Firsts for komi

The first records of komi now go back to the Horeki era (1751~64) in Japan, though it was then called kaeshi and was used by amateurs. The first record in a pro even game is from 1852, but in that era it was used only in relay games. The first use by pros, though, goes back to the 1830s when it was used in handicap games. The first use in a pro event was in 1907 when it was tried in the women's tournament called the Onna Kikaku Oteai.

Although many tournaments experimented with komi during the first part of the 20th century, the first full-blown tournament to use it consistently is considered to be the Honinbo, from its inception in 1939 (though the first final featured no-komi games!).

The first tournaments to use 5.5 komi were the 3rd Oza and 3rd NHK Cup in Japan in 1955. Korea took the lead in introducing the large 6.5 komi in 1997 in the 4th LG Cup. The Ing komi of 8 points appeared in the Ing Cup in 1988.

     Amateur firsts

The Amateur Honinbo in Japan was the first major annual amateur event. It began in 1955 and is still running. The winners now automatically become 8-dan. The first amateur 6-dan was Hirata Hironori in Japan in 1955, as winner of this event. The first female 6-dans were Kanai Kazuko and Yamamoto Minako, jointly in Japan in March 1975.

The first national amateur championship in Korea was in 1949 (won by future pro Kim Pong-seon). The first Korean amateur 7-dans were a group of eight in 1993, one of whom was Kang Yeong-il.

Robert Ryder (1915~1994) of the USA was the first non-Asian to receive a 5-dan diploma from the Nihon Ki-in (we have no date).

The first "ama queens" - first sisters to win the same amateur title - were Osawa Narumi, now a pro, and her sister Maya. Maya won the 44th Women's Amateur Honinbo in Japan in 2002 (Narumi won in 1997).

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