among its readers. Delays would be dangerous. The only solution was to
shorten the recesses. But Otaké was uncompromising.
“We’ve been friends for a long time,” said Murashima of the Fifth Rank.
“Let me talk to him.”
Both Otaké and Murashima had come to Tokyo from the Osaka region as
boys. Murashima had become a pupil of the Master’s, Otaké had become
apprenticed to Suzuki of the Seventh Rank; but no doubt Murashima took
the optimistic view that, in view of their old friendship and their relations in
the world of Go, a special plea from him would be effective. He went so far
as to tell Otaké of the Master’s ailments, however, and the result was to
stiffen Otaké’s resistance. Otaké went to the managers: so they had kept the
Master’s condition secret from him, and were asking him to do battle with
an invalid?
Otaké was no doubt angered, and thought it a blot on the game, that
Murashima, a disciple of the Master’s, should have a room at the inn and be
seeing the Master. When Maeda of the Sixth Rank, a disciple of the
Master’s and brother-in-law to Otaké, had visited Hakoné, he had avoided
the Master’s room and stayed at a different inn. And probably Otaké could
not tolerate the thought that such matters as friendship and sympathy
should be brought into a disagreement over a solemn and inviolable
contract.
But what probably bothered him most was the thought of again having to
challenge the aged Master; and the fact that his adversary was the Master
made his position the more difficult.
The situation went from bad to worse. Otaké began to talk of forfeiting
the match. As at Hakoné, Mrs. Otaké came from Hiratsuka with her baby
and sought to mollify him. A certain Tōgō, practitioner of the art of healing
by palm massage, was called in. He was well known among Go players,
Otaké having recommended him to numbers of colleagues. Otaké’s
admiration was not limited to Tōgō the healer: he also respected Tōgō’s
