The Nihon Ki-in also known as the Japan Go Association, is the main organizational body for Go

Go (board game)

Go , is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago...

 in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, overseeing Japan's professional system

Go professional

A Go professional is a professional player of the game of Go. The minimum standard to acquire a professional diploma through one of the major go organisations is very high. The competition is tremendous, and prize incentives for champion players are very large...

 and issuing diplomas for amateur dan rank

Dan rank

The ranking system is a Japanese mark of level, which is used in modern fine arts and martial arts. Originally invented in a Go school in the Edo period, this system was applied to martial arts by Kanō Jigorō, the founder of judo and later introduced to other East Asia countries.In the modern...

ings. It is based in Tokyo. The other major Go association in Japan is Kansai Ki-in

Kansai Ki-in

The Kansai Ki-in , i.e., Kansai Go Association, is an organizational body for the game of Go in Japan, which was founded by Hashimoto Utaro in 1950...

.
Nihon Ki-in was established in July 1924. Its innovations include the Oteai

Oteai

The was a tournament used in Japan, by the Nihon Ki-in and Kansai Ki-in, to determine the ranking of its go professionals on the dan scale. It was instituted in the 1920s soon after the Ki-in was set up in 1924. Initially it was run in Spring and Autumn sessions in Tokyo, with the pros brought...

 system of promotion, time limits in professional games, and the introduction of issuing diplomas to strong amateur players, to affirm their ranks.

The first president of the Nihon Ki-in was Makino Nobuaki

Makino Nobuaki

Count was a Japanese statesman, active from the Meiji period through the Pacific War.- Biography :Born to a samurai family in Kagoshima, Satsuma domain , Makino was the second son of Ōkubo Toshimichi, but adopted into the Makino family at a very early age.In 1871, at the age of 11, he accompanied...

, a great Go patron himself, with Okura Kishichiro

Okura Kishichiro

Baron studied at Trinity College, Cambridge from 1903 to 1906 but he did not graduate from Cambridge University. He was a son of Okura Kihachiro who as an entrepreneur built up the Okura-gumi and founded the giant Okura zaibatsu and the Okura Shogyo Gakko which later became Tokyo Keizai...

 serving as vice president. The vast majority of pros at the time joined the fledgling organization, excepting the Inoue

Inoue house

The Inoue house was one of the four go houses, the state-supported schools for the game of go in Japan during the Edo period.The numbering of the heads of the house is that introduced by Inoue Genan Inseki, at the start of the nineteenth century, and including Nakamura Doseki for reasons of prestige...

 faction in Osaka

Osaka

is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...

 and Nozawa Chikucho. A brief splinter group called Kiseisha was created soon after the Nihon Ki-in was formed, but most of the players involved had returned to the Nihon Ki-in within a couple of years.

The Nihon Ki-in also holds tests for professionals, and teaches insei

Insei

In Japan, an ' is a student at an institution, usually a graduate school. The word may also refer to a student of Go at the Nihon Ki-in or the Kansai Ki-in seeking to become a professional player....

.

See also

• International Go Federation
  International Go Federation
  The International Go Federation is an international organization that connects the various national Go federations around the world. It is usually referred to as IGF.-Role of the IGF:...
  
  
• List of professional Go tournaments
• Hanguk Kiwon (Korean Go Association)
• Zhongguo Qiyuan
  Zhongguo Qiyuan
  Zhongguo Qiyuan is an official agency responsible for board games and card games such as go, bridge, chess and Chinese chess affairs under the All-China Sports Federation of the People's Republic of China...
  
   (Chinese Go Association)
• Taiwan Chi-Yuan (Taiwanese Go Association)
• Hoensha
  Hoensha
  The Hoensha was a Japanese Go organization founded in 1879 by Honinbo Shuho. The Hoensha was the successor to study groups set up by Nakagawa Kamesaburo and other players. It was the major Go organization of the later Meiji period. Like the many Go organizations today, the Hoensha awarded...
  
  
• American Go Association
  American Go Association
  The American Go Association was founded in 1935 to promote the board game of Go in the United States. Founded by chess master Edward Lasker and some friends at Chumley's restaurant in New York City, the AGA is one of the oldest Western Go associations...
  
  
• European Go Federation
  European Go Federation
  The European Go Federation is a non-profit organization with the purpose of encouraging, regulating, co-ordinating, and disseminating the playing of the board game Go in Europe. The EGF was founded in 1957, the same year that the inaugural European Go Congress took place - in Cuxhaven, Germany...
  
  
• Singapore Weiqi Association
  Singapore Weiqi Association
  The Singapore Weiqi Association is a Go association in Singapore. Founded in 1981, it aims to promote the game of Go in Singapore and improve the skills of local Go players. To achieve its objective, professional players from China are hired to conduct lessons, and tournaments are regularly...