, and Kisei). If these new fans can be encouraged to start playing themselves, we can expect to see growth in the player base.
Additionally, while the Shogi population had been declining due to reduced opportunities for face-to-face matches since the beginning of the “COVID-19 pandemic” in early December 2019, the recent relocation and completion of new Shogi halls in both east and west Japan are positive developments. With increased focus on promotional activities, it may not be impossible to aim for a return to the previous milestone of 10 million players in the long term.
Go world urgently needs fundamental reforms
In contrast, it’s unfortunate that the Go world, despite having more than twice the number of highly skilled professionals (professional from 1-dan) at about 450 compared to the Shogi world (professional from 4-dan), hasn’t been able to leverage this abundant talent for promotion.
For example, in the golf world, which the author enjoys as a hobby, there are charismatic teaching professionals (with a separate qualification system from tour professionals) who make their living teaching amateurs, contributing to maintaining the golf population.
For the past decade or so, the author has been teaching Go, Shogi, and Backgammon in university lectures on “Intellectual Gaming Practice,” and has found that students engage enthusiastically with all these games, confirming that Go is no less engaging as an intellectual pursuit than Shogi (or Backgammon).
There are some bright spots for the Japanese Go world. In September this year, Ichiriki Ryo (27), who holds four titles (Kisei, Meijin, Tengen, and Honinbo), won his first championship at the 10th Ing Cup World Championship, held every four years, reaching the world’s pinnacle. The emergence of stars often leads to increased participation in sports.
Additionally, at the Nihon Ki-in (Japan Go Association), the Go headquarters, Takemiya Yoko 6-dan (47) was elected as the new chairman this year and has started structural reforms under the new administration. In the Kansai region, the Kansai Ki-in is leading efforts to promote Go at the grassroots level, such as dispatching professional players to all municipal kindergartens and nurseries in Takarazuka City, Hyogo Prefecture, to introduce “Go play.”
While it may take some time for these reform efforts to translate into increased player numbers, as a Go fan myself, I hope this will serve as a stepping stone for Go’s revival in popularity.
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People are so constituted that everybody would rather undertake what they see others do, whether they have an aptitude for it or not. — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe