English-Japanese Go Dictionary

Compiled by U-Kan Editorial Staff

ROMAJI

JAPANESE

ENGLISH

A agehama aji aji warui ajikeshi ajinokori aki sankaku amai ashibaya atari atekomi atsui B boshi C choshi chuo chu oshi gatchi D dame dan

Captured stones kept in the Go bowl cover until the end of game. A potentially threatening move which is left unplayed temporarily. Bad potential. Extinguished potential. A move which cancels a player's potential (aji). Remains potential. Potential (aji) not yet used. Open triangle. Loose. Quick move. A threat to capture with the next move. Hitting wedge. (c.f. warikomi) Thick. Refers to a strong group of stones.

A move two points (a space) above an opposing stone.

Tone. Center. A victory in the way of a game with opponents withdraw.

An empty point adjacent to a stone group; empty points claimed by neither black nor white at the end of the game. The system used for ranking stronger go players (cf. kyu).
1

de degiri F fukurami furikawari fuseki futa G gankei geta gotsubo goban gote gukei guzumi gyaku yose

(In ascending order of ability) sho-dan: , ni-dan: san-dan: , yon-dan: , go-dan: , roku-dan: , nana-dan: , hachi-dan: , ku-dan: . Thrust. Thrust and cut.

Swelling. Swap. An exchange of territory between Black and White. Opening. The initial stage of a game. A cover of go bowl. Used for keeping opponents stones captured. Eye shape. Thong. Go bowls. Bowls used to hold go stones. Go board. A move requiring no response; cf. sente. Bad shape. Laggard. A move which makes an open triangle (aki sankaku) from a diagonal pair (kosumi). Reverse sente (initiative move). Transfer of sente from one player to the other.

H hai hairu hama hamete hanami ko hane hanekomi hanetsugi hasami hasamitsuke hazama hiki hiraki honte

Crawl. To invade. Shore (literally). Go bowl covers to keep captured stones. Cheating move. Trick. Flower-viewing ko. A ko in which one side has much to lose while the other side can lose little. A diagonal move played against an opponents stone. A hane which wedges between two opponents stones. A hane which is also a connection (tsugi). A move which surrounds an opponents stone on two sides. Squeeze attachment. A squeeze move (hasami) which is also an attachment. Gorge. Pull. Extension. A jumping move of a space or spaces. Proper move.
2

horikomi hoshi

Throw-in. A sacrificed stone placed where it destroys an enemy eye or where it captures more opponents stones. Star points (4-4 and 4-10 crosspoints). Shown in smallcircled dots on the Go board.

I igo iikagen iki ikken taka-biraki ikken taka-gakari ikken tobi ippon michi ishi ishinoshita J jigo jikan seigen jitsuri joseki josen

Go. The game of Go. Even match. Alive. Refers to stones which cannot be captured. High one-point extension. A one-point extension along the fourth line. High one-point approach move. A one-point approach move on the fourth line. One-point jump. A one-point upward extension. One-way street (literally). A forced sequence. Stone. Go pieces of White and Black. Under the stone.

Draw. Time limit. Profit. Joseki. An establishied sequence of moves in the opening. Used when on player always takes black during a series of games with another player. (cf. tagiasen)

K kabe kadoban kakae kakari kake kake tsugi

kakeme

Wall (literally). A strong line of stones. The last game to change handicap arrangement down or to loose a title in a series of matches. Embrace. Placing a single stone in atari. Approach move. See ikken kakari, nikken kakari, ikken taka-gakari. Hung cover. A move from above, which threatens to capture some enemy stone(s). Hanging connection. A move which effectively connects two stone groups without making a solid connection. (cf. kata tsugi) False eye. An empty point within a stone group which appears to be, but in fact is no eye.
3

kankaku kanso karami karui

katachi katatsugi katatsuki keima

keiseihandan keshi kiai kikashi kiri kirichigai kirikaeshi ko kodate kogeima komi komidashi. komokai go komoku kosumi kosumi tsuke kurai kuro kyu

Feeling. Impression. Comment. Twining attack Light. Refers to stone groups with a flexible, loose shape that can easily be strengthened, or to groups which can be sacrificed without great loss. (cf. omoi) Shape. Solid connection. Shoulder hit. A diagonal attacking move. Knights move. A one-point extension offset by one line; similar to the knights move in chess, also called kogeuma. (cf. ogeima) Judgement of situation. Extinguish. Fighting spirit like a yell. A sente move made away from the main fighting. Cut. A move which prevents the connection of two of the opponents stone groups. Crosscut. Counter-crosscut. Perpetual moves. A situation in which White and Black can alternately take and retake an opposint stone. Ko threat. Small knights move. Same as keima; cf. ogeima. Handicap points. To have a handicap. Close game. 3-4 points. Diagonal move. Diagonal attachment. A diagonal move (kosumi) which is also an attachment (tsuke) attack. Dark. Difficult to understand or read. Black. Black stone(s). A player who has black stones. (cf. shiro) The system for ranking go players below shodan level. (cf. dan) (In descending order of ability) ikkyu: /first class, ni kyu: /second class, san kyu: /third class, yon kyu: /fourth class, go kyu: /fifth class, roku kyu: /sixth class, nana kyu: /seventh class, hachi kyu: /eighth class, kyu kyu : /nineth class, ju kyu:
4

kyuba kyusho M magari magari yonmoku matta me me o tsukuru mearimenashi memochi miai moku moku hazushi motare moyo

/tenth class, eleventh class, twelveth class, and so on. Urgent move. Vital point.

