Go board craftsman Mr. Keiji MIWA made Hon-kaya Go Board with Legs Masame 6.4-Sun (about 196 mm thick) No.73000 BF+CM

■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.

This 19.6 cm-thick board is the super high grade with extraordinary presence.
Beautiful board with close straight grain patterns with graceful color.
All four legs are hand-carved according to the color tone of the board and grain patterns to maximize the expression and impression of wood, and to best match with the board.
This thick board is truly rare and valuable without any scratch nor chip.
*Please check in the photo image.

• Product
  board craftsman Mr. Keiji MIWA made Hon-kaya Go Board with Legs
  Masame 6.4 sun / 19.6cm thick
  Item No.73000
• Size (height × width × thick × leg)
  465 mm × 433 mm × 196 mm × 117 mm
• Weight : About 23.5kg
• Included：Certificate, Paulownia cover, Cotton cover


• 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.