The history and evolution of kyu rank in Go game

I’ve also transcribed another record on the other side of the page between 伊藤繁女(listed as 8k in the description of this game) and 今井金江茂 (on the member list in 1883 is 7k). But there is little to no record of who 伊藤繁女 was and from the naming convention, she was a woman player and listed in the 1880 old listing as 2d.

今井金江茂 played dozens of games through the Hoensha era, but little is known about him, only that he used to be called 今井金蔵, and was listed as a shodan in the Honinbo house record of 1880. But rose through the rank in the 1880s to 7k, 6k, 5k, and then evetually 5d (when the dan ranking was reverted), and was listed as one of the earlier founding members of the Hoensha. This usually means he had the financial/political influence for the establishment of the Hoensha.

Since I know too little about them, hard to place them among the ranks. But from this game, and other games 今井金江茂 had played, he was a pretty strong player.

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