A book blending fiction and reportage, based on a famous real game of Go played in Japan in 1938. It follows an aged and revered master as he meets a younger challenger in a match stretched over many months, with pauses, illness and disputes. Kawabata, who covered the game as a journalist, treats it as more than a contest. It becomes a portrait of a passing era, of tradition giving way to modern, more rule-bound ways, and of dignity in the face of change.
Quotes
Maybe vagueness has been good for me. The word means two different things in Tokyo and Osaka, you know. In Tokyo it means stupidity, but in Osaka they talk about vagueness in a painting and in a game of Go.