Bend. Bent four. A seki-like situation in the corner, but by the current rule, the bent-four territory is considered dead. Retract. Asking to take back a move that has already been played. Eye. A space within a stone group, two of which ensure the groups life. To arrange eyes. To rearrange stones at the end of a game to facilitate counting points. A life-or-death fight between two groups in which one group has an eye (meari) and the other doesnt (me-nashi). Having an eye. A move which creates an eye (me). points of approximately equal value. Counting unit of crosspoint(s) on the board. 5-3 points. Lean. Framework. A players potential territory which has not yet been secured.

N nadaregata nakade narabi nidan bane nigiri

nikken taka-gakari nikken taka-hikaki nikken tobi nobi nozoki nuki

Avalanche. A move in the middle of an enemy group. Line. = nobi. Double hane. Two successive hane moves. Handful. Deciding who takes Black by grabbing at random handful of white stones while the other player guesses either odd or even. High two-point approach move. A two point approach move on the fourth line. High two-point extension. A two-point extension along the fourth line. Two-point jump. A two-point upward extension. Solid extension. Peep. Capture.

O oba ogeima ogeima hiraki ogeima kakari oi otoshi oki oki-ishi okigo omoshiroi osae oshi oshitsubushi osutenashi P ponnuki

Potential big-point area. Large knights move. A keima with a two-point extension. (cf. kogeima, keima) Extending large knights move. (cf. ogeima, hiraki) Approaching large knights move. (cf. ogeima, kakari) Falling dominoes. The sequential capturing of a series of trapped stones. Placement. A killing move in the center of a group of stones. Handicap stones. Handicap Go. Interesting. Favorable. Block. A move which obstructs the opponents connection or extension. Push. Push and crush. No possible moves for push.

A single stone captured away usually by four stones of the opponent player; the resulting shape is very strong.

R ryo atari ryo ko ryogakari

Double atari. Double ko. Double approach moves. Approach moves (kakari) from two sides.

S sabaki sagari sakaregatachi sarusuberi seimoku seiryoku seki

Settlement. A good move which saves a group of stones or capture territory. Drop. An extension toward the edge of the board. An unfavorable divided form. Two group of stones separated must try to be alive independently. Monkey jump. An ogeima from the second line to the first. Star points. The nine points marked with black dots on a go board. Fighting power. A stalemate position in which neither black nor white can play without losing a stone group.
6

seme semeai sente shi shi shibori shicho shicho-atari

shimari shimetsuke shinogi shiro shodan soi suberi suji sumi suso suso aki sute ishi suteru T tachi tagaisen takamoku takefu te teaiwari ten gen tenuki tesuji tobi

Attack. Mutual attack for either survival. Initiative. A move which ones opponent must respond or else sustain greater damage. (cf. gote) Dead. Unit for number of stones. Twist. Ladder. A zig-zag capturing chase. Four butterflies (literally) Ladder breaker. A stone lieing in the path of a ladder (shicho) which prevents the chased stone from being captured. Corner enclosure. Shutting attack. Survival. Saving a threatened stone group. White. White stones. A player who has white stones. Shodan, one dan. See dan. Parallel move. Slide. Skillful or correct style. Corner. Hem. The bottom of a group of stones. (cf. suso aki) Open hem. Open to invasion from the bottom. Thrown Stones which are sacrificed to allow a larger terri tory to be taken. To sacrifice.

Standing move. Alternate start. Used when two players alternate taking Black during a series of games. (cf. josen) 5-4 points in openning games. Bamboo connection. Move. Handicap The central point on the board. Intentional omission. While ignoring ones opponents sente, shifting the fight to another part of the board. A good tactical move. Jump. An extension towards the center of the board; see ikken tobi, nikken tobi.
7

tsugi tsuke tsuke te tsukeosae tsuki atari tsukuri Go tsume tsuppari tuskenobi U uchikaki uchisugi uke usui utte gaeshi

Connection. A move which makes a safe connection be tween two stone groups. Attachment. A move in contact with an opponents stone but not in contact with ones own stones. Attachment move. Attack and block. Push and attach. Scoring. The rearrangement of stone at the end of a game to facilitat adding up the score. Stopper. Thrust. Attach and extend.

Scratch. A sacrificed stone usually to prevent ones oppoent from making two vital eyes. Too excessive moves. Defensive move.An answering move. Thin. Counterblow or snapback. A ko-like situation in which there is an alternate capture and recapture, but to which the ko rule does not apply.

W wakare warikomi wariuchi warute watari

Split. Wedge. Dividing move in an opening play. Bad move. Passage. The connection of two groups by passing through or around an intervening enemy group.

Y yoritsuki yose yose ko

Some advantages in an ending game. Endgame. A life-or-death ko in which one side must ignore one (itte yose ko) or two (nite yose ko) ko threats in order to create a shape which will live if the ko fight is won.
Loose move.

yurumi