Go, one of the world’s oldest board games, originated in China more than 2,500 years ago and spread across East Asia as a structured system of knowledge. Long regarded as one of the “Four Arts” cultivated by scholars, it was associated with intellectual refinement and moral cultivation. In Japan, it was refined as an art and path of Tao, while in modern Korea and China, it is primarily regarded as an educational instrument and a mind sport, though its older associations endure. Across time, Go has been transmitted through texts, diagrams, and teaching practices, with terminology such as hoshi (Japanese for “star point”) and tianyuan (Chinese for “center of heaven”) reflecting cosmological and mathematical frameworks.
This project focuses on the transmission of this knowledge system through the translation of The History of Go, an extended and updated Korean university manuscript by Chihyung Nam, a professor at the Department of Go Studies at Myongji University in South Korea. The author has recently revised the manuscript to integrate new historical research and findings in the field. The work traces Go’s development in China, Korea, and Japan, paying close attention to material finds, textual traditions, and shifting cultural meanings.
The manuscript begins with the tale of Emperor Yao and considers whether Go’s roots lie in astrology, mathematics, or fortune-telling, drawing attention to the role of mystic numbers. It then traces the evolution of the board size from 17×17 to 19×19, examining evidence from China, Korea, Tibet, and Japan, including Go stones from a 5th-century Silla princess’s tomb in Korea and the Shosoin treasure's Go board in Japan. Further focus is given to the changing number of star points, with five in early China, thirteen in Tibet, seventeen in Korea, and nine in Japan, whose sequence of changes remains a historical puzzle. Related practices, such as Sunjang Baduk with preoccupied stones, are also discussed. In addition, the manuscript explores how the major Go organizations in China, Korea, and Japan were founded and evolved over the years, including the development of professional player systems and the challenges faced in modern history. By weaving together myths, material culture, institutional history, and unresolved mysteries, it highlights how the early development and later structuring of Go reflect broader cultural dynamics and shaped the form of the game we know today. The outcome will be the first comprehensive English-language history of Go based on an East Asian academic source.
By making a key Korean source available in English, the project shows how Go knowledge has been transmitted through texts and diagrams, how it has been translocated across regions and traditions, and how it is transcreated when culturally specific concepts are adapted for new audiences. Translation in this sense is not only a matter of accessibility but also a creative act of knowledge-making that reconstitutes East Asian intellectual traditions within new scholarly contexts.
