The Hayashi house was one of the four go houses

Four go houses

In the history of go in Japan, the Four go houses were the four academies of Go instituted, supported, and controlled by the state, at the beginning of the Tokugawa shogunate. At roughly the same time shogi was organised into three houses. Here 'house' implies institution run on the recognised...

 of Edo period

Edo period

The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....

 Japan. It was in effect the junior partner in the system of go schools, never providing a Meijin

Meijin

Meijin , literally translated, means "Brilliant Man." It is the name of the second most prestigious Japanese Go Tournament. It also refers to a traditional Japanese title given to the strongest player of the day during the Edo period.- The tournament :...

 player. Always an ally of the Honinbo school, for traditional reasons, it didn't survive to the end of the period as truly independent. Its headship went to Honinbo Shuei

Honinbo Shuei

Honinbo Shuei was a Japanese professional Go player.- Biography :Honinbo Shuei, a younger son of the very strong Honinbo Shuwa, served as the 17th and again 19th head of the Honinbo house...

, and when he became also Honinbo head, it was de facto merged into the Honinbos.

From the second head onwards, the head of house when playing was known as Hayashi Monnyū.

1. 林 門入齋 Monnyūsai from 1612
2. 林 門入 Monnyū to 1685
3. 林 玄悦 Gen'etsu 1685-1706
4. 林 朴入 Bokunyū 1706-1726
5. 林 因長 Inchō 1727-1743
6. 林 門利 Monri 1743-1746
7. 林 転入 Tennyū 1746-1757
8. 林 祐元 Yūgen 1757-1789
9. 林 門悦 Mon'etsu 1789-1816
10. 林 鐵元 Tetsugen 1816-1819
11. 林 元美 Gembi 1819-1848
12. 林 柏栄 Hakuei 1848-1864
13. 林秀榮 Shūei