Editing Go (game) (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of Go}}

=== Origin in China ===
The earliest written reference to the game is generally recognized as the historical annal ''[[Zuo Zhuan]]''<ref name="The Tso Chuan book" />{{sfn|Fairbairn|1995|p={{page needed|date=May 2014}}}} ({{circa|4th century}} BCE),<ref name="chronology2" /> referring to a historical event of 548&nbsp;BCE. It is also mentioned in Book XVII of the ''[[Analects of Confucius]]''<ref name=chronology2 /> and in two books written by [[Mencius]]{{sfn|Fairbairn|1995|p={{page needed|date=May 2014}}}}<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Potter|first=Donald L.|year=1984|title=Go in the Classics|magazine=[[Go World]]|issue=37|publisher=Ishi Press|location=Tokyo|pages=16–18}}<br/>– {{cite magazine|last=Potter|first=Donald L.|year=1985|title=Go in the Classics (ii): the Tso-chuan|magazine=[[Go World]]|issue=42|publisher=Ishi Press|location=Tokyo|pages=19–21}}<br/>Via {{cite web|title=Go in the Classics|publisher=Kiseido Publishing Company|url=http://www.kiseido.com/classics.htm|access-date=2007-11-02|archive-date=2010-12-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218113923/http://kiseido.com/classics.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> ({{circa|3rd century}} BCE).<ref name=chronology2 /> In all of these works, the game is referred to as {{transliteration|zh|ISO|''yì''}} ({{lang|zh-Hant|弈}}). Today, in China, it is known as '''''weiqi''''' ({{lang-zh|t=圍棋|s=围棋|p={{audio|Zh-wéiqí.ogg|wéiqí|help=no}}|w=wei ch'i}}), {{lit|encirclement board game}}.

Go was originally played on a 17×17 line grid, but a 19×19 grid became standard by the time of the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907 CE).{{sfn|Fairbairn|1995|p={{page needed|date=May 2014}}}} Legends trace the origin of the game to the mythical [[Emperor of China|Chinese emperor]] [[Emperor Yao|Yao]] (2337–2258 BCE), who was said to have had his counselor [[Shun (Chinese leader)|Shun]] design it for his unruly son, [[Danzhu]], to favorably influence him.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Yang |first1=Lihui |last2=An |first2=Deming |title=Handbook of Chinese Mythology |date=2008 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-533263-6 |page=228 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGD5go6iCUYC&dq=eldest+son%2C+danzhu&pg=PA228 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Yang |first1=Lihui |title=Handbook of Chinese mythology |year=2005 |publisher=ABC-CLIO Ltd |isbn=978-1-57607-806-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Wf40ofEMGzIC&q=Yao+is+said+to+have+invented+the+game+of+Weiqi&pg=PA228 |first2=Deming|last2=An|first3=Jessica Anderson |last3=Turner |page=228}}</ref> Other theories suggest that the game was derived from Chinese tribal warlords and generals, who used pieces of stone to map out attacking positions.{{sfn|Masayoshi|2005|p={{page needed|date=May 2014}}}}{{sfn|Lasker|1960|p={{page needed|date=May 2014}}}}

In China, Go had an important status among elites and was associated with ideas of self-cultivation, wisdom, and gentlemanly ideals.<ref name="Berge-Becker">{{Cite book |last=Berge-Becker |first=Zach |title=Games & Play in Chinese & Sinophone Cultures |date=2024 |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |isbn=9780295752402 |editor-last=Guo |editor-first=Li |location=Seattle, WA |pages= |chapter=Groups on the Grid: Weiqi Cultures in Song-Yuan-Ming China |editor-last2=Eyman |editor-first2=Douglas |editor-last3=Sun |editor-first3=Hongmei}}</ref>{{Rp|page=23}} It was considered one of the [[Four Arts of the Chinese Scholar|four cultivated arts]] of the [[Junzi|Chinese scholar gentleman]], along with [[Chinese calligraphy|calligraphy]], [[Chinese painting|painting]] and playing the musical instrument [[guqin]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Pinckard|first=William|title=The Four Accomplishments|year=1989|url= http://www.kiseido.com/printss/four.html|access-date=2007-11-02|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080625104739/http://www.kiseido.com/printss/four.html|archive-date=2008-06-25|url-status=dead}} In {{Cite book|last=Pinckard|first=William|editor-last=Akiko|editor-first=Kitagawa|date=2010|title=Japanese Prints and the World of Go|publisher=Kiseido Publishing Company|isbn=978-4-90657430-8|url= http://www.kiseido.com/printss/ukiyoedx.html|url-status=dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080316051106/http://www.kiseido.com/printss/ukiyoedx.html|archive-date=2008-03-16}}</ref> In ancient times the rules of Go were passed on verbally, rather than being written down.{{sfn|Chen|2011|p=1}}

