Hyuga Kaya Masame 1.9-Sun (about 60 mm thick) 9-ro 3-pieces Table Go Board　No.77038 *Tachimori-finish

This is a beautiful board with a strong yellowish color peculiar to Hyuga-kaya wood.
There is an intergrown knot (habushi) and a natural stain on the bottom, and a small tar spot on one side.
*Please check the photo images.

"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.

"Hyuga kaya" is a special type of close-grained Japanese nutmeg tree grown and harvested in a mountainous area in the southern part of Kyushu, Japan.

The reason why Hyuga kaya from Miyazaki Prefecture is of the highest quality is because of the natural environment in which the tree grows.
The climate in southern Kyushu and the Miyazaki area has relatively big temperature differences between daytime and night time, a lot of rainfall, and strong direct sunlight, all of which help trees to produce clear-grain grains.
The wood grows on rocky terrain and requires several hundred years to grow into a tree large enough to be used as Go board material.
This is why it is considered a top-quality product, due to its rarity as well as its wood quality.
The grain of the wood is very fine and dense, so it rarely causes warpage or distortion.

Hyuga kaya boards are used in various title matches and famous tournaments.
The sound of the placing of stones on the board is very clear. Moreover, as it is used over the years, it will take on a refined candy-colored luster, further enhancing its maturity.

"Masame" cutting style has masame (straight grain) only on the top surface of the board.
The bottom surface has "Itame (flat grain)".
The general "Masame" boards belong to this type.
The top surface is beautifully finished so the "Masame" board is highly valued.

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

When the material itself is too large in diameter to make a one-piece board, or when the board cannot be made from a single piece of wood for any reason, it is sometimes made by joining pieces of wood together.

A board made in this way is called a "tsugi-ban" or "hagi-ban" (joined or composite board).
There are several types of these boards and the ones with a fewer number of pieces, with less variation in color and grain, are regarded as more valuable.
When using a composite board, we collect material wood that is as close as possible in wood color and grain in order to make the board as consistent as possible.
Then, the joints are precisely calculated and bonded together so that the lines are placed right over the joints as much as possible. (Not ensured in some cases)

In fact, we spend more time and effort to produce tsugi-ban boards, which are slightly less valuable than one-piece boards.
The composite board also has some advantages: since multiple pieces of material are joined in parallel, each piece is narrower and less prone to warping.

• Hyuga Kaya Masame 1.9-Sun (about 60 mm thick) 3-pieces 9-ro Table Go Board
  Product No.: No.77038
  Size：221 ㎜ × 200 ㎜ × 60 ㎜
  Weight：About 1.5 kg
  Comes with a certification
• 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.