Go board craftsman Mr. Keiji MIWA made Japan grown Hon kaya 13-ro 1.8-Sun (55mm thick) Oi-masa 1-piece Table Go Board No.78056 *Off-spec

All Go stones, Go boards, Shogi pieces, Shogi boards, Go bowls, etc. are made using natural materials.
For this reason, some products may present defects such as flaw, stain, crack and/or wood knots, or damages caused at the time of manufacturing and/or storage, and thus they cannot be sold at full price.
We do not sell any product with significant defects. We may sell some products with minor defects as "off-spec products" at a discounted price upon confirmation that customers are duly aware of any defects in advance.
We try our best to describe the condition of any defect as precisely as possible using pictures and text.
Please order items only after checking and accepting the condition of defects. Thank you.
*'Defects' refer to any scratch and flaw.

The 13-ro board has a short playing time and can be enjoyed by a wide range of players, from beginners to experts.
Also, unlike the regular 19-ro board, it is compact and easy to carry around.
The wood color and wood grains are both wonderful, and it is a gem that you can fully enjoy the aroma and touch of Hon-Kaya.

This board is Oi-masa and the Itame appears on the side of top, but it is not so large.
Loght colored stains can be seen at one cutting side and one side.
The top and the side have intergrown knots, and the top has fixed an intergrown knot.

*Please check the photo images.

■History
Miwa Gobanten is a long-established Go board manufacturer and shop in Nagoya, that was founded in 1917, with the history of more than 100 years. Now the workshop and shop are owned and operated by Mr. Keiji MIWA with his official artist name "KEIHO". He is the third generation owner, following Mr. Saburo MIWA as the first generation and Mr. Yasuharu MIWA as the second generation. The origin dates back to the first owner Mr Saburo MIWA, who was a craftsman of Hako Hibachi (box type brazier), loved Shogi and Igo very much. Saburo learnt from one craftsman in Osaka how to make Shogi and Go boards.

■Philosophy and Passion: Identifying wood quality and professional drying technique
We are highly proud of the quality of our boards but also all the process starting from selecting material wood through drying technique. Currently. The third generation owner Mr. Keiji MIWA has visited a lot of lumber markets all over Japan to see and feel as many as wood as possible with his own eyes and identification skill, even though many Japanese Go board manufacturers depend only on distributors to purchase material woods.
Supported by his long experience, Mr. Keiji MIWA acquired a special skill to identify the best wood to make best Go and Shogi boards, making their products truly valuable that we are able to proudly introduce to our customers. Especially we want to emphasize their splendid drying process. Miwa Gobanten has kept natural drying method, among them some of the wood are dried for more than 10 years long.

■Philosophy and Passion: Carving on legs
People say that carving on board legs always requires patience of craftsman. Carving work using a small knife is not a simple work. They finish carving and engraving just a few pieces in a day. Furthermore, it also requires additional polishing work that usually takes several days more to finish.

■Philosophy and Passion: tachimori
The symbol of high-end Go and Shogi board is Tachimori, making lines on board using a Japanese sword. Miwa Gobanten adopts a special Tachimori technique called ‘Yarai’. They apply Japanese lacquer on the tip of sword blade and gently press and print it down on the wooden board. This method enables them to make beautiful, gentle, smooth and elegant lines that can be only accomplished by a manual work. These boards with Tachimori lines are true value of Miwa Keiji as the top artisan in this field.

He has long experience in board making and knows how the weather and humidity will affect lacquer conditions. He accumulated all kinds of data so that he will able to fully utilize these information in his Tachimori process. Japanese lacquer as painting material is hard to handle as it is easily affected by temperature and humidity. By fully utilizing both of his experience and accumulated data, he always tries to produce the best of best quality Go and Shogi boards from his workshop.

Kaya is regarded as one of the best materials to make Go and Shogi boards, because of its good sound and feel when placing the stones, moderate elasticity, beautiful grain, color, gloss and luster, and aroma.
There are three types of kaya trees: "Hyuga Kaya" which is grown and harvested in a mountainous area in the southern part of Kyushu, Japan, "Japanese-grown honkaya" which is grown in other areas of Japan, and "Chinese-grown honkaya" which is mainly grown in Yunnan Province, China.
Generally, Japanese-grown honkaya is said to be better than Chinese honkaya in terms of quality.
The main difference between Japanese and Chinese kaya is the wood quality, caused by the natural environment where the tree was grown. Japanese kaya is usually lighter and more yellowish in color and has a unique wood aroma.
Depending on your preference, Japanese kaya is generally more highly valued than Chinese kaya, and the value and price of Japanese kaya tends to be higher due to the rarity of the wood.

In order to make a one-piece Go/Shogi board or board with legs, it is necessary to get a large tree between 200 and 800 years old.However, since logging is now prohibited in many forests in Japan, large-diameter kaya wood is almost impossible to find on the market.
The procurement of kaya is becoming more and more difficult and the Japanese honkaya Go board is getting rarer year on year.

*Go board materials are explained detail in "How to choose a board".
Please take a look.
Go to "How to choose a board".

The "Oi-masa" cutting style board has itame (flat grain) on only one side of the top surface of the board.
The center (core) of the log often has this grain pattern, which is cut out between masame and itame.

*Go board cutting styles are explained detail in "How to choose a board".
Please take a look.
Go to "How to choose a board".

Product
board craftsman Mr. Keiji MIWA made Japan grown Hon-kaya 13-ro 1-piece table Go Board *Off-spec
Oi-masa 1.8-Sun / 55 mm thick
Item No.78056
Size : (height × width × thick)
316 mm × 297 mm × 55 mm
Weight : About 2.3kg
Included：Certificate

1,000 JPY flat rate shipping within Japan, free shipping for purchases totaling 20,000 JPY or more.
Please bear the actual cost for shipping charges outside Japan.

You may find small knots, burrs, rolled-in bark as all these products are made of natural trees.
There may be some small flaw or scratch, dent, chipping.