The Master of Go

I loved this book for the way Nobel prize winner Yasunari Kawabata tells the story of the old Go master clashing with the young pretender.

It is the invincible up against the kind and quiet challenger and is largely set in the beautiful hill town of Hakone. High above are the slopes of Mount Fuji; down here is the Go board and pieces, the blossom and bubbling river, and a game of high strategy. A single game of Go can take months.

The story moves with the tectonic pace of clashing civilizations, and like epics, you feel you know the… show more.

Translated from Japanese, this 182-page novel originally published in 1951 is perhaps a little long to be included as a short novel, and a little old to be considered contemporary . . . but it’s a personal favorite! Both a novel and a piece of journalism, Master describes the final match of a man widely considered to be his generation’s greatest go player. Interwoven into this narrative/character study are arresting details about the game and those who have played it over the centuries. It reads so quickly, you’ll think it was only 100 pages.

Sometimes the Nobel committee does get it right. There is a stillness and a rare beauty to this tale of an ageing master of the board game go, fighting a losing battle, literally and figuratively. It manages to say so much about traditional Japanese mores and culture.