Board craftsman Mr. Torayoshi YOSHIDA made Japan grown Kaya Shihou-masa 5.6-Sun (about 171 mm thick) Shogi Board with legs No.84007F

With a thickness of 5.6-Sun (approximately 171 mm), the board has a massive and luxurious feel.
Both cutting sides and one side have natural wood color stains.
*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.

"Shihou-masa" cutting style is the most valuable cutting style among all cutting styles !!!

"Shihou-masa" is an ideal cutting style with straight grain (masame)* on the top, bottom, and both sides (players' sides) of the board.
This cutting style is only possible when the wood is cut out from a tree with a large diameter, so we can say that the word shihou-masa means the boards are made from trees with a large diameter or a well-aged tree.
Therefore, it is regarded as the most valuable board with a higher price.
Especially, a board made of kaya wood (Japanese Torreya) shihou-masa is very expensive, sometimes priced in the millions or even tens of millions of JPY (several thousand to several hundred thousand US dollars), because they are extremely rare and hard to get.

*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 "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".

• Board craftsman Mr. Torayoshi YOSHIDA made Japan grown Kaya Shihou-masa 5.6-Sun (about 171 mm thick) Shogi Board with legs
  Product No.：No.84007F
  Size (height×width×thickxlegs)：365 mm × 332 mm × 171 mm × 90 mm
  Weight：About 10.6 kg
  Included：Certificate, Paulownia cover, and Cotton cover

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.