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{{Short description|Japanese Go player}}
{{Infobox go player
| name=Honinbo Sansa
| image= Sansa.jpg
| fullname=Honinbo Sansa
| kanji=本因坊算砂
| birth_date=1559
| birth_place=[[Kyoto]], [[Japan]]
| death_date={{death date|1623|6|13|mf=y}}
| death_place=[[Edo]], [[Japan]]
| teacher=Senya
| rank=9 dan
}}

{{family name hatnote|Kanō|lang=Japanese}}
'''Hon'inbō Sansa''' (本因坊 算砂, 1559 &ndash; June 13, 1623) was the assumed name of '''Kanō Yosaburō ''' (加納 與三郎), one of the strongest Japanese [[Go players]] of the [[Edo period]] (1603–1867), and founder of the house of [[Honinbo|Hon'inbō]], first among the [[four go houses|four great schools]] of Go in Japan. He was a [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] priest of the [[Nichiren sect]], and his original [[dharma name]] was '''Nikkai''' (日海).

==Life and career==
Nikkai was born in [[Kyōto]] and became a [[Buddhist monk|monk]] at age nine. The name "Hon'inbō", (originally pronounced "Honninbō"), comes from a sub-temple of the [[Jakkōji]] temple complex in Kyōto where Nikkai, the first "Hon'inbō", resided.

Among his students were the ''[[daimyō]]s'' [[Oda Nobunaga]], [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]], and [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], the three great "unifiers" of [[feudal Japan]]. Nikkai considered the three generals to be "fifth-degree" players (五子, comparable to amateur 4 or 5 [[Go ranks and ratings|dan]]), but "diplomacy" was likely a factor in Nikkai's even-handed assessment of these imposing figures.

It was Nobunaga who, in 1578, recognized twenty-year-old Nikkai as the first ''[[Meijin (go)|Meijin]]'' of Go. In 1582, Nikkai, at the behest of Nobunaga, was involved in a notorious game at the [[Honnōji Temple]] against his rival, another Nichiren priest, [[Kashio Rigen]] (鹿塩 利玄 b. 1565). (Apparently, there is a theory that "Kashio" and "Rigen" were two different people. See the Japanese version of this article.) The game is traditionally held to have taken place on the eve of the treacherous [[Incident at Honnōji]], (in which Nobunaga was forced to commit [[seppuku]]), and is said to have ended in a "[[triple ko]]". Hence the notion of triple ko as bad omen. There is a [[go game record]], but typical for the period, it is incomplete. The triple ko may have occurred, somewhat implausibly, in unrecorded remaining plays, or in another game that day, but in the end, there is no evidence that this is more than a good story.

In 1587, Nobunaga's successor, the regent (''[[kampaku]]'') Hideyoshi gave Nikkai an official position, (forerunner to the office of ''[[godokoro|Go-dokoro]]''), granting his temple an annual four ''[[koku]]'' of [[rice]] and setting up a tournament that he attended in person. In 1592, Nikkai was given the rank of ''[[gon no daisoku|Gon-no-Daisoku]]'' by the [[Go-Yōzei]] Emperor.

In 1603, the Go-Yōzei Emperor recognized sixty-year-old Tokugawa Ieyasu as ''shōgun'', inaugurating the 250-year rule of the [[Tokugawa bakufu]]. At the direction of Ieyasu, Nikkai turned priestly duties at Jakkoji over to his younger brother [[Nichiei]] and became the first ''go-dokoro'', in which office Nikkai was provided fifty ''koku'' of rice and five servants. Also around this time ({{circa|1605}}), Nikkai took the name ''Hon'inbō Sansa'' (''Sansa'' written 算砂: the characters for "calculating" and "sand").

Sansa was also a strong ''[[shogi]]'' player, but in the Tokugawa period, go was organised into four "houses" (or "academies"), and [[shogi]] into three, which would compete in ''[[oshirogo]]'' "Castle Go" (and "Castle shogi") tournaments for the title ''[[Meijin (go)|Meijin]]''. (See more at ''[[History of shogi#Modern shogi|History of shogi § Modern shogi]]''.) The official nature of these arrangements meant that go and shogi masters held different offices. In 1612, eight go and shogi players were given individual state support. This system persisted over two and a half centuries, until the collapse of the Tokugawa government itself in the [[Meiji Restoration]].

The beginning of the ''[[oshirogo]]'' matches in [[Edo]], seat of the Tokugawa government, meant that at the end of each year, Sansa had to travel east for a month. He is said to have turned down an official residence in Edo's early [[Nihonbashi]] district, but was given other accommodations. (It was the unrivaled fourth Hon'inbō, [[Hon'inbō Dōsaku]] (1645–1702) who finally moved the school to Edo.) Sansa died in Edo at the age of 65.

==Legacy==
Honinbō Sansa was succeeded by a youth named Sugimura, who due to his age, had to wait several years after Sansa's death to re-establish the Hon'inbō house as [[Hon'inbō San'etsu]] when he turned twenty. However, the title of ''Meijin'' was regained by the third head of Hon'inbō, and altogether, seven of the ten generations of historic ''Meijin'' were Hon'inbō. In addition, all three traditional ''[[Kisei (go)|Kisei]]'' ("Go Sages") were Hon'inbō masters. (Both ''Meijin'' and ''Kisei'' are now titles administered by the [[Nihon Ki-in]].)

The school established by Hon'inbō Sansa, along with the [[Inoue house|Inoue]] and [[Yasui house|Yasui]] schools, lasted into the 20th century, but struggled without government backing. In 1936, the last Hon'inbō master, the controversial [[Hon'inbō Shūsai]], turned selection of the Hon'inbō title over to the Nihon Ki-in. (See [[Honinbo Tournament|Honinbō Tournament]].)

==In popular culture==
He has been featured in the Japanese [[manga]] [[Hikaru no Go]].

==References==
* ''Life of the first "Hon-in-bo"'', Takeshi Ishikawa, [[Monthly Go Review]] 1961/7
* [http://www.jakkoin.jp/ Homepage of the Jakkoin Temple]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070822054743/http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/juniorclub/history/history04.htm Nihon Ki-in History of Go for Kids (Azuchi–Momoyama and Edo Periods)]

== External links ==

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[[Category:1559 births]]
[[Category:1623 deaths]]
[[Category:Japanese Go players]]
[[Category:Japanese shogi players]]
[[Category:Japanese Buddhist clergy]]
[[Category:Nichiren Buddhist monks]]
[[Category:People from Kyoto]]
[[Category:Shogi players from Kyoto Prefecture]]
[[Category:Buddhist clergy of the Edo period]]
[[Category:16th-century Go players]]
[[Category:17th-century Go players]]