<gallery widths="240" heights="200">
File:Sui Dynasty Go Board.jpg|Model of a 19×19 Go board, from a tomb of the [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618 CE)
File:A Lady Playing Chess (Weiqi) - Google Art Project.jpg|Painting of a woman playing Go, from the [[Astana Graves]]. Tang dynasty, {{circa|744 CE}}.
File:Zhou Wenju 重屏会棋图 Palace Museum, Detail of Go Players.jpg|[[Li Jing (Southern Tang)|Li Jing]] playing Go with his brothers. Detail from a painting by [[Zhou Wenju]] ({{Floruit|942–961 CE}}), [[Southern Tang]] dynasty.
</gallery>

=== Spread to Korea and Japan ===
Go was introduced to Korea sometime between the 5th and 7th centuries CE, and was popular among the higher classes. In Korea, the game is called '''''baduk''''' ({{Korean|hangul=바둑}}), and a variant of the game called [[Sunjang baduk]] was developed by the 16th century. Sunjang baduk became the main variant played in Korea until the end of the 19th century, when the current version was reintroduced from Japan.<ref>{{Citation | url = http://english.baduk.or.kr/sub01_01.htm?menu=f11 | publisher = Korean Baduk Association | title = History of Korean baduk | access-date = 2008-11-13}}</ref>{{sfn|Fairbairn|2000|p={{page needed|date=May 2014}}}}

The game reached Japan in the 7th century CE—where it is called {{nihongo|'''''go'''''|碁|}} or {{nihongo|'''''igo'''''|囲碁|}}. It became popular at the [[Imperial Court in Kyoto|Japanese imperial court]] in the 8th century,<ref name=HistJapan2>{{Citation|url=http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/lesson/knowledge-e/history02.htm |publisher=[[Nihon Kiin]] |title=History of Go in Japan: part 2 |access-date=2007-11-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114231818/http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/lesson/knowledge-e/history02.htm |archive-date=2007-11-14}}</ref> and among the general public by the 13th century.<ref name=HistJapan3>{{Citation|url=http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/lesson/knowledge-e/history03.htm |publisher=[[Nihon Kiin]] |title=History of Go in Japan: part 3 |access-date=2007-11-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071114231823/http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/lesson/knowledge-e/history03.htm |archive-date=2007-11-14}}</ref> The game was further formalized in the 15th century. In 1603, [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] re-established Japan's unified national government. In the same year, he assigned the then-best player in Japan, a [[Buddhist]] monk named Nikkai (né Kanō Yosaburo, 1559), to the post of [[Godokoro]] (Minister of Go).<ref name=timeline>{{harvnb|Fairbairn|Hall|2007|loc=''History and Timelines'' "Timeline 1600–1867"}}{{page needed|date=June 2020}}</ref>

Nikkai took the name [[Hon'inbō Sansa]] and founded the [[Hon'inbō]] Go school.<ref name=timeline /> Several [[Four go houses|competing schools]] were founded soon after.<ref name=timeline /> These officially recognized and subsidized Go schools greatly developed the level of play and introduced the [[Go ranks and ratings|dan/kyu style system]] of ranking players.<ref name=ranks>{{harvnb|Fairbairn|Hall|2007|loc=''Articles on Famous Players'' "Honinbo Dosaku"}}{{page needed|date=May 2014}}</ref> Players from the four schools (Hon'inbō, Yasui, Inoue and Hayashi) competed in the annual [[castle game]]s, played in the presence of the [[shōgun]].<ref name=castlegames>{{harvnb|Fairbairn|Hall|2007|loc=''History and Timelines'' "Castle Games 1626–1863"}}{{page needed|date=May 2014}}</ref>

