Go Proverbs Illustrated, Segoe Kensaku and John Bauer (translator)

This book has, for its primary purpose, the raising of skill of those who have had some knowledge of Go to the grade of shodan. This elementary compilation, moreover, is to help those beginning players to guard themselves against fundamental blunders they are apt to commit, to avoid bad plays, to learn good plays.

From the Preface:
Anyone who has played the old game of "proverbs" will remember such sayings as "Even a stone will soften a bit if you sit on it for three years", or "He studies Heaven through the eye of a needle", or "Even Buddha’s smile will fade if you go begging to him three times in a row". These old sayings in colloquial language teach in a vivid and easy way a rough and ready philosophy of life and essential points of conduct even better perhaps, than profound and difficult lectures on sacred scriptures.

In Go too there are many such proverbs, for instance: "Six will die, eight will live", "Play cross-cut against the small knight", and "The most urgent play for my opponent is the most urgent play for me".

This book is a collection of such short expressions which compress into a few words measures applicable to the in­finite variety of occurrences on the go-board and hand down from the past broad hints for the discovery of winning plays and combinations(tesuji), usable in innumerable cases. I have also added some of my own ideas adapted to forms arising in actual games and all are extensively illustrated and explained by means of diagrams.

Unlike other works, although it may be taken for light reading, a single phrase may be worth ten games of teach­ing, and whatever you learn will be immediately useful in actual play regardless of your strength or weakness. I hope that those interested in the subject will enjoy reading this book.

Comments & Reviews

A quick check indicates that “Go Proverbs Illustrated” was the 10th or 11th book published in English, not the second.

Great book.

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I managed to find this book through our library. It is quite good and, considering that it was one of the earliest books of Go to have been published in English, naturally became a classic. I have seen copies sell on eBay for $30, $58 and $75. Segoe tried to provide his readers with a thorough understanding of 43 proverbs.

The good news is that, as well-written a book as this is, you can find enough in-print substitutes for a sum of $30 to $45 that would easily cover all of its material, and more, and thus provide an even stronger boost to your playing ability. And if you must have a book on proverbs, Yutopian offers a one with 150+ of these. Check the ratings in the product database or the forums for suggestions.

The only complaint that I have with this book is that the text often references intersection coordinates (C4, R17, K10) but the diagrams do not print the number and alphabet references on the edges of the boards. This can be very cumbersome for beginners.

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