It was New Year of the second year afterwards, just upwards of a year
after the end of the retirement match: the Master and two of his disciples,
Maeda of the Sixth Rank and Murashima of the Fifth Rank, attended New
Year observances at the school (he offered lessons in his Kamakura house)
of the Master’s brother-in-law, Takahashi of the Fourth Rank. The day was
January 7. I saw the Master for the first time since the match.
He played two practice matches, but they seemed to tire him. No sound
seemed to emerge from the stones as he dropped them lightly, unable to
keep them between his fingers. During the second match his shoulders
heaved occasionally from his breathing. His eyelids were swollen. The
swelling was not particularly noticeable, but I thought of how he had been
at Hakoné. He was still unwell.
Since his opponents were amateurs and the matches were for practice,
the Master should have had no trouble winning. As always, however, he
quite lost himself in play. We had dinner reservations at a seaside hotel and
the second match was suspended at Black 130. The Master’s opponent was
a strong amateur of the First Rank, whom he gave a four-stone handicap.
Black showed strength from the middle stages of the game and was pushing
into White’s broad but rather thin positions.
“Black seems to have the better of it?” I asked Takahashi.
“Yes,” he said. “It’s a blackish board. Black is thicker. White is having
trouble. Our Master is getting a little senile. He breaks more easily than he
used to. He can’t really play any more, as a matter of fact. He’s gone down
at a fearful rate since that last match.”
“Yes, he does seem to have taken on the years in a hurry.”