<gallery widths="240" heights="200">
GO Tale Genji Takekawa.JPG|Detail from a Japanese illustrated [[handscroll]] of ''[[The Tale of Genji]]''. [[Heian period]], 12th century CE.
Korean Game from the Carpenter Collection, ca. 1910-1920.jpg|A Korean couple playing Go in traditional dress. Photographed between 1910 and 1920.
</gallery>

=== Internationalization ===
Despite its widespread popularity in East Asia, Go has been slow to spread to the rest of the world. Although there are some mentions of the game in western literature from the 16th century forward, Go did not start to become popular in the West until the end of the 19th century, when German scientist [[Oskar Korschelt]] wrote a treatise on the game.<ref name=GoHistEU>{{cite book|last= Pinckard|first=William|chapter=History and Philosophy of Go|year=1992|pages=23–25|editor-last=Bozulich|editor-first=Richard|title=The Go Player's Almanac|publication-date=2001|edition=2nd|publisher=Kiseido Publishing Company|isbn=978-4-906574-40-7}}</ref> By the early 20th century, Go had spread throughout the [[German Empire|German]] and [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]] empires. In 1905, [[Edward Lasker]] learned the game while in Berlin. When he moved to New York, Lasker founded the New York Go Club together with (amongst others) Arthur Smith, who had learned of the game in Japan while touring the East and had published the book ''The Game of Go'' in 1908.<ref name=agahbk95>{{Citation | url = http://www.usgo.org/archive/agahbk95.html | title = AGA 1995 Historical Book | publisher = American Go Association | access-date = 2008-06-11 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110806204728/http://www.usgo.org/archive/agahbk95.html | archive-date = 2011-08-06}}</ref> Lasker's book ''Go and Go-moku'' (1934) helped spread the game throughout the U.S.,<ref name=agahbk95 /> and in 1935, the [[American Go Association]] was formed. Two years later, in 1937, the German Go Association was founded.

World War II put a stop to most Go activity, since it was a popular game in Japan, but after the war, Go continued to spread.<ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/igo_e/040.htm |title=The Magic of Go – 40. Go in Europe |publisher=[[Yomiuri Shimbun]] |last=Bozulich |first=Richard |access-date=2008-06-16 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011109202817/http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/igo_e/040.htm |archive-date=November 9, 2001 |url-status=dead}}</ref> For most of the 20th century, the [[Nihon Ki-in|Japan Go Association (Nihon Ki-in)]] played a leading role in spreading Go outside East Asia by publishing the English-language magazine ''[[Go Review]]'' in the 1960s, establishing [[Go centers]] in the U.S., Europe and South America, and often sending professional teachers on tour to Western nations.<ref name=ProVisits>{{Citation | url = https://www.britgo.org/history/pros.html | title = Pro Go Player visits to UK & Ireland (since 1964) | author = British Go Association | access-date= 2007-11-17}}</ref> Internationally, the game had been commonly known since the start of the twentieth century by its shortened Japanese name, and [[Go terms|terms for common Go concepts]] are derived from their Japanese pronunciation.

In 1996, [[NASA]] astronaut [[Daniel T. Barry|Daniel Barry]] and Japanese astronaut [[Koichi Wakata]] became the first people to play Go in space. They used a special Go set, which was named Go Space, designed by Wai-Cheung Willson Chow. Both astronauts were awarded honorary [[dan rank]]s by the [[Nihon Ki-in]].{{sfn|Peng|Hall|1996}}

{{As of|2015|December}}, the [[International Go Federation]] has 75 member countries, with 67 member countries outside East Asia.<ref name="igf-members">{{Citation|author=International Go Federation|title=IGF members|date=22 June 2010 |url=http://www.intergofed.org/members/igf-member-countries.html|access-date=December 14, 2015}}</ref> Chinese cultural centres across the world are promoting Go, and cooperating with local Go associations, for example the seminars held by the Chinese cultural centre in Tel Aviv, Israel, together with the Israeli Go association.<ref name="Ambassador Go 围棋 Cup 2018">{{Citation|author=China Cultural Centre in Tel Aviv|title=Go in Tel Aviv|url=https://ccctlv.org/en/events/ambassador-go-%E5%9B%B4%E6%A3%8B-cup-2018/|access-date=April 12, 2019}}</ref>