Board craftsman Mr. Torayoshi YOSHIDA made China grown Kaya Tenchi-masa 1.8-Sun (about 55 mm thick) Table Shogi Board No.89033F

One side has intergrown knots, but there are no other noticeable defects, and both the grain and the color of the wood are flawless.
One side has intergrown knots.
*Please check the pictures.

Yoshida Gobanten was established in 1916 and continuously made various Go and Shogi boards for more than 100years.
The owner takes over the name of 'Master Yoshida Torayoshi' for generations.
All the boards made by the 3rd and 4th generation of Yoshida Torayoshi, the present owner, have engraved words of Ichi-jo (一如) in Chinese character, as the evidence of his work.
The word 'Ichi-jo' is a part of famous four-character idiom 'Busshin Ichi-nyo (物心一如)', that literally means 'matter and mind are one/body and mind as one'.
This implies a strong will that when we make boards, our board and mind are as one.
The engraved words 'Ichi-jo (一如)' is the evidence of master, who made this board with his spirit and board as one.
We are happy to offer these special boards made by the board master Mr. YOSHIDA Torayoshi, for his devotion and his long years of experience and outstanding technique.

"Tenchi-masa" literally means the grain runs from the top to the bottom or from the sky (ten) to the earth (chi).
As there is no visible itame (flat grain), you can see the beautiful masame (straight grain) from the top to the bottom of the board.
When the top and bottom surfaces have masame (straight grain) but the side has itame (flat grain), the board is classified as tenchi-masa.
Just like the shihou-masa board, the tenchi-masa board is made from a large-diameter, well-aged tree.
The kaya (Japanese Torreya) tenchi-masa board is synonymous with the finest Go boards made of valuable wood.
Also, most of the boards called tsugi-ban or hagi-ban (composition boards made from several pieces of wood joined together) have tenchi-masa or masame (straight grain).

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

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 "China-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.
Chinese kaya tends to be less valued than Japanese kaya due to its reddish wood color, wood quality, and rarity, but this material is often sold at a relatively affordable price for a high-quality board.

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

• Board craftsman Mr. Torayoshi YOSHIDA made China grown Kaya Tenchi-masa 1.8-Sun (about 55 mm thick) Table Shogi Board
  Product No.：No.89033F
  Size (height×width×thick)369 mm × 342 mm × 55 mm
  Weight：About 4.0 kg
  